Space Explored

Over the next 24 hours, NASA teams will begin to move the agency’s fully stacked Space Launch System rocket to LC-39B for the very first time. After decades of redesigns and delays, the rocket has finally been assembled and will be at its launch site in a final testing stage before its inaugural launch. Follow below with our rollout tracker of SLS’s progress across NASA’s Crawlerway as it makes the slow journey.

Update: Reached LC-39B

The joint ESA and Russian Martian mission was expected to launch this year, but due to sanctions brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, ESA has decided to suspend its cooperation.

Today Netflix released the trailer of “Return To Space,” announcing a documentary on how NASA and SpaceX returned human spaceflight to the US after a nine-year hiatus.

In his latest prediction, SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter that he expects humans to land on Mars in 2029.

At the beginning of February, James Webb Space Telescope captured its very first images. Now the 18 mirrors have been aligned, bringing the star to a single, in focus point.

After years of delays and cost overruns, the much-anticipated Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are set to roll out to Launch Complex 39B on Thursday, March 17 at the Kennedy Space Center.

Update: Stream time changed to 5:45 p.m. EDT (delayed 45 minutes)

Astra launched its LV0009 Rocket 3 from Kodiak, Alaska, with three payloads from launch services company Spaceflight Inc. While there seemed to be some hiccup during deployment, Astra announced that all payloads are communicating with its customers.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei has broken Scott Kelly’s previous record of 340 days set back in 2016 for the longest US single spaceflight record.

Today NASA confirmed that it is prepared to support the rollout of the Space Launch System rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B on March 17 at 5 p.m. EDT. The roll is expected to take around 11 hours from start to hard down at the pad. After years of waiting and delays, we are about to see this beast of a vehicle roll for the first time.

Rumors circulated Monday after Dmitry Rogozin, Roscosmos’ Directer-General, posted on his Telegram channel that the Russians would not bring NASA Astronaut Mark Vande Hei back down from the space station. However, cooperation continues between the two agencies behind the scenes to ensure the partnership does not cease.

Elon Musk founded SpaceX on March 14, 2002, paving the way for two remarkable decades transforming the aerospace industry in ways never thought possible.

Blue Origin is preparing for its fourth human flight, and as previously rumored, SNL star Pete Davidson will take the flight this time around.

Starship HLS work is underway, booster stacking continued, and a potential payload dispenser was installed as another busy week at Starbase comes to a close.

On March 9, we learned that in addition to the Starlink terminals SpaceX has been sending to help keep Ukraine online, another Elon Musk company, Tesla, has been fabricating cables and shipping out Tesla Powerwall units to help keep the terminals powered. Now, a video sent to our sister-site Electrek shows how the units can be set up to provide a more mobile power solution.

Spaceport Camden took a significant setback in a referendum as Camden County voters overwhelmingly voted against a deal to purchase land for the project. So now the Board of Commission will have to find a new way to get the spaceport built.

Upon request, SpaceX quickly took action to help Ukraine stay online during Russia’s invasion. In late February, SpaceX sent the first batch of Starlink user terminals to help keep the country online through infrastructure outages. The terminals have already helped keep the country connected and emergency services online, but Elon Musk’s company is not done helping in ways that governments around the world cannot.

This may seem repetitive, but SpaceX launched its newest batch of Starlink satellites from Florida in the early mornings of March 9. During the count down, SpaceX poked fun at being called a “broomstick” by Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin.

In a press release on March 7, Astra released preliminary information about what happened during its ELaNa 41 mission last month. In it, Astra’s LV0008 Rocket 3 suffered from one anomaly, but two.