With the inclusion of Shelia Bordelon as SpaceX’s newest fairing recovery ship and confirmation from Elon Musk that fairings will no longer be caught with a net. The time has come to bid farewell to one of the long-time loves of the SpaceX fleet.
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This week join Space Explored’s Seth Kurkowski, Zac Hall, and Derek Wise as they discuss updates to SpaceX starship vehicle and recovery fleet, now having 10 crew members on the ISS, Core Stage 1’s ride to Florida has arrived, and more.
It’s always best to keep your skeptic hat on in cases like these. But a Las Vegas television station is running a story with pictures it claims are of the mysterious flying objects following US Navy warships off the California coast.
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We have been following the deployment of Ingenuity since it first landed on Mars, on the belly of Perseverance, back in February. NASA has been working towards the first flight of Ingenuity, which is scheduled to occur late on April 11th.
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Before Commercial Crew the Soyuz was the only way to the ISS and normally only two were ever docked, making up a crew size of no more than 6. Now with SpaceX’s Crew 1 is on board, upon MS-18’s arrival, there are now 10 crew members for Expedition 64.
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The Mars Helicopter Ingenuity is an exciting new development in planetary exploration. The ability to have powered, controlled flights on another planet opens up new possibilities for future robotic and, eventually, human missions. Years of work have led up to Ingenuitity’s first flight, no earlier than April 11th, and the teams at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are currently working through the helicopter’s 10-day long deployment process.
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Late last year Rocket Lab attempted its first recovery of an Electron rocket. Under the power of parachutes, the “Return to Sender” booster splashed down off the coast of New Zealand. While this booster didn’t return in a perfect reusable state, their next booster might fair better.
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Expedition 64 continues and the beginning of Expedition 65 begins as teams prepare to launch the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft carrying 2 Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut to the ISS in the beginning of April.
Date: Friday, April 9th, 3:42 AM EDT
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On April 7th, at 12:34pm ET, SpaceX launched 60 Starlink Satellites on top of a Falcon 9 rocket which lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
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SpaceX is planning to launch their 10th Falcon 9 rocket of 2021 with another 60 satellites for their worldwide internet constellation, Starlink. Seven out of SpaceX’s 10 launches this year have been missions solely dedicated to building out their constellation and expand Starlink’s coverage.
Date: Wednesday, April 7th, 12:34 PM EDT / 4:34 PM UTC
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Today Aerojet Rocketdyne’s plans to fire up an RS-25 engine at Stennis Space Center’s A1 test stand for another static fire test.
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Last week part of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket deorbited over the US states of Oregon and Washington. While most of the second stage of the rocket burned up as it flew through the atmosphere at orbital velocities. An internal tank made it to the ground.
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Orlando Pride unveiled on Wednesday their new jersey for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. It was released on the final day of women’s history month. The “Ad Astra” kit will serve for the next two seasons pays tribute to Central Florida’s Space Coast.
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In honor of the University of Houston’s journey to get o the Final Four in the NCAA’s March Madness tournament, Space Center Houston lit up their Falcon 9 booster red to celebrate.
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SpaceX isn’t the only company that employs a fleet of ships to help with launching their rockets to space. United Launch Alliance also has a ship built to transport its rockets from their facilities along the Mississippi River to the company’s launch sites on the east and west coasts.
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This week join Space Explored’s Seth Kurkowski and Derek Wise to discuss the flight of SpaceX’s Starship SN11 in zero visibility, the final two crew assignments for the first all commercial spaceflight, Ingenuity’s steps to get closer to flight readiness, and more of this week’s space news.
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.
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During a press conference today at their offices in Louisville, Colorado about the commercialization of low Earth orbit Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announced a plan to build a new space station in low Earth orbit. SNC has been a major defense and aerospace contractor since the 60s and is currently building the Dream Chaser spaceplane for NASA’s Commercial Resupply 2 contract and is projected to fly in 2022.
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During Inspiration 4’s “Meet the Crew” event earlier today, we were properly introduced to each of the four individuals who will be representing the best qualities of humanity as they fly to orbit as soon as September of this year.
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SpaceX’s first operational crewed mission for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program has been on the International Space Station (ISS) since November of last year. The crew is planning to prepare the station for a new group of astronauts coming up in April from both Russia and the US.
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SpaceX launched its Starship SN11 prototype rocket early Tuesday morning in the fog of South Texas. Visibility was extremely low. For example, onlookers were not able to view the rocket on the pad from a distance this time. Despite the hope of a successful landing, Starship SN11 was not the first to reach that milestone for SpaceX.
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Earlier this year Jared Isaacman announced that he was paying for four people to fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to space for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The twist was this was also a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Hospital and those who wanted to fly on the mission earned entries by donating to St. Jude or selling items and raising money for the hospital.
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The National Space Council which was reestablished in 2017 by President Trump to plan the United State’s space policy is being renewed by President Biden. This comes after a several months’ wait to hear the fate of the council and the User Advisory Group.
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After hopes were squashed due to the scrub of a duel static fire and flight day Friday. SpaceX is hoping to regroup and try again this coming Monday for the next attempt to fly Starship SN11 and more importantly bring it back in one piece.
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