NASA teams are racing towards the first launch of the SLS rocket at Kennedy Space Center. The final pieces needed for sull stack testing were installed a few days ago, the Orion stage adapter structural test article, and Orion Mass Simulator. The full stack of SLS is expected to roll out to LC-39B for further testing and a Wet Dress Rehearsal.
Today the FAA released the Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for Starship/Super Heavy operations out of Boca Chica, Texas. These documents provide insight into what the future holds for SpaceX in South Texas.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster, B1023, arrived at the new exhibit building, Gateway, for permanent display. This booster previously launched the Thaicom 8 satellite and then was converted to a Falcon Heavy side booster for the demo flight.
Just 3 days after their first launch, Firefly Aerospace provides some insight into what occurred during the first stage boost phase. Along with the statement was a video showcasing some different angles of Firefly’s first Alpha launch and tracking footage.
Caspar Stanley is known in the Space Twitter community for creating detailed 3D models of various launch vehicles. Now you can view them up-close and personal in Rocket Explorer, a VR and Desktop rocket viewing experience that is in early access!
Just on the edge of their first launch, Firefly finally conducts a static fire on their Alpha rocket out in Vandenberg Space Force Base.
A photo was shared in a Facebook Group that appears to show 2 vessels in the midst of being outfitted. The post shared a tip that SpaceX purchased these two ships for operations on the east coast. One of the vessels clearly brands a SpaceX logo, while the other is being worked on and sharing the same color scheme. So we looked into it…
While it’s simple to just use the default or built-in ringtones, NASA supplies a range of mission sounds that can space-out your iPhone. Here’s how:
New information found shows that Space Florida, Florida’s spaceport authority, will be building a new complex for astronaut training near Blue Origin’s factory.
The new “Nauka” Space Station module arrived at the ISS early this morning. Since then, it has caused the station to lose attitude control by firing its thrusters without being commanded. The ISS has since regained attitude control.
NASA and Boeing will attempt to launch the Starliner Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2) mission on July 30th at 2:53 PM EDT. This comes after a successful Flight Readiness Review today.
It’s a hot and humid summer morning. On July 16th, 1969 the silence was broken by the sound of five F-1 engines roaring to life. Apollo 11 lifted off at 9:32 AM EDT on a mission of a lifetime. On July 20th, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are about to land on the Moon.
Update: NASA released a post on social media that stated the science instrument are not back online. Also, science data is being collected once again.
The historic Hubble Space Telescope has been out of commission since June 13th, when an onboard computer error caused the system to halt. Teams at NASA have been working to diagnose and develop plans to restore the telescope to operation.
SpaceX has been steamrolling towards their orbital Starship attempt out of Boca Chica since the SN15 launch. However, we are still months away from a possible attempt. The reason? Darn FAA Environmental Reviews.
While Virgin Galactic ran into some technical difficulties with the live views from the cabin of VSS Unity, you can now watch the crew experience spaceflight. The crew spent just over a minute above the 50 miles high definition of space but experienced ~2-3 minutes of zero gravity.
The Dragon that flew the CRS-22 mission to the International Space Station is set to return to earth over the next few days. However, Tropical Storm Elsa has proven problematic. Undocking is currently scheduled for July 7th.
Update: SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico just before midnight (11:32 p.m.EDT) on Friday.
Space Shuttle Atlantis currently resides in an exhibit building at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, its permanent home. Back on this day in 2011, Atlantis would fly for the last time. STS-135 marked the end of the Space Shuttle Program.
Relativity Space has been hard at work on Launch Complex 16 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This will be the launch site of their Terran 1 vehicle, expected to launch by the end of 2021, and their fully reusable rocket Terran R. Relativity recently installed the Strongback for Terran 1, a major milestone.
Those going out to see the latest booster return and droneship departures may have noticed a new structure being erected in the SpaceX area. Permits detail this new tent as a roughly 40′ square with the walls consisting of containers. The canopy being constructed will sit atop these containers.
