Zac Hall

NASA is returning astronauts to the Moon in this decade for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The Artemis program will see the first woman and next man walk on the Moon by 2024. The program will rely on NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, and Orion capsule for transporting astronauts from Earth to the Moon.

Artemis will also require a modern human landing system, or HLS, and today NASA announced which companies will be tasked with developing the new hardware.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Leidos subsidiary Dynetics have been selected as commercial partners to design and develop NASA’s modern human landing system.

NASA outlines how each company’s proposal for new human landing systems:

• Blue Origin of Kent, Washington, is developing the Integrated Lander Vehicle (ILV) – a three-stage lander to be launched on its own New Glenn Rocket System and ULA Vulcan launch system. 
• Dynetics (a Leidos company) of Huntsville, Alabama, is developing the Dynetics Human Landing System (DHLS) – a single structure providing the ascent and descent capabilities that will launch on the ULA Vulcan launch system. 
• SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, is developing the Starship – a fully integrated lander that will use the SpaceX Super Heavy rocket. 

Here’s how each Human Landing System proposal will work:

Expand Expanding Close

NASA will close a nearly decade long chapter next month when SpaceX sends American astronauts to space on an American rocket from American soil.

Since the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011, American’s space agency has relied on leasing seats from Russian rockets in Kazakhstan to send NASA astronauts to space.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced today that the mission, called Demo-2 or DM-2, officially has a launch date scheduled.

Expand Expanding Close

Update 4/21/20: SpaceX says the launch today is now set for 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Update 4/20/20 5:13 p.m. EDT: Citing a more favorable weather forecast on Wednesday, SpaceX is now targeting Wednesday, April 22, at 3:37 p.m. EDT.

Update 4/20/20: Launch windows are hard, but this change is positive. SpaceX is once again targeting Thursday, April 23, at 3:16 p.m. EDT.

Update 4/15/20: SpaceX is now targeting Friday, April 24, 2020.

Update 4/14/20: SpaceX is now targeting Thursday, April 23, 2020.

Update 4/13/20: The launch target has slipped from April 16; no new date yet.

SpaceX is targeting Thursday, April 16, for its next Starlink mission to deploy a batch of 60 satellites to low Earth orbit.

The mission will mark SpaceX’s seventh Starlink launch and sixth deployment of operational satellites. Starlink will provide satellite internet access to North America and around the world as the constellation of small satellites is built out.

Expand Expanding Close

NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy will make the journey from Earth to the International Space Station on Thursday, April 9. Astronaut Cassidy, who is also a U.S. Navy SEAL, will fly with Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.

The crew will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan using a Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft, joining NASA flight engineers Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir and Roscosmos Expedition 62 Commander Oleg Skripochka.

Astronaut Cassidy, who is returning to space for his third spaceflight, will take on the role of Expedition 63 Commander once the crew of Expedition 62 leaves the ISS on Friday, April 17.

Astronaut Jessica Meir made history during her time on the ISS by completing the first all-female space walk with Astronaut Christina Koch.

Expand Expanding Close

The city of Biloxi is honoring retired NASA astronaut Fred Haise with a new monument on Saturday, April 11. Astronaut Haise is a Biloxi native and one of three astronauts sent to space for NASA’s Apollo 13 mission — a mission intended for the Moon that almost took the lives of NASA astronauts Fred Haise, James Lovell, and John Swigert. Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the historic mission.

Expand Expanding Close

NASA is launching a brand new podcast in April called Curious Universe. The new series hosted by astrophysicist Padi Boyd released its teaser episode today.

NASA’s Curious Universe explores the wild and wonderful places on our home planet and beyond. Host Padi Boyd transports listeners into the world of NASA’s missions, projects and people. Each episode is an invitation to an adventure with a NASA expert, such as astronaut Nick Hague and astrophysicist Michelle Thaller.

Expand Expanding Close

In a decision that has been months in the making, Boeing has announced that its Starliner spacecraft will conduct a second orbital flight test before it can demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities for NASA.

SpaceX passed its orbital flight test for NASA in March last year when its Crew Dragon capsule traveled to the International Space Station and back.

Boeing attempted its own orbital flight test in December, but the mission went awry within minutes of Starliner leaving the planet.

Expand Expanding Close

President Trump signed a new executive order on Monday called “Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources.”

The goal of the policy, which is supported by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, is to encourage commercial companies to participate in NASA’s Artemis program to return to the Moon and beyond.

The White House acknowledges international space policy uncertainty that it says has discouraged potential partners from working with NASA.

Expand Expanding Close

NASA is actively developing its Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis missions back to the Moon. The first Artemis mission is expected to launch in 2021 when SLS and Orion will take an uncrewed trip around the Moon.

