Space Explored

If you’ve taken a cruise in the past, I don’t know, ever? You’ll know that internet connection is spotty at best. I mean you are floating out in the ocean. However, thanks to advancements in internet services via satellites, your next cruise might get much better internet and this partnership between SpaceX and SES might make it happen.

Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 03 mission was different from its previous missions in a number of ways. One of those additions was the carrying on of fossilized bones of ancient human ancestors by one of the participants. This act has raised some questions by scientist in the field.

Today Axiom Space announced who will be flying to the ISS early next year on the third private astronaut mission. This mission will feature a return Axiom astronaut as well as an all European crew.

Friday Virgin Galactic launched its latest commercial missions out of New Mexico. However this time there was no fanfare, livestream, or post launch interviews with the customers. They simply went up, had fun, and came back down.

Firefly Aerospace and Millennium Space Systems have come together to showcase a demonstration mission called Victus Nox with the aim of setting a new industry standard for rapid satellite deployment. Last year, the two companies were chosen to conduct this mission, designed to demonstrate a 24-hour rapid-response capability for launching satellites into low Earth orbit for the U.S. Space Force.

With ULA sneaking in its first Atlas V launch between issues in this series, the only exciting launch I have to discuss this week is Russia’s crew rotation to the ISS. While it might seem like the only topic, it is indeed a significant event. MS-24, a crewed Soyuz mission, will replace the crew of MS-22, who have been in space for approximately a year.

Back on April 20, SpaceX launched their Starship rocket from Boca Chica, Texas. The test was a major milestone for the program which had previously spent 4 years in development, starting in 2019. The launch used Starship vehicle ‘Ship 24’ and Booster 7 (also known as B7). Together the two vehicles launched into the Texan skies, where issues rapidly started developing. The issues eventually resulted in the vehicle entering an uncontrolled spin, whereafter the vehicle was remotely destroyed over the Gulf of Mexico.

After months of investigations by both SpaceX and the FAA, both parties have finished going over all the data and have signed off on the root causes of Starship’s first launch. The FAA was the final one to do so and signed off on the plan SpaceX proposed to ensure Starship won’t fail again (in the same way at least).

India’s lunar lander and rover have completed its main missions and have now moved on to secondary goals, one of which will see if it can survive the lunar night. The other was a bold hop across the surface to gather science in some slightly different pastures.

After completing the stacking of the company’s second Starship rocket, Elon Musk announced the rocket is ready to launch. However there are a few more hurdles to finish that could lead to some down time before it can really fly.

A pension fund is suing Amazon over its contract to launch Kuiper satellites on Blue Origin, ULA, and Arianespace rockets because SpaceX was not included in the discussion. The suit argues that Bezos’ rivalry with Elon Musk created contracts that did not best meet the company’s fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders.

SpaceX is seemingly all in on X as its media distribution tool. Over the weekend the commercial launch provider ended streaming its launches and Dragon operations on YouTube in favor of exclusive coverage on the social media platform also owned by SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

We’re coming up on one year since we’ve last seen Firefly launch its Alpha rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base. That wait will soon be over as the company announced it’s currently waiting on word from the US Space Force for its third launch, sometime within the next six months.

A slow week at least here in the US when it comes to spaceflight activities but we do have an exciting moment Friday. With Virgin Galactic planning its third flight the end of this week, they are trying to keep their momentum going with a truly incredible launch rate.

Venturi Astrolab, the developer of the Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover, has inked an agreement with SpaceX that is set to propel its innovative rover to the lunar surface aboard a Starship flight. This ambitious mission, scheduled for a potential launch in mid-2026, marks SpaceX’s first-ever commercial cargo contract for lunar delivery.

It’s been an entire week since Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon, putting India in a small club of those who can do it. Since then ISRO has been sharing photos from its lander and rover, as well as some early science results. On Wednesday, ISRO treated us to a photo of the Chandrayaan-3 lander, on the surface of the Moon, courtesy of the small rover that tagged along for the ride.

Between the increasing need and decreasing budgets, NASA’s Deep Space Network is running into constraints during big missions like Artemis 1. DSN’s director is concerned the lack of funding to expand deep space communications and the continued requirement to drop everything for these missions will harm NASA’s other science missions.

It’s clear the James Webb Space Telescope was set to stun in newly released galactic portraits of galaxy M51. Researchers tapped into two of the telescope’s powerful infrared instruments to capture the distant object. Let’s take a look!

On Wednesday, August 30th, we’ll have our second full moon of the month! This occurrence is known as a “blue moon,” and just as the saying goes, it doesn’t happen often.

What makes this blue moon even more special is that it also coincides with a supermoon creating a rare event that won’t happen again until 2037. Here’s what time the rare blue supermoon occurs in different areas of the world…

On Rocket Lab’s 40th Electron rocket launch, the company successfully re-debuted the Rutherford engine, but this time it was flight-proven. After a last-minute change, Capella Space’s latest satellite was deployed into orbit using a recoverable variant of the Electron with one of its nine first-stage engines being reused from a previous mission.

Early Saturday morning a crew of four astronauts from around the globe lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon 9 for a six-month stay on the International Space Station. The crew is currently in transit to the ISS, and expecting to arrive Sunday morning.

The Department of Justice announced Thursday that they are suing SpaceX over hiring practices that might have discriminated against non-US citizens and asylum/refugee seekers. This is not the first time this topic has been brought up about SpaceX but after years of investigation, the DOJ seems ready to bring suit.