The Artemis program will be launching the first woman and the next man to the Moon. Before humans can step aboard an SLS rocket launching towards the Moon, we need a test run. Inside the Orion capsule for this first launch of the Artemis program, Artemis I, will be a manikin some have dubbed a ‘Moonikin’, but now this dummy has a name.
SpaceX launched their Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket from Launch Complex 40 at 10:21 a.m. EDT on June 28th, 2015. This was meant to be SpaceX’s 7th resupply mission to the International Space Station. But 139 seconds into the flight, the vehicle began to disintegrate. This resulted in the loss of the rocket and the Cargo Dragon capsule. What happened?
SpaceX launched the Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission in early June 25th, 2019. STP-2 was launched on the third flight of Falcon Heavy, reusing the side boosters from the Arabsat-6A launch earlier that year.
Over the last month, we’ve seen a lot of changes in SpaceX’s recovery fleet. New members to the fleet are being added, and some being moved around. Here is an update on what has happened recently.
On SpaceX’s CRS-22, the first pair of new solar panels were sent up to the ISS to give the station a little boost. Tomorrow two astronauts will conduct a third spacewalk to continue installing the station’s newest addition.
The Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (S-ISAC) is a private-sector group with federal support to monitor and analyze both cyber and physical threats to space assets and their operators. Microsoft has joined as a founding member to bring their experience to the table.
United Launch Alliance loaded an Atlas V Booster and Dual Engine Centaur onto their Rocketship boat over the weekend. Its destination? Florida. This isn’t just any ordinary Atlas V though, this will be the first one to carry crew to space. The Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test (CFT) is still expected NET late 2021. However, a second Orbital Flight Test is needed.
Rocket Lab is continuing progress on their latest launch pad located at their New Zealand facility, LC-1B, with the installation of the strongback. The Electron launch vehicle has been grounded since an in-flight failure of the second stage engine. The anomaly investigation is still underway, but the FAA has cleared Electron for flight.
An Atlas V booster and Dual Engine Centaur have arrived at the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC) after being offloaded from the Rocketship transport vessel. Spaceflight media was invited to attend the event to provide coverage. This is the third human-rated Atlas V rocket to be delivered to the Cape, with the first being stacked ahead of the Orbital Flight Test 2.
We’ve all been waiting on the debut of United Launch Alliance’s brand new Vulcan rocket, the rightful successor to the Atlas V and Delta IV. But we might have to wait a little long for a payload to be ready to fly on the first mission.
Pegasus XL is an air-launched rocket capable of launching ~443kg to Low Earth Orbit. Northrop Grumman conducted a launch of this vehicle over the weekend on a mission for the Space Force. The satellite was named Odyssey and was designed to be a “Space Domain Awareness” Technology Demonstration.
Stacking of the SLS Core Stage is well underway at this time with operations beginning on June 10th. This is a major milestone for the Artemis and SLS programs. The launch of Artemis 1 is currently NET November 2021, but this timeframe assumes no complications.
Relativity Space just announced the successor to the Terran 1 smallsat launch vehicle, Terran R. Coming in at 216 feet tall and producing 2.1 million pounds of thrust, Terran R will be the world’s first fully reusable, 3D printed rocket. The first launch is expected NET 2024 out of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Axiom Space and SpaceX announced a 3 flight deal to carry private astronauts to the International Space Station on June 2nd. These 3 additional flights will occur through 2023 and will utilize the SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule.
In a closed permit application, Blue Origin proposed modifications to Grouper Road, a road on the north side of Port Canaveral, that would allow their New Glenn booster transporter to enter and leave the port.
The secretive company founded by Jeff Bezos has been in and out of the news a lot in recent years. Below is an overview of the facilities they have built up across Florida to support their mission to break into the commercial launch industry.
