As the transition from government-owned crew launch rockets to commercial providers arrives, NASA launch integration is in a very different position than it has been with other human spaceflight programs like Apollo and Shuttle. With all launches, hundreds of thousands of things have to align perfectly for a rocket to lift off. And many of those things aren’t on the rocket but are nonetheless vital, like […]
NASA Space Flight
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After years of development and testing, Virgin Orbit is preparing to conduct its first orbital launch attempt. The maiden flight of the air-launched LauncherOne rocket is scheduled for Monday, May 25, in a window from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PDT (17:00 to 21:00 UTC). (Lead photo via Jack Beyer for NSF/L2) The attempt was originally scheduled for Sunday, May 24, but operations were scrubbed due to […]
There’s an age-old joke amongst those who work with/launch rockets and those who cover their missions: If the rocket is ready to go, the weather will force you to try again another day. But why do NASA, the 45th Space Wing of the Space Force, their safety officers, and all launch providers make such a big deal about the weather? Who cares if it’s raining 18 […]
The path to regaining US domestic crew launch capability passed another major milestone on Friday, with the Demo-2 mission approved at the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) level during a two-day meeting at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Approval at the FRR provided the mission with NASA’s Certification Of Flight Readiness (CoFR). With Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon currently sat on Pad 39A in preparation for a […]
SpaceX is readying a Falcon 9 rocket for its static fire test ahead of the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission. The static fire is part of the ongoing series of final tests and reviews before SpaceX embarks on its first human spaceflight mission. The test is scheduled to take place today no earlier than 16:33 EDT (20:33 UTC). The test is the final time NASA has to […]
Russia’s Aerospace Forces launched a Soyuz-2-1b rocket Friday, carrying a satellite designed to give the Kremlin advance warning of missile attacks. Soyuz lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at about 10:46 Moscow Time (07:46 UTC), beginning a multi-hour mission to deliver the Tundra No.4 satellite into an elliptical Molniya orbit. Friday’s launch carried the fourth Tundra satellite into orbit. Tundra spacecraft, which form part of Russia’s […]
It’s a cliché statement to say Demo-2 will usher in a new era for human space exploration. That much is certain. But with each new crew launch vehicle comes the inevitable question: how will Crew Dragon actually perform a launch abort and how will it aim itself to predetermined locations in the Atlantic Ocean stretching from the Kennedy Space Center across to the western Irish coast? […]
A sentence I have waited almost nine years to write: A flight crew has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, for launch to the International Space Station. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley landed at the Florida spaceport at 15:52 EDT (19:52 UTC) today; their arrival marks the start of the final week of launch preparations. Activities include final familiarization of Bob and Doug and the […]
A sentence I have waited almost nine years to write: A flight crew is en route to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, for launch to the International Space Station. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are expected to land at the Florida spaceport at 16:00 EDT (20:00 UTC) today; their arrival marks the start of the final week of launch preparations. Activities include final familiarization of Bob […]
Japan’s H-IIB rocket will make its final flight Thursday, launching the ninth and last H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) spacecraft to the International Space Station. Liftoff from the Tanegashima Space Centre is planned for an instantaneous window at 02:31:00 local time (17:31 UTC on Wednesday). The H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as part of its contribution to the International […]
Doug Loverro has resigned as Associate Administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate. Deputy Associate Administrator Ken Bowersox will serve as the acting leader of the directorate. (Lead image via NASA – Jim Bridenstine and Ken Bowersox testify during a House subcommittee hearing) Loverro’s resignation is the second time in less than a year that NASA’s head of human spaceflight has changed. Last […]
NASA has laid out plans for their future utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) over the next decade, including upgrades scheduled to be conducted on the outpost in the near term, its future use as an analog for human exploration missions beyond Earth Orbit, and the commercial expansion to the orbital outpost. During the NASA Advisory Council meeting, Kirk Shireman, NASA’s head of the ISS […]
