This week on Rapid Unscheduled Discussions Seth and Daryl discuss Wally Funk going to space, Europa Clipper moving to Falcon Heavy, Elon meme page on TikTok, and sports got brought up more than it should.
At the beginning of this month, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made a daring flight that would trek over 600 meters, at speeds of up to 5 m/s for just under 3 minutes. A user created an animation of the Ingenuity’s flight so you can see it from any angle.
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This week on the Space Explored Podcast Seth and Derek discuss what it means for Jeff Bezos to go to space, new Super Heavy boosters, Europa Clipper getting a new ride to Jupiter, and more.
Yesterday NASA shared a video to their YouTube channel celebrating the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program. In it, they discuss how far we’ve come since then and what is to come after.
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Update: Skittles will not be selling these in stores but rather giving a select few away on their social media platforms.
Along with the fancy watches, sapphire dotted wings, and national media attention, the crew of Blue Origin’s NS-16 flight also carried some Skittles with them to space. Now the company will give away a number of limited-edition Skittles Zero-G pack of the candies on their social media channels.
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NASA Astronaut Matthew Dominick visited ULA’s SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to check out Starliner and shared an interesting photo of the VIF’s floors.
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Over the last two weeks, we saw the first two private commercial space flights. Both companies pinned their participants with their versions of “Astronaut Wings” but are they real astronauts? The FAA just released their requirements for the title of astronaut.
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In May of this year, Rocket Lab attempted to launch their 20th mission to space. The mission ended with failure of the Electron’s upper stage, but now they are ready to move on to their next flight.
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This week we welcome the addition of a new podcast for Space Explored, Rapid Unscheduled Discussions. Started by Seth Kurkowski and Daryl Sausse at the beginning of 2020. The show takes a more laid-back and humorous approach to discussing current events. This week they go over what they missed over their (rather long) two-week break.
This morning Blue Origin is planning their first crewed flight of their suborbital New Shepard rocket. The crew will be Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, legendary aviator Wally Funk, and early ticket holder Oliver Daemen.
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Update: A video was shared on social media showing the progress on the X-Wing that has been made since it arrived at the museum for restoration work.
Happy Star Wars Day to everyone, and if you’re an avid fan of the sci-fi series then you know what an X-Wing is. Good news for anyone wanting to see one cause starting tomorrow you can at the National Air and Space Museum.
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Space Explored’s Seth Kurkowski and Derek Wise discuss SpaceX’s new droneship locations. As Of Course I Still Love You arrives in California and A Shortfall of Gravitas arrives in Florida. Long-time astronaut Doug Hurley retires from the astronaut corp and they try to answer the question of what to call Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson.
Friday, July 16th, NASA announced that veteran astronaut Doug Hurley will retire from his career within the Astronaut Office. Hurley’s career has spanned the retirement of the shuttle, activation of SpaceX’s dragon, and an overall change in NASA’s culture.
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Before yesterday’s game between the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres, the Vice Chief of Space Operations threw out the first pitch alongside other Space Force Guardians.
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Update: Blue Origin spoke with CNBC about the reasoning for Daemen’s selection.
Blue Origin announced today that the fourth member of the NS-16 crew will be an 18-year-old from the Netherlands who bought a ticket on the New Shepard rocket.
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Over the few months, SpaceX’s newest droneship has made baby steps towards operation. The next step is coming close to an end as it approaches its homeport in Florida.
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On July 20th Blue Origin will attempt to launch their founder and a group of explorers to the edge of space with their first crewed mission. Blue shared details on where and when to watch the flight, but the public will be pushed far away.
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Today the European Space Agency announced they will add a kick stage option to their upcoming Ariane 6 rocket. The addition brings expands the payload capabilities for the rocket.
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Those who remember watching Space Shuttle launches on NASA TV may remember the iconic white suits of the Shuttle’s Close Out Crew. Now you can get up close with a suit at the National Air and Space Museum’s building in Virginia.
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The Wall Street Journal has been able to confirm that Elon Musk has bought a ticket on Virgin Galactic. Although Musk himself hasn’t said anything.
Today we witnessed history as the first fully crewed flight of Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane VSS Unity. This was one of the final test flights before Galactic begin flying paying customers next year.
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The moment that Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group founder, has been waiting to do for decades has come. He will finally join an elite group of people to ride a vehicle into space with Virgin Galactic’s first fully crewed mission.
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It has been known for a while that Northrop Grumman will be the company tasked with building one of the most important modules on NASA’s Gateway station. It took a while, but now the company has finalized the firm, fixed-priced contract worth $935 million.
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With the upcoming flight of Richard Branson on Unity22 this weekend it’s easy to say there’s probably some tension between Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. But instead of raising to the occasion and celebrating the strives of their industry, Blue Origin throws a low blow and trashes Galactic on a technicality.
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SpaceX retired their two fairing catching ships earlier this year and moved on to contracted vessels for scooping the fairings out of the water. Below is a look at what trying to catching those fairings looked like for the crew.
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