Starlink 6-43 Slated for Sunday

Starlink 6-43 Slated for Sunday

March 9, 2024Posted inSpace News, SpaceX, Starlink
Booster B1077 prior to its last launch, North Grumman NG-20
Photo: Charles Boyer / FMN

SpaceX plans to launch the Starlink 6-43 mission Sunday, March 10 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

The payload will be another tranche of 23 Starlink satellites that will be ferried low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. According to the company on Saturday, March 10th, “liftoff is targeted for 7:05 p.m. ET, with backup opportunities available until 11:03 p.m. ET. If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Monday, March 11 starting at 6:40 p.m. ET.”

Starship Environmental Impact Study Public Meetings Wrap Up

March 8, 2024Posted inSpace News, SpaceX, Uncategorized, US Space Force
SpaceX Starship Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX Starship Credit: SpaceX

On March 7, 2023, the US Space Force, along with the Department of the Air Force, held the third of three in-person meetings in the Cape Canaveral / Titusville area, The purpose of the meetings was to provide information about a proposed Environmental Impact Study that would ultimately see SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy rocket launch and land at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

“Holes In The Clouds” Appear Over Florida’s Offshore Waters

“Holes In The Clouds” Appear Over Florida’s Offshore Waters

March 5, 2024Posted inFlorida News, NASA
Cavum or “Holepunch” clouds seen January 30, 2024, from using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Photo NASA
Cavum or “Holepunch” clouds seen January 30, 2024, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Photo NASA

Famed Florida fine-arts photographer Clyde Butcher once said, “Out west, they have their mountains. We have our clouds.” Butcher’s observation was spot-on. The Sunshine State is home to some incredible sights in our skies—be it the setting sun illuminating a faraway thunderstorm, a wall cloud from an approaching tropical storm, or even just a regular day when the clouds take on shapes where they appear to be animals or something else familiar. There’s always something interesting to see here by simply looking upwards into the atmosphere.

Space History: Corned Beef on High

Space History: Corned Beef on High

March 1, 2024Posted inAviation and Space News, History, NASA, Uncategorized
Gus Grissom

When I was a kid, Wolfie’s in Cocoa Beach was one of my Dad’s favorites to take me out to eat. It was kid-friendly, unlike a place like The Mousetrap or other infamous and legendary Cocoa Beach haunts. They’re all long gone now, as is the nature of restaurants in a resort town. One that is especially missed by many is Wolfie’s, a place that not only had a great lunch but also a side note in space history that is funny today but was not at all amusing in the mid-1960s.

While Crew 8 Waits, SpaceX Launches Starlink 6-40

While Crew 8 Waits, SpaceX Launches Starlink 6-40

February 29, 2024Posted inAviation and Space News, Space News, SpaceX, Starlink
Falcon 9 rises off of the launch pad into steely-grey skies on February 29, 2024 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Photo: Charles Boyer / FMN

With Crew-8’s Falcon 9 sitting on Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center this morning waiting for weather to improve along its launch corridor, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying 23 more Starlink Version 2 Mini satellites to low-Earth orbit from its other launch pad on the Eastern Range at SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Rendering of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner docked at ISS

NASA’s Steve Stich Gives Quick Starliner Update

February 28, 2024Posted inAtlas V, Aviation and Space News, NASA, Space News, United Launch Alliance
Rendering of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner docked at ISS
Graphic: Boeing Corporation

During the NASA Administrator Briefing from the Kennedy Space Center mainly centered around Crew-8 readiness today, Steve Stich, the Manager of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program gave some insight about the status of the planned first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner. That launch is currently planned for late April of this year.

“Houston, Odysseus has found his new home.”

February 23, 2024Posted inNASA, Space News
Odysseus passes over the near side of the Moon following lunar orbit insertion on 21FEB2024.
Odysseus passes over the near side of the Moon following lunar orbit insertion on 21FEB2024.

Intuitive Machines has confirmed that the IM-1 Nova-C class lunar lander “Odysseus” touched down on the surface of the Moon today, sometime around 6:30 PM EST. The exact time of touchdown is not yet known, as the company has not yet downloaded and released data from the spacecraft.

SpaceX Completes Doubleheader; Sends Intuitive Machines Lunar Lander On Its Way

February 15, 2024Posted inUncategorized

This story first appeared in Talk Of Titusville . Reproduced with permission.

The second of two Falcon 9 rockets launched from the space coast a few hours apart.
Timelapse of the flight path of Falcon 9 carrying NASA CLPS / Intuitive Machines IM-1 lunar lander to orbit on February 15, 2024
Photo: Charles Boyer / FMN

A rarity is becoming commonplace lately here on the Space Coast, as SpaceX successfully launched two Falcon 9 rockets within eight hours of each other from the Eastern Range, returning both safely to the ground at the company’s Cape Canaveral landing zones.

Polaris Dawn Flight Delayed to Mid-2024

February 12, 2024Posted inSpace News
Polaris Dawn Crew in Zero Gravity Training
Polaris Dawn astronauts, L-R: Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Sarah Gillis, Jared Isaacman and Anna Menon undergoing zero gravity training in 2022.
Photo: John Kraus / Polaris Dawn

Polaris Dawn, the initial flight of a planned series of three private spaceflights led by American entrepreneur and private astronaut Jared Isaacman, has been delayed according to an announcement from the program today. “We are now targeting no earlier than summer 2024 for launch of Polaris Dawn, the first of the Polaris Program’s three human spaceflights,” they said in a post on the X platform.