The shiny new droneship SpaceX built in Louisiana has done its first mission this weekend. A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG) returned to Port Canaveral with its first booster on top.
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Following a successful flight to space, Richard Branson announced that Virgin Galactic is partnering with Omaze for a trip giveaway for you and a guest.
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The upcoming Inspiration4 mission to space won’t just make history as the “world’s first all-civilian human spaceflight mission to orbit” as it’s frequently described. The four crew members aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft will participate in a new health research study during the three-day journey in space.
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The newest addition to SpaceX’s fleet, Doug, has finished its trip from Port Fourchon, Louisiana to Port Canaveral, Florida, arriving late Monday night.
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NASA is sending astronauts back to the Moon for the first since Apollo 17 in 1972. The new space exploration program is called Artemis, and the first Artemis mission is just months away from happening. A new report though begs the question of when will NASA truly launch Artemis 1?
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Cosmonauts aboard the ISS have discovered cracks on the space station’s oldest module, Zarya.
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Yesterday, reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed that Apple would be including satellite communication features as part of the iPhone 13. Today, Bloomberg confirmed the news, clarifying that the upcoming iPhones would include hardware capable of communicating with low-earth orbit satellites, but the software to use it may not be enabled initially.
Bloomberg says Apple is focusing on helping users in emergency situations. For instance, satellites will allow users to send texts to first responders, even in remote locations without cell service. However, Bloomberg cautions that “the features are unlikely to be ready before next year”.
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Developers for Kerbal Space Program 2 released a video on their YouTube channel showing off some creations they have been working on.
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Hurricane Ida first made landfall at Port Fourchon a port we know very well due to its connection to the SpaceX ships that have undergone there. The storm has been pounding the Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines for the past 24 hours.
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This week Astra launched their 5th test rocket which didn’t reach orbit again, both SpaceX and Blue Origin launched missions for NASA, and emails possibly leaked from ULA show their dark side.
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The iPhone 12 has been a massive sales hit for Apple thanks to the launch of 5G. It seems Apple wants to keep the momentum by adding another new radio technology to the iPhone this year. In an investor note, Ming-Chi Kuo today said that he expects the upcoming iPhone 13 models to feature a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite communication mode. This would allow an iPhone 13 user to send messages and make phone calls, even when they are not within standard 4G/5G cell tower coverage.
Bloomberg first reported Apple’s investigations into using satellite technology to beam data to iPhones in a story from 2019. However, this is the first time we have heard that the feature is coming as part of the 2021 iPhone 13 lineup.
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After weather scrubbed SpaceX’s first attempt to launch CRS-23, they will be trying again tonight. This mission will feature a Falcon 9 rocket launching the company’s Dragon 2 cargo vehicle to the International Space Station. This will be SpaceX’s 23rd mission for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services program and 3rd for the CRS-2 contract.
Date: Sunday, August 29th at 3:14 a.m. EDT
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A surprise to those focused on Astra’s orbital launch attempt today, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and the crew of Inspiration4 took to the skies for a flyover of Starbase this afternoon.
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Saturday Astra attempted their 5th test flight of one of their smallsat launchers from Kodiak Island, Alaska. While Astra’s Rocket 3.3 did not make it to space this time, it did give watchers a show when it slightly recovered after an engine failure.
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Astra plans to launch their first commercial mission on top of their Rocket 3 vehicle. While the rocket has yet to reach orbit, the issue that caused the shortcoming was very minor and Astra is confident it will make it to orbit this time on this 4th launch. The payload on this mission will be the first of 2 demonstration missions for the US Space Force named STP-27AD1. This mission will be the companies first launch of the year.
Date: Friday, August 28th at 6:35 p.m. EDT
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The popular star-gazing app Sky Guide exclusively for iOS recently got the biggest update in its 8 year history, adding numerous new features and introducing a free entry-level version for the first time.
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In the last two years, we have seen SpaceX go from building circular rings in a dirt patch to having a full rocket factory in South Texas. On this day 2 years ago their first creation, Starhopper, makes its famed 150-meter flight.
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After the successful first crewed flight last month, Blue Origin launched 17th New Shepard mission full of scietific payloads for NASA and other researchers.
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Several users of SpaceX’s satellite-based internet service, Starlink, have reported the service is not working, showing the possibility of a global outage. Starlink currently operates in beta, and SpaceX warns that outages are possible while the satellite constellation is built out.
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Departing today, was SpaceX’s shiny new droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG) ahead of their CRS-23 mission to resupply the International Space Station for NASA.
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Six internal emails were leaked this week that share statements from United Launch Alliance Vice President Robbie Sabathier to a lobbyist about NASA’s “incompetent” leaders and favoritism towards SpaceX.
The emails leaked from the ULA employee also contain wild speculation that contracts awarded to SpaceX by NASA were tied to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s inferred support for former President Trump.
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Tuesday NASA released a video on their YouTube channel that went over why we are heading back to the Moon and what we expect we can learn from going.
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Ars Technica reported Tuesday that Blue Origin has rolled out the first test tank for their “Project Jarvis” New Glenn upper stage. Ars photographer Trevor Mahlmann captured photos showing the tank’s movement at Blue’s site on LC-36 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
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On this day 15 years ago, children across the world had to come up with a new way to remember the names of the planets in the solar system. No more pizzas were coming from our educated mothers, instead it would be… nachos?
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