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NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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A world-wide space leader

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first satellite into orbit. While it was a dummy payload, with very few scientific or military instruments on board, it stroke fear to non-communist countries around the world.

On the other side of the world, what was believed to be the Western Super power, the United States, was struggling to keep up with the Soviet Union. So in 1958, Congress drafted and approved the National Aeronautics and Space Act. It was then signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower on July 29, 1958. With that, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created.

NASA’s goal since then has been to develop new technologies for both use in our atmosphere and in space. It was also designed to lead the nations new civil space program in openness, a contrast to the Soviet Union.

Since then the agencies has grown and now leads the world in both funding and number of projects it can run. NASA has become the organizer of other space agencies to collaborate to do bigger things than what we could do on our own, as well as be the champion of commercial space applications. (Sometimes.)

NASA is headquartered in Washington DC, and the current interim administrator is Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.

Space Exploration

Since the agencies beginning, space exploration has been NASA’s primary mission. Beginning with Project Mercury, to Gemini, Apollo, the Space Shuttle, and now Artemis, NASA leads the world in expanding exploration of space.

International Space Station

Arguably the largest ongoing space mission that NASA is involved in is the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is a habitable modular space station involving five space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA. Construction of the orbital laboratory began on November 20, 1998.

NASA’s four enduring strategic goals are as follows:

  • Expand human knowledge via new scientific discoveries
  • Extend human presence deeper into space for sustainable, long-term utilization
  • Address national issues and catalyze economic growth
  • Optimize capabilities and operations

The Artemis Program

Currently, NASA’s major space exploration program is a daring adventure to return humanity to the Moon. The plan consists of the agency’s SLS rocket and Orion space capsule. The program originally started as a fully public program but has since switched over to using the growing commercial space sector to help develop parts of the program.

Artemis consists of multiple programs and contracts to meet its goal of returning humanity back to Moon sustainably and to stay this time. To do that, NASA has taken a big bet that in the future there will be a commercial market for access to the Moon.

NASA developed the primary launcher for crew, SLS and Orion, while it has partnered with the commercial industry for everything else. Contracts have been signed for NASA to purchase lunar landers, spacesuits, rovers, and resupply services commercially rather than owning the systems itself.

Eventually, NASA could be just one of many customers served by these services it helped create.

NASA’s moon-rocket moving crawler-transporter carries new world record

NASA’s crawler-transporter has been certified as the heaviest self-powered vehicle on Earth by Guinness World Records.

The agency’s Exploration Ground Systems was presented the certificate on March 29, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crawler-transporter 2, CT-2, is more than 6.6 million pounds and has the ability to transport up to 18 million pounds. It has technically held this record since 2016, after the completion of modifications it received to support the Artemis program and the Space Launch System rocket and its mobile launcher tower.

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NASA delayed Boeing Crewed Flight Test all the way back to July

Starliner Capsule secured to Atlas Rocket

It looked like Boeing would have a fantastic April with the launch of its first crewed flight of the Starliner spacecraft. However, now it seems like we’re going to have to wait until July before we see this milestone launch from the company to the International Space Station.

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Beyond borders: Human spaceflight poses unique challenges for physician licensing

With more people living and working in low Earth orbit, and eventually in deep space at the Moon or beyond, the need for a licensing framework for practicing medicine in space is becoming paramount.

The global space economy is forecast to be a trillion dollar industry by 2040, according to experts. As more people work or travel in space, the likelihood of accidents or other medical situations will increase.

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SpaceX CRS-27 Dragon resupply mission launches toward the International Space Station

Hot on the heels of the splashdown of the Crew-5 mission, SpaceX launched the uncrewed CRS-27 Dragon spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station.

Liftoff atop a Falcon 9 rocket came at 8:30 p.m. EDT March 14, 2023, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The autonomous spacecraft is set to dock to the ISS about a day later to deliver some 6,000 pounds (2,700 kilograms) of supplies to the seven-person Expedition 68 crew living aboard the orbiting laboratory.

@theresacross_

The Falcon 9 first stage that flew in support of this mission, B1073, successfully landed on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” less than 10 minutes after launch, which was positioned downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the seventh recovery for this booster.

Overall, this was SpaceX’s 17th launch of 2023 — the 16th for a Falcon 9 rocket. The company plans to fly as many as 100 missions this year.

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CRS-27 Dragon sending fresh science, hardware to Space Station

SpaceX is set to deliver thousands of pounds of hardware and science experiments to the International Space Station as part of the uncrewed CRS-27 Dragon resupply mission.

Liftoff atop a Falcon 9 rocket is slated for 8:25 p.m. EDT March 14 (12:25 UTC March 15), 2023, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This will be the 27th resupply mission to the orbiting laboratory under the company’s Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.

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SpaceX CRS-2

Launch Spotlight: CRS-27 – SpaceX set to launch the 27th space station resupply mission

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 14, 2022, at 8:30 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry a Cargo Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station carrying food, science, and other supplies for the Commercial Resupply Services 27 (CRS-27) mission.

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SpaceX successfully launches Crew-6 mission to ISS with second-ever UAE astronaut on board

spacex launch of crew-6

After aborting during an issue with loading Falcon 9’s ignition fluid, SpaceX successfully lifted off from historic LC-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with the sixth crew rotation in part of the Commercial Crew Program. This mission is unique, as it carries the first long-duration mission of a UAE astronaut, thanks to a partnership with Axiom.

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SpaceX scrubs Crew-6 launch due to issue with TEA-TEB loading [Update: Thursday launch date]

crew-6 scrub walkout

It was a relatively quiet countdown last night, with SpaceX showing that they know what they’re doing and hitting all the milestones early during Crew-6’s launch preparations. Unfortunately, however, no good deed goes unpunished because the company ran into an issue when loading a rather nasty part of the propellant for Falcon 9’s launch.

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