NASA Archives

Breaking: Big Budget Cuts at NASA JPL Force Layoff of 8% of Workforce

By Mark Stone FMN February 7, 2024Aviation and Space News, NASA, Space News

JPL at Caltech, Pasadena, California Photo: NASA

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California announced the imminent layoff of 530 employees on Tuesday in a round of NASA budget cuts. The lab is funded by NASA and managed by CalTech. The layoffs come at a time when federal funding is sketchy, but private industry is ramping up Commercial Spaceflight at a record pace.

“Without an approved federal budget including final allocation for MSR FY24 funding levels, NASA previously directed JPL to plan for an MSR budget of $300M. This is consistent with the low end of congressional markups of NASA’s budget and a 63% decrease over the FY23 level.”
Source: JPL

Now On Deck – Nova C: Another Moon Landing Attempt Launches In February

By Mark Stone FMN February 7, 2024Aviation and Space News, NASA, Space News, SpaceX

For 10 days in January, the Peregrine Lunar Lander, made by US company Astrobotic, kept spaceflight observers on the edge of their seat. Peregrine, the first US lunar lander in over 50 years was to mark our country’s return to the moon. More importantly, the landing was a major step in sending a manned lander to the moon in 2026 under the Artemis program. A propellant leak cut that mission short, and eventually scuttled it with the craft making a fiery return to earth.

Next Launch to Examine Earth’s Climate: PACE Satellite Targets 1:33am Tuesday Liftoff

By Richard Gallagher FMN February 4, 2024Aviation and Space News, KSC, NASA, SpaceX

In an era where understanding Earth’s climate dynamics is more critical than ever, NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, will be a vital asset to furthering and tracking our knowledge of the Planet. Set to launch from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40, this mission embodies the culmination of years of meticulous planning and collaboration between NASA and SpaceX, aiming to extend our comprehension of the planet’s climate system and its intricate processes. Lift is set for 1:33am Tuesday morning with the first stage booster returning to LZ 1 at CCSFS.

FMN Video of SpaceX NG-20 Launch

By FMN Staff February 1, 2024NASA, Space News, SpaceX, Video

Here’s a 4K video with surround audio of the launch:

On January 28, 2024, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral, sending over 8,000 pounds of supplies aboard a Northrup Grumman (NG) Cygnus cargo craft to the International Space Station. This was NG’s 20th resupply mission.

NASA Announces Crew-9 Roster: Who Are They?

By Charles Boyer FMN February 1, 2024ISS, NASA, Space News, SpaceX, US Space Force

Crew 9 Portrait — Official NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 portrait: (L-R) Stephanie Wilson, Aleksandr Gorbunov, Nick Hague, and Zena Cardman.
NASA

NASA today announced the four astronauts that will travel aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station later this year: Zena Cardman will be the Mission Commander, Nick Hague will be the Pilot, along with Stephanie Wilson and Russian Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov will travel to ISS no earlier than August 2024.

The US Orbited Its First Satellite 66 Years Ago Today

By Charles Boyer FMN January 31, 2024NASA, Space News, US Space Force

Cape Canaveral Every four or five days, Space Coast residents hear or see a rocket taking flight from the Cape, often carrying thirty or more satellites to low-Earth orbit. It happens so often that people will shrug and say something like, “It’s just another Starlink flight,” and not think twice about it.

SpaceX Launches Northrup Grumman NG-20 From the Cape

By Charles Boyer FMN January 31, 2024NASA, Space News, SpaceX, US Space Force

SpaceX Falcon 9 Lifts off from Pad SLC-40 at Canaveral Space Force Station on January 30, 2024.
Photo: Chris Leymarie, Florida Media Now

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Jan. 30, 2024 SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying the Northrup Grumman NG-20 mission toward ISS this afternoon. The launch was at 12:07 PM EST from the company’s launch pad at SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Once it had completed its part of the mission, Booster 1077 completed its tenth flight when it safely touched down at Landing Zone 1, about 5.6 miles to the south of where it launched a little more than eight minutes earlier.

SpaceX Delays NG-20 Launch By One Day

By Charles Boyer FMN January 27, 2024NASA, Space News, SpaceX

The launch of Northrup-Grumman’s Cygnus NG-20 has been delayed until Tuesday, January 30th at 12:07 PM EST.

William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s vice president of Build and Flight Reliability, said in a news conference on January 26th that, “it’s taken a lot of modifications on our part to get this hardware ready to go fly, and we want to make sure it goes right. We think it is good to delay a little bit and make sure we get all this activity right and we’re ready to get this cargo inserted into Cygnus and get ready to fly on Tuesday.”

A Day of Remembrance and Reflection Through the Eyes of Photographer Richard Gallagher

By Richard Gallagher FMN January 26, 2024Aviation and Space News, History, KSC, NASA, Space News

Remembering the Astronauts who are no longer with us. Above is the Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image by Richard P Gallagher

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex held its annual Day of Remembrance ceremony yesterday, commemorating the brave astronauts who lost their lives in pursuit of space exploration and discovery. The event, a solemn tribute to their sacrifices, specifically honored the memory of those involved in the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia tragedies, as well as other astronauts lost in training accidents before ever reaching space.

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Has Made Its Last Flight

By Chris Leymarie FMN January 26, 2024NASA, Space News

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was the first to fly on another world. Photo: NASA

In a press conference Thursday, NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced the conclusion of the highly successful Ingenuity mission.

Axiom-3 Launches From Kennedy Space Center

By Charles Boyer FMN January 19, 2024KSC, NASA, Space News, SpaceX

Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 with four astronauts aboard on the Axiom-3 Mission.
Photo: Charles Boyer

Minutes before a warm front brought heavy showers to Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX launched the Axiom 3 mission on a 16 day round trip to the ISS. Four Axiom Space astronauts rode the chartered Space-X Crew Dragon module to orbit on top of a Falcon 9 booster at 4:49 PM EST this evening. The all-European crew is expected to dock at ISS in two days’ time and stay aboard the station until February 3, 2024.

SpaceX Delays Axiom-3 Launch

By Charles Boyer FMN January 17, 2024Aviation and Space News, NASA, Space News, SpaceX

Earlier today, SpaceX announced that they are delaying their planned launch of Falcon 9 carrying four astronauts to orbit aboard a Crew Dragon to the International Space Station for “teams to complete pre-launch checkouts and data analysis on the vehicle.”

The mission on behalf of Axiom Space is dubbed Axiom-3 and will now launch NET on Thursday, January 18, 2024, at 4:49 PM EST.