Today NASA released software for their Autonomous Flight Termination Unit to the launch industry. This has been the primary reason for Rocket Lab’s delays in launching from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia.

Georgia Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett Sr. issued a temporary restraining order to block Camden County from buying the land for Spaceport Camden Tuesday. The land acquisition now could depend on the results of a special election.

NASA has selected Dragon’s commander and pilot for SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission. The International Space Station rotation mission is expected to take place in the Spring of 2023.

A leaked video from a SpaceX employee shows inside the nosecone of the company’s latest rocket – Starship.

As SpaceX and the FAA work towards closing out the Starship/Super Heavy Environmental Assessment, more details have been released. Transcripts from the two virtual public hearings about the PEA were released along with an estimated timeline for the Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment being released. This date is currently December 31, 2021.

SpaceX launched its 128th Falcon 9 rocket early Saturday morning, carrying 53 Starlink satellites. They are destined for a 560 km orbit and will begin the fourth orbital shell of the Starlink constellation. An unusual amount of fog came over the launch pad, making for some great photos.

NASA Office of Stem Engagement awarded $28 million to jurisdictions around the country today to keep their research competitive compared to other programs with more outside funding, details below.

NASA has awarded $28 million to fund the next five years of research infrastructure development across 28 jurisdictions. The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), a part of NASA’s Office of Stem Engagement and based out of the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, supports science and technology research and development at colleges and universities while also funding studies in Earth science, aeronautics, and human and robotic deep space exploration – all of which are disciplines critical to the NASA mission.

Started almost 30 years ago, EPSCoR focuses on 25 states and three territories, and seeks to lessen the disparity in funding between states across the nation to create an equitable competition in aerospace and aerospace-related research activities. While California receives 12% of all federal research funding, all 28 EPSCoR jurisdictions combined receive less than 10%, so participating states and territories depend heavily on these research investments. NASA funds these areas so they remain competitive in the aerospace research and development field.

The EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development award further strengthens long-term research capabilities by pledging $200,000 a year to each of the 28 jurisdictions for the next half decade, increasing and diversifying technology and research development, higher education, and economic development on both a state and national level.

EPSCoR also solicits proposals for Rapid Response Research, which awards funding to researchers as they work with NASA on issues impacting the agency’s mission and programs, as well as International Space Station collaborations and suborbital flight opportunities, which provide researchers the opportunity to fly mature research projects in low-Earth orbit.

Jurisdictions receiving the RID awards are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, the U.S. Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

To learn more about EPSCoR, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/stem/epscor/home/index.html

This World Space Week, NASA has joined in, sharing a new graphic novel about the first woman to go to the Moon.

As a part of World Space Week, astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Vice President Kamala Harris have teamed up in a new NASA video to inspire kids to get interested in space.

AstroAccess has selected 12 ambassadors to fly on a parabolic, weightless flight. Ambassadors with mobility, vision, and hearing disabilities will test the design for accessibility in zero-gravity and high gravity environments. Coinciding with World Space Week, the crew announced today will seek to advance disability inclusion in space.

NASA and FEMA are hosting a forum to discuss what the agencies are doing to combat climate change and discuss data gathered by the agencies.

Roscosmos is preparing to launch two private citizens and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station for a week and a half to film scenes for a movie called Challenge. NASA will provide live coverage of the launch.

DARPA announced the successful flight of a hypersonic air-breathing weapon concept. The test brings the project one step closer to expanding U.S. military capabilities.

For decades, NASA has used mostly modified motorhomes to transport astronauts to the launch pad. Now, NASA is requesting proposals for the Agency’s next Astrovan.