Derek Wise

SpaceX has reached out to NASA to conduct an environmental assessment for Starship Super Heavy launches out of Launch Complex 49 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Launched on a Delta IV Heavy rocket back in 2018, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now touched the Sun, flying through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona.

Ashley Kosak, a former SpaceX mission integration engineer and now a program manager at Apple, described in a letter the repeated and widespread harassment taking place throughout Elon Musk’s space company.

The Russian space agency Roscosmos plans to send Cosmonaut Anna Kikina to space on a SpaceX Dragon Capsule next September.

This has been a big year for Space Tourism, from the sub-orbital hops of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson to the multi-day orbital journey of the Inspiration4 crew. This raised a number of questions about what it means to be an astronaut. Many claimed that these space-tourists are nothing but passengers, and calling them astronauts dilutes the title provided to space heroes like Neil Armstrong, while others said that reaching space should be enough for the title. The FAA has now put this question to bed, issuing this year’s space tourists FAA Commercial Astronaut wings, but shutting down the program moving forward.

Satellite imagery of SpaceX’s Launch Complex 39A revealed more work occurring at the Starship mount. Now, Elon has confirmed that construction on a Cape orbital pad has begun.

In an internal email seen by Space Explored, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX intends to build “several million [Starlink user terminal] units per year.” In order to have the internet bandwidth to support this goal, SpaceX will need to deploy its V2 Starlink satellites in orbit. It turns out, however, that this goal is entirely reliant on its next-gen Starship rocket that is currently in development in South Texas.

In an email sent to SpaceX employees, obtained by Space Explored, Elon Musk addressed the ‘crisis’ of Starship Raptor engine production and said the company could face a ‘genuine risk of bankruptcy’ if the company is unable to achieve a Starship flight rate of once every two weeks next year.

While Kennedy Space Center’s Black Friday deal was a great way to save on annual passes, the Cyber Monday deal brings down the cost of a one-day ticket. Today only, with the purchase of an adult daily-admission ticket to KSCVC, you get a free child daily-admission ticket.

It’s Black Friday! A time to eat leftovers, lounge around the house, maybe find a Christmas tree, and shop Black Friday deals! The deals have been in full swing for a while now, from telescopes to Star Wars legos! Head below for our roundup of space-related deals!

Earlier this year, I reviewed the eVscope eQuinox. Now, the smart telescope is $300 cheaper, down to $2,699. It may not be the latest scope from Unistellar, but not much changed between the eQuinox and the eVscope 2, so it may be worth taking this deal. Head below the fold to see if this deal is right for you!

While telescopes may not be the first thing to come to mind when you think of Black Friday savings, if you are interested in astronomy there are plenty of deals to help you get a jump start.

Stay tuned as we update this article throughout the week as more telescope deals come to light.

Kennedy Space Center is a worthwhile stop for any space fan in Florida, whether there is a launch going on or not. The Atlantis annual pass is already a great value, at less than the cost of two day tickets, but the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is making the deal even sweeter for Black Friday!

Late last night SpaceX launched a double asteroid redirection test mission for NASA. The ~1,300 pound spacecraft will slam into Didymos’ moonlet following its 10-month journey.

On November 12, ARCAspace completed a test of the second stage of its EcoRocket. As the EcoRocket took to the sky, an FPV drone attempted to outpace the water-propelled rocket.

Unistellar announced its eVscope 2 back in September. The electronic telescope just needs to be connected to your phone, and then you can start admiring deep-sky objects invisible to the naked eye. It is an intriguing piece of tech, that’s for sure, but does it live up to its eye-watering $4,199 price tag (plus $59 shipping)?

As we reported, on Monday morning, the International Space Station residents quickly retreated to their spacecraft as the station underwent emergency procedures. A Russian anti-satellite test created a massive field of debris in orbit, putting Astronauts and Cosmonauts at risk.

Now, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has released a statement condemning Russia’s actions.

On Saturday, three NASA astronauts were inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony took place at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (KSCVC) and recognized former NASA astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria, Pamela Melroy, and Scott Kelly.

Snoopy has a long history with space, and that continues with the Apple TV+ show Snoopy in Space, which sees Snoopy and gang travel the universe. Off-screen, Astronaut Snoopy is about to make a very real journey around the Moon, as a zero-gravity indicator on NASA’s Artemis I mission.

Yesterday, a new design for a Starlink user terminal appeared on the Starlink website. This new terminal features a rectangular shape, and new router, but that router lacks an ethernet port.

Numerous companies have filed applications to create satellite constellations in low Earth orbit. The filings come as the deadline for the FCC’s second processing round for the V-band comes tonight.