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Chalk one up for Nikon.
My photographer colleagues at the Kennedy Space Center have an ongoing friendly camera rivalry. Mostly it’s Canon versus Nikon, as we compare the latest camera gear and features while covering rocket launches, inspections of the latest satellites, and press conferences with NASA and other space company leaders. So the Nikon users got a pleasant surprise
NASA’s Commercial Crew program will take a big step forward on Monday, May 6th with the launch of the Boeing Starliner Calypso’s Crewed Flight Test (CFT-100). Scheduled for a 10:34 PM EDT liftoff, Starliner Calypso will carry its first-ever crew to the ISS on an important test flight. (The spacecraft was named in honor of the research vessel Calypso, used by famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau from 1950-1996.)
At an April 3, 2024, news conference, NASA announced its approach for the development, construction, and fielding of one (or potentially more) lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) as one more element of the Artemis Program. As opposed to selecting one company to produce an LTV, three “awardees” were selected to compete in a rather complicated process for the final project award.
By now, almost everyone has heard of SpaceX’s Starlink. However, it is lesser known that SpaceX and their subsidiary, Starlink, now have two major government- and military-related contracts. Pilot testing began in 2020 and took a few years to complete. That product — Starshield — is now ready for deployment.
Like many of us, the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) crave their morning coffee. Consequently, that’s one of the food treats, along with fresh citrus, apples, and cherry tomatoes that are aboard the SpaceX CRS-30 mission to the ISS scheduled for launch March 21 at 4:55 pm from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
When some of us in the media were first introduced to Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander named Odysseus, we were a bit puzzled. Why was the Columbia Sportswear logo prominently displayed on the gold-foiled exterior?
With only one day to go before the launch of Crew 8, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson led a press briefing on Wednesday morning February 28, 2024, at Kennedy Space Center. The 8th Commercial Crew trip to the International Space Station (ISS) remains on schedule for a launch just after midnight (12:04 am EST) early Friday morning March 1.
On February 22, 2024, the Intuitive Machines (IM) spacecraft named Odysseus became the first American craft to successfully make a soft moon landing since the final Apollo mission in 1972. Odysseus came to rest near the South Polar region where it is hoped that ice and therefore water will be found.
Most Americans are able to recall that the United States successfully landed astronauts on the Moon during 1969 and into the early 1970s. What’s not as well known is the number of attempts by various nations to explore the Moon, whether by fly-by or actual landing…..and how many were unsuccessful.
NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are standing down from the Tuesday, Feb. 6, undocking opportunity of Axiom Mission 3 from the International Space Station. Mission teams will continue to review weather conditions off the coast of Florida, which currently are not favorable for return, and set a new target opportunity for space station departure and splashdown of the Dragon spacecraft and Axiom crew members. The newest target date for undocking is Wednesday at 9:05 AM ET . The splashdown time has not yet been announced.
There is no indication that these delays in any way pose risk to the crew of either the Dragon spacecraft or the ISS.
Italy is well-known to world travelers for its culinary expertise, and that skill is now being added to the country’s many contributions to space exploration on the Axiom 3 mission.
In an NG-20 pre-launch media teleconference on January, 26, 2024, Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX VP Build and Flight Reliability, revealed that a new access door had been added to the fairing that protects the Cygnus spacecraft atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. But Why?