Space Explored

In an email sent to SpaceX employees, obtained by Space Explored, Elon Musk addressed the ‘crisis’ of Starship Raptor engine production and said the company could face a ‘genuine risk of bankruptcy’ if the company is unable to achieve a Starship flight rate of once every two weeks next year.

A leaked video from a SpaceX employee shows inside the nosecone of the company’s latest rocket – Starship.

SpaceX recently brought four astronauts home from the International Space Station who caught some amazing views of the ISS from inside the Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule.

While Kennedy Space Center’s Black Friday deal was a great way to save on annual passes, the Cyber Monday deal brings down the cost of a one-day ticket. Today only, with the purchase of an adult daily-admission ticket to KSCVC, you get a free child daily-admission ticket.

Roscosmos and NASA are in talks about the new Prichal docking module and allowing commercial spacecraft to dock to it, possibly relieving scheduling conflicts.

On this Thanksgiving week we had some major events and updates come from the spaceflight industry. Catch up on what happened below.

It’s Black Friday! A time to eat leftovers, lounge around the house, maybe find a Christmas tree, and shop Black Friday deals! The deals have been in full swing for a while now, from telescopes to Star Wars legos! Head below for our roundup of space-related deals!

Earlier this year, I reviewed the eVscope eQuinox. Now, the smart telescope is $300 cheaper, down to $2,699. It may not be the latest scope from Unistellar, but not much changed between the eQuinox and the eVscope 2, so it may be worth taking this deal. Head below the fold to see if this deal is right for you!

On Friday morning, Russian docked its new Prichal module to the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station.

While telescopes may not be the first thing to come to mind when you think of Black Friday savings, if you are interested in astronomy there are plenty of deals to help you get a jump start.

Stay tuned as we update this article throughout the week as more telescope deals come to light.

Kennedy Space Center is a worthwhile stop for any space fan in Florida, whether there is a launch going on or not. The Atlantis annual pass is already a great value, at less than the cost of two day tickets, but the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is making the deal even sweeter for Black Friday!

This week, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck shared his thoughts on reusable rockets and shared a new shiny Electron design during a press conference.

NASA announced Monday that the launch of its next-generation space telescope would move to December 22 after an issue with one of the adapter clamps caused vibrations to the observatory.

Update: NASA confirmed in a blog post that no additional damage was seen during testing.

Back in July, after Virgin Galactic flew its founder Richard Branson on its SpaceShipTwo spaceplane, the company announced a sweepstakes to win two tickets to space. On Wednesday, the company announced the winner and who they want to bring with them on the journey.

The company that disrupted the smallsat launch industry with its dedicated launcher plans to make the jump to a medium-class launcher. Rocket Lab announced the update would take place on December 2. Read below to learn what we know so far about Rocket Lab’s upcoming Neutron launcher.

Late last night SpaceX launched a double asteroid redirection test mission for NASA. The ~1,300 pound spacecraft will slam into Didymos’ moonlet following its 10-month journey.

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is set to launch tonight on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The launch will take place from Vandenberg Space Force Base, just north of Los Angeles. Here is how to watch DART’s launch.

On November 12, ARCAspace completed a test of the second stage of its EcoRocket. As the EcoRocket took to the sky, an FPV drone attempted to outpace the water-propelled rocket.

Unistellar announced its eVscope 2 back in September. The electronic telescope just needs to be connected to your phone, and then you can start admiring deep-sky objects invisible to the naked eye. It is an intriguing piece of tech, that’s for sure, but does it live up to its eye-watering $4,199 price tag (plus $59 shipping)?

This week we saw a significant milestone for the launch provider Astra but were also reminded how far we are from ensuring safe access to space for everyone. Read the top stores from space below.

Fourth time’s the charm for Astra! It has successfully reached orbit with its Rocket 3.3 vehicle, serial number LV0007. This mission follows the “powerslide launch” in which an engine failure lead to a terminated flight.

In a new permit application, Blue Origin lays out the foundation for its continued Florida presence long into the future. Blue details near and future improvements to the south campus of its manufacturing facility located in Exploration Park.