Hut-Two-Three-Four:  SpaceX Joins the Armed Forces

USAF setting up a Starlink dish
Master Sgt. Caleb Frisbie from the 242nd Combat Communications Squadron, setting up the communication equipment for the Agile Battle Labs Communications Demonstration. The antenna he installed is a SpaceX Starlink dish, pictured above. Photo: US Air Force/ Todd Cromar

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.

Coffee and Bees: CRS-30 Cargo to ISS

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough poses aboard the International Space Station with all three Astrobee robotic free-flyers.
Photo Credit: NASA/Shane Kimbrough
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough poses aboard the International Space Station with three Astrobee robotic free-flyers.
Photo Credit: NASA/Shane Kimbrough

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. 

Press Briefing: Weather A Concern For Crew 8 Launch

NASA’s Crew 8 Mission is scheduled to launch to the ISS at 12:04 AM Friday. Photo: Richard Gallagher/FMN

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. 

NASA’s New Missions to the Moon – Far From Routine

Photo of crashed lander on the moon
A landing attempt by India in 2019 resulted in a “smoking hole” on the lunar surface. Photo: NASA/ASU

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. 

Oh No, One More Delay for Axiom-3 Return from the ISS

               

Ax-3 docked to ISS
Axiom 3’s Crew Dragon docked to the ISS. Photo: NASA TV

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 As A Key Player in Commercial Spaceflight: The Ax-3 Mission Tells Only A Small Part Of The Story

 Thales Alenia factory in Turin, Italy.   Credit:  Axiom Space
Axiom Station pressure vessel under construction at the Thales Alenia factory in Turin, Italy.   Credit:  Axiom Space

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.

What “Last Minute Cargo ” Will Be Loaded On The Cygnus Mission?

New access door for Cygnus resupply module
Northrop Grumman’s NG-20 Cygnus resupply spacecraft, named the S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson, is moved in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as it is prepared for its launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

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?

NASA and Lockheed Resurrect Supersonic Commercial Flight … Maybe

NASA’s X-59 aircraft was rolled out on January 12, 2024 at 4 PM EST as part of NASA’s Quesst mission. The X-59 is an experimental aircraft designed to reduce the sonic boom to a small thump. It’s hoped that the X-59 could fly at 1.4 times the speed of sound, or 925 miles per hour. Photo: NASA

It’s been a quarter of a century since commercial passengers could fly to American destinations at beyond the speed of sound.  That was on the iconic Concorde, a joint French and English venture initiated in 1954 with first commercial flight in 1976.