NROL-69 Launch … Who Is The NRO Anyway?

March 24, 2025Posted inSpace News

Certain aspects of today’s launch of NROL-69 from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station were well understood … the name of the payload (NROL-69 aka Hummingbird), the launch time, the Falcon 9 booster, the launch site – Launch Complex 40. But many other aspects that the geekier side of us wants to know … the eventual positioning of the spacecraft, spacecraft dimensions and mass, the purpose of the spacecraft, orbit, design life, etc. aren’t available. Here’s why –

The classified NROL-69 mission launched from KSC this afternoon on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Photo: Charles Boyer / FMN
The classified NROL-69 mission launched from KSC this afternoon on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Photo: Charles Boyer / FMN
SpaceX's Gigafactory

Mini-Starship or Bust? Experts Clash Over SpaceX’s Future

March 19, 2025Posted inNASA, SpaceX, Starship
SpaceX's Gigafactory in the foreground of its three high bays at Starbase in Texas. Image by Richard P Gallagher | FMN
SpaceX’s Gigafactory in the foreground of its three high bays at Starbase in Texas. Image by Richard P Gallagher | FMN

March 19, 2025 – SpaceX’s Starship program, critical to NASA’s lunar goals and Elon Musk’s Martian dreams, is at a crossroads, with experts offering starkly contrasting visions. While one leading engineer champions a smaller “Mini-Starship” to expedite human landings on the Moon and Mars, critics slam Starship for its repeated failures as evidence of a doomed design. 

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore

Boeing CFT Astronauts Set To Return to Earth Tomorrow

March 17, 2025Posted inAviation and Space News, Boeing, ISS, NASA, Space News, SpaceX, Uncategorized

It’s finally time for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to come home! If everything goes according to plan, one of the most talked about journeys in American spaceflight will come to an end with a splashdown tomorrow evening somewhere off the coast of Florida.

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore Photo: NASA
Crew 10 Rises To Orbit, On Its Way To ISS

Crew 10 Rises To Orbit, On Its Way To ISS

March 14, 2025Posted inAviation and Space News, ISS, NASA, Space News, SpaceX, Starlink

It was a good day to have a good day here in Florida, and that’s exactly what NASA, SpaceX and Crew-10 had today at Kennedy Space Center. Falcon 9 lifted off carrying three astronauts and one cosmonaut towards orbit and the International Space Station just as the sun was starting to set in the west. Some seven and a half minutes later, SpaceX booster B1090 completed its duty for the day by landing at LZ-1 in Cape Canaveral, 8.8 miles south of LC-39A.

Liftoff of Crew 10 by Jim Siegel
Liftoff of Crew 10 by Jim Siegel / FMN
Terran 1

Tech Titan Eric Schmidt Takes Charge at Relativity Space

March 13, 2025Posted inAviation and Space News, Relativity Space, Space News

Former Google CEO Invests in Commercial Launch Company

Eric Schmidt, renowned for his tenure as Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011, has been named Chief Executive Officer of Relativity Space. Schmidt has also infused capital into the cash-starved company, giving it life and the means to finish its Terran-R medium lift rocket. That rocket is planned to fly from Cape Canaveral, Florida, as early as next year.

Relativity Space’s Terran-1 rocket lifts off in 2023.
Photo: Relativity Space
Crew-10 Launch Delayed By Technical Issue – New Launch Date Set

Crew-10 Launch Delayed By Technical Issue – New Launch Date Set

March 13, 2025Posted inNASA, Space News, SpaceX

The astronauts were strapped in, the weather was perfect, and everything pointed to a flawless launch. But that’s not how it usually goes in the spaceflight business, and Wednesday evening’s Crew-10 launch attempt was no exception.

Crew-10 waits for Wednesday's launch, which was eventually scrubbed, aboard the Crew Dragon endurance. Photo: Charles Boyer/FMN
Crew-10 waits for Wednesday’s launch, which was eventually scrubbed, aboard the Crew Dragon Endurance. Photo: Charles Boyer/FMN
SS United States

A Farewell to the SS United States, from a Three Time Passenger

March 11, 2025Posted inHistory, Off The Beaten Path
SS United States moored in Mobile Alabama. Image by Richard P Gallagher | FMN

March 11, 2025

I met George last week in front of the SS United States, that grand old dame of the seas. It had just completed its last voyage, being towed out of its longtime berth at Pier 82 on 2201 South Christopher Columbus Boulevard, in the South Philadelphia. I found George at the end of Charleston Street in Mobile, Alabama.

Crew 10 Astronauts Arrive at KSC, Prepare For Wednesday Launch

Crew 10 Astronauts Arrive at KSC, Prepare For Wednesday Launch

March 10, 2025Posted inISS, NASA, Space News, SpaceX

March 10, 2025 – Kennedy Space Center, FL – It’s “all systems go” for Crew 10 following their arrival at Kennedy Space Center in Florida last Friday. The crew has since successfully completed a wet dress rehearsal in preparation for their six-month mission.

An enthusiastic Crew 10 waves to reporters after arriving at KSC on Friday. Photo: Eric Moore/FMN
An enthusiastic Crew 10 waves to reporters after arriving at KSC on Friday. Photo: Eric Moore/FMN
Intuitive Machines IM-2 Confirmed On Its Side, Mission Ended

Intuitive Machines IM-2 Confirmed On Its Side, Mission Ended

March 7, 2025Posted inAviation and Space News, CLPS, Intuitive Machines, NASA, Space News
Intuitive Machines Nova-C IM-2 'Athena' on its side on the lunar surface.
Intuitive Machines Nova-C IM-2 ‘Athena’ on its side on the lunar surface.
Photo: Intuitive Machines.

Despite high hopes, Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission has concluded after it was confirmed that the lander is on its side on the Moon and cannot properly charge its batteries. The company confirmed that in an update this morning.