Artemis II will be the first mission of the program to include astronauts inside the Orion spacecraft, and Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset is playing a role.

Expand Expanding Close

NASA announced this week that astronaut Shannon Walker has been assigned to the first operational crewed SpaceX mission.

Walker will NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover Jr., and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi on a six-month mission on the International Space State.

Expand Expanding Close

The Center for Strategic and International Studies published a featured report from its Aerospace Security Project on March 30: Space Threat Assessment 2020.

“It is intended to raise awareness and understanding of the threats, debunk myths and misinformation, and highlight areas in which senior leaders and policymakers should focus more attention,” according to CSIS.

The report highlights current capabilities of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia as part of the space threat assessment.

Expand Expanding Close

Space Explored reported on March 24 that COVID-19 has forced NASA to close half of its facilities so far. The space agency has a four stage response framework that applies to each facility.

This method is used to determine which facilities are safe to operate in limited capacity and which must close as part of the effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, became the tenth NASA facility to close on March 29.

Expand Expanding Close

Michael Hardy recently reported for Wired that Maxar satellite imagery shot from low Earth orbit is being used to compare life on Earth before and during the current health pandemic.

Expand Expanding Close

Leadership at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket company appears to be struggling with how to navigate major mission milestones in the age of the coronavirus.

Loren Grush published new reporting for The Verge that illustrates conflict between employees and management, citing four anonymous employee sources including audio recorded from a recent meeting.

Expand Expanding Close

This is news that NASA enthusiasts will consider completely epic. NASA is bringing back its iconic “worm” typeface logo starting with the upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule Demo-2 mission planned for next month.

The mission will mark a historic milestone for America’s space agency: NASA astronauts flying on an American rocket from American soil for the first time since the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011.

Expand Expanding Close

Good news if you recently applied to be an astronaut candidate for NASA. The applications are in, and the odds are in your favor compared to the last time NASA accepted applicants.

NASA announced that over 12,000 people submitted astronaut candidate applications to join the next class of space explorers. That’s the second highest number of applications NASA has ever received

The agency says that number shows a “strong national interest” in NASA missions, although it’s a drop in applications received compared to 2016 when NASA received over 18,300 applications.

Two factors likely explain the smaller pool of people applying to become NASA astronauts: a smaller application window and a higher education requirement.

Expand Expanding Close

A majority of NASA facilities may be closed and on telework status, but that’s not stopping America’s space agency from coming together to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

NASA is sourcing innovative ideas on how to respond to the spread of COVID-19.

On April 1, NASA launched an agency-wide call for ideas on its internal crowdsourcing platform NASA @ WORK. The internal website fosters collaboration and provides NASA employees with an inventive way to share knowledge and solve challenges.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says the effort is in response to employees already wanting to help.

Expand Expanding Close

Astronaut Christina Koch recently returned to Earth after breaking the record for the longest single continuous stay in space of any woman, and that’s not her only amazing achievement this year.

Expand Expanding Close

Virgin Galactic has scheduled a quarterly conference call to discuss Q1 2020 financial results. The call is set to for 5 p.m. EDT on May 5.

The publicly traded space company used its previous (and first-ever) quarterly conference call as an opportunity to announce its new “One Small Step” program.

Virgin Galactic has been accepting refundable $1000 registration fees for preparing customers for spaceflight since late February so we can expect an update on the program.

The company last shared that its 2020 goal was to send Richard Branson to space as a demonstration of its service. Hopefully we can learn how coronavirus has affected that goal since COVID-19’s spread across the United States in March.

Speaking of the novel coronavirus, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides published a detailed blog post today that describes how the company is aiding in the fight against the pandemic.

Part of the effort includes a new live educational series on YouTube while schools in the U.S. are closed as an effort to fight the coronavirus spread.

Expand Expanding Close

In need of some positive coronavirus news? Try this.

Virgin Orbit has a mission to open space for everyone, and it’s not letting COVID-19 get in the way of that goal. In fact, the Virgin Galactic spinoff is actively working to ease the coronavirus burden on first responders and healthcare workers.

Virgin Orbit announced today that it has designed a “mass-producible ventilator” that it plans to start producing next week.

Expand Expanding Close

Update: A revised NOTAM has now been issued for Monday through Thursday of next week.

SpaceX is hard at work on its ambitious Starship spacecraft in South Texas, and the next static fire test appears to be planned for this week.

A static fire test includes a wet dress rehearsal which means engines are fueled; a static fire test adds the additional step of firing engines in place at full thrust (i.e. a launch without launching).

Elon Musk has documented recent Starship activity at SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility over the last few days, and the FAA has filed a NOTAM (Notices to Airmen) for the upcoming test.

Expand Expanding Close