Space Explored

SpaceX recently launched a new add-on service for Starlink that allows customers to use the service from anywhere in the same continent as their home address.

You might be familiar with the LC-39A Observation Gantry if you’re an avid launch viewer. For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began back in 2020, the visitor complex is offering tickets to view a rocket launch from there.

Earlier today, Rocket Lab launched its ‘There and Back Again’ mission. This was the first Electron launch to feature an air-based recovery, using a helicopter to catch the first stage that was descending under parachute. While the catch seemed good, and Rocket Lab confirmed success, groans heard from mission control made it clear that all was not quite as expected.

Reusability is a growing trend in spaceflight – from reusable capsules, space planes, and rocket boosters. Rocket Lab is going all-in on reusability with its Neutron rocket, as is SpaceX with its Starship, but before then, Rocket Lab has adapted and improved its Electron rocket for recovery and reuse.

The Axiom-I private astronaut mission that launched on April 8 was only supposed to be a ten day journey. After weather delayed their return, the Axiom crew is back on Earth, making way for NASA and ESA astronauts to take their place.

Booster 7 is SpaceX‘s most recent Super Heavy booster to undergo testing, and a newly leaked photograph shows pretty serious damage inside the booster.

The flying bug bit me young. Seeing movies like Top Gun and catching The Blue Angels in my formative years had me ready to run and join the Navy right out of high school and fly Hornets off the deck of a carrier. To hell with a little propeller plane, I needed to be in a jet. The idea was to “Go fast or go home!” But, as with many of us, life took me in a different direction.

You might have forgotten about Mars‘ two little moons. Smaller and not so circular, they aren’t as crazy as those found around Jupiter or Saturn. However, they are still special because we can see them pass in front of the Sun like our own, and through Perseverance, we can see Mars’ solar eclipses with better resolution than ever before.

Jeff Babione, a former VP at Lockheed Martin, has joined Sierra Space as the company’s new COO.

During remarks at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Vice President Kamala Harris said that the US would take a stance and no longer conduct destructive anti-satellite tests and hopes to lead the globe on the “rules and norms” of space.

Rocket Lab announced a new agreement to launch fifteen satellites for HawkEye 360, a Virginia-based geospatial analytics company. The first of these mission, which will be a rideshare mission, is expected to launch no earlier than December 2022, and will be the company’s first launch from the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia.

The ten-day stay on the space station is up for the Axiom-1 crew, and now they must return home, although they did get a short extension to their visit. Learn below how to watch the coverage of Axiom-1’s undocking and splashdown.

After a month of sitting out on LC-39B, NASA’s first Space Launch System Moon rocket will be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building after failing to finish its Wet Dress Rehearsal three times. NASA will fix the faulty equipment and roll the rocket back out for another attempt.

In the early afternoon on Monday, April 18, the Crew-4 Astronauts, three NASA astronauts and an ESA astronaut, arrived at Kennedy Space Center ahead of their launch to the International Space Station scheduled for Saturday morning.

Starship development across Starbase and Florida has continued at a pace over the past week with progress on present and future vehicles and the scrapping of past vehicles, as Ship 21 met its fate.

With the huge success of SpaceX’s six crewed launches since 2020, the casual spaceflight observer might have forgotten about Boeing‘s entry into the Commercial Crew Program. They have been quiet for a while, but Boeing has finally announced the launch date for the second try of the Starliner OFT-2 mission.

NASA’s flagship Mars rover Perseverance has been exploring Jezero Crater for over a year now. As it traveled to its newest destination, Perseverance spotted its own parachute that it used to descend towards Mars’ surface safely.