Located just north of the Visitor Complex at KSC is SpaceX’s newest facility. The Roberts Road site has been in development for around 2 to 3 years at this point, and construction is continuing to ramp up. Hangar X is the main building of the site that will support Falcon 9 booster refurbishment and house administration offices.
Axiom Space announced the commander and pilot for their upcoming Ax-2 mission this morning, expected to launch NET Fall 2022. The Ax-2 Commander will be Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut with a lot of firsts to her name. Ax-2 Pilot will be John Shoffner, a pilot, motorsport racer, and a life science activist.
May 16th, 8:44 PM: The Black Brant XII sounding rocket carrying the KiNET-X mission launched from Wallops Island in Virginia, images below.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility is set to launch a sounding rocket on May 8th late in the evening that could be easily seen across the east side of the US if weather conditions allow.
In cases where there is an emergency on the pad and the crew needs to get out of there in a hurry. Companies have designed Emergency Egress Systems (EES) to do just that job. SpaceX and ULA each have them, and in the past, NASA has as well. It looks like Artemis, NASA’s mission to the moon, is in the early stages of having her’s built.
It was announced today that Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems division would be splitting off into its own, independent company. This move comes shortly after SNC announced their future plans for space, including an inflatable space station.
SNC has a long history of working on space systems, and Sierra Space further emphasizes its commitment to achieving its goals. Moving the Space Systems division independent will likely result in these goals reaching fruition faster.
Rocket Crafters, based out of Cocoa, Florida, has rebranded to Vaya Space following a difficult year in 2020 and has new plans moving forward. Their new rocket is called Dauntless and is expected to be capable of launching 1000kg (2,200lbs) to Low Earth Orbit and 610kg (1,340lbs) to Sun Synchronous Orbit with the first launch expected in 2023. This launch vehicle is different than most because it uses a hybrid solid rocket motor rather than liquid propellants for thrust.
On this day in 1965, Ranger 9 impacted the Moon at 14:08:19 UTC with a relative speed of 2.67 km/s (5,972 mph). This impact concluded the 3-day mission of Ranger 9 and the overall Ranger program. This mission gathered important data needed for the later Surveyor program, and ultimately the Apollo program.
The Visitor Complex at Kennedy Space Center has reopened one of its must-see exhibits and just unveiled the Delta II display! With the Coronavirus still very much a hazard, the KSC Visitor Complex has implemented new procedures to keep you safe while still being able to see the amazing Saturn V. Additionally, the latest addition to the Rocket Garden was officially unveiled today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
SpaceX is continuing work on their Boca Chica facilities to support further launches and tests. New plans released by the US Army Corps of Engineers show some new additions that could be coming to the Starship launch site in the very near future.
After 29 years and 155 flights, United Launch Alliance retired the Delta II rocket. The final flight took place on September 15, 2018, delivering the NASA ICESat-2 satellite to orbit. Some notable payloads of Delta II are the Spirit and Opportunity Mars Rovers and most of the operational GPS satellites.
With the recent landing of Perseverance on the 18th and the first-of-its-kind video release on the 22nd, we are getting access to interplanetary imagery rivaled only by the Juno mission and its JunoCam. The website for the Perseverance rover will be the home for all the pictures, videos, and sounds taken by the rover for…
NASA recently submitted a permit detailing facility construction and modification plans to support its next Mobile Launch Platform for Space Launch System, the agency’s nearly complete rocket to the Moon. We first have to go back to where SLS all started with the Constellation program to understand why NASA is building a new Mobile Launch Platform.
The current Mobile Launcher, ML-1, was initially built for the Constellation program between 2009 and 2010. When the Constellation program was canned in October 2010, NASA started reworking ML-1 to support their new program for the Space Launch System. With the increased complexity and weight of SLS, issues quickly began to arise.
NASA invited media to Kennedy Space Center to witness the progress being made with the stacking of the SLS Solid Rocket Motors and to see the Orion Crew Capsule as it is being prepared to be moved to one of the final processing facilities before being stacked later this year.