The United States Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane will begin its sixth mission with launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Saturday. Atlas is due to lift off from Cape Canaveral during a two-hour, 29-minute window that opens at 08:24 EDT (12:24 UTC), with deployment of the X-37B into low Earth orbit likely to occur about twenty minutes later. Built by Boeing, the X-37B Orbital […]
Hands-on operations with the Space Launch System (SLS) resumed this week, following a lengthy standdown due to the restrictions relating to COVID-19. This included a return to Green Run preparations at the Stennis Space Center, with “limited crews” preparing the Artemis-1 core stage on the B-2 test stand for what will be one of the most defining tests relating to the launch date. That maiden launch […]
Updated plans in Low Earth Orbit and beyond now include replacing the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation and flight testing Orion’s rendezvous and docking systems. These goals were highlighted in a meeting of the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) committee of the NASA Advisory Council Wednesday. (Lead image by Mack Crawford for NSF/L2) The topics discussed by the committee surround a common theme of […]
Planet Labs Inc. has announced they will launch six SkySat satellites, SkySat 16-21, on Falcon 9 rockets as rideshare missions on two Starlink launches. These six satellites will help provide Planet with more imaging coverage to complement the 15 other SkySat satellites, SkySat 1-15, in Sun-Synchronous Orbits (SSO). (Lead Image: Julia Bergeron, NSF) Over the spring and summer, Planet will launch SkySat 16-21 on two Falcon […]
One of NASA’s biggest facilities, the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), is bringing its vast experience into play for the long-awaited return of US domestic crew launch capability. The center’s Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) has been conducting reviews and running sims associated with the Demo-2 (DM-2) mission that is scheduled to launch at the end of this month. While most fans of the space program […]
A Chinese Kuhaizhou-1A (Y6) rocket has launched the first two operational satellites for the Xingyun narrowband constellation. The launch took place at 01:16 UTC on Tuesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The two satellites Xingyun-2 (01) ‘Wuhan’ and Xingyun-2 (02) were developed by the Xingyun Satellite Co., a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), Sanjiang Group, in Wuhan. The first satellite of […]
The NG-13 Cygnus resupply vehicle has been released from the grip of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to begin its EOM (End Of Mission) events. Cygnus will spend two weeks on orbit, deploying a pair of nanosatellites and conducting experiments before ending its life with a destructive re-entry at the end of the month. NG-13’s mission began with a launch atop the Antares rocket […]
United Launch Alliance is proceeding smoothly through the final round of preflight elements of the Atlas V rocket tasked with launching the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane on its sixth mission next week. The Atlas V 501 rocket is slated to lift off from SLC-41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Saturday, 16 May. The precise launch time this day has not yet […]
China’s new generation crew capsule successfully returned to Earth in the early hours of Thursday. Returning under three red and white parachutes, the capsule landed safely under the cushion of airbags at 05:49 UTC on the dry Dongfeng landing zone, Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Designated in the Chinese press as Xinyidai Zairen Feichuan – Shiyan Chuan, the capsule was launched on the maiden flight of the […]
NASA is extending its RS-25 engine production contract with Aerojet Rocketdyne through the rest of the decade, a move that guarantees a steady supply of liquid-fueled engines for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage. This consolidates Aerojet Rocketdyne’s RS-25 engine contracts, ensuring they continue to prepare the 16 RS-25 flight engines inherited from the Space Shuttle Program for the first four SLS missions while […]
Firefly has announced that they have received the AS9100 Quality Certification. This will allow Firefly to move from the development phase to the production phase as Firefly is getting ready for the maiden flight of the Alpha rocket. Firefly passed all of the quality requirements in order to receive the AS9100 Quality Certification. The AS9100 certification is a quality management practice that is widely used and […]
An Emirati-built Mars explorer, named Al Amal (“Hope” in English) and developed by engineers at the Mohammed bin Rashed Space Centre, has been shipped to the JAXA-run Tanegashima Space Center for final checkouts and preparations ahead of its launch aboard an H-IIA rocket. The launch window for this mission is currently scheduled to open July 14th, with an arrival at the Red Planet set for 2021. […]