Starliner CST-100 prior to launch earlier this year Photo: Charles Boyer / Florida Media Now
In a statement released today, NASA stated that, “[Agency] and Boeing engineers are evaluating results from last week’s engine tests at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico as the team works through plans to return the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test from the International Space Station in the coming weeks.”
An upgraded RS-25 on its way to its test stand in Mississippi. Photo: NASA
Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, announced last week that it has completed modernizing the four flight-proven RS-25 engines that will help power NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the Artemis IV mission. Artemis IV will be the first flight of the enhanced Block 1B configuration of the super-heavy-lift rocket and the last to use engines remaining in inventory from the space shuttle program.
Citing rising costs and continued delays, NASA announced today that it has canceled its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission, which was planned to explore the Moon’s South Pole region for water ice.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launches a load of Starlink satellites to orbit earlier this year. Photo: Mark Stone/FMN
SpaceX has petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to permit the resumption of its Falcon 9 rocket flights, despite an ongoing investigation into a recent mission anomaly. The request comes just days after a malfunction during a Starlink mission led to the grounding of the reusable launch vehicles.
Col. Chris Hadfield aboard ISS with his guitar. Photo: NASA
Crewed spaceflight is, of course, serious business. Even today, the cost of sending people is so high that mission planners try to maximize every hour that a given crew is in space. Still, astronauts and cosmonauts are human beings, and human beings require rest and breaks from constantly working despite the fact that they are in orbit or even on their way to and from the moon. With that in mind one of the most enduring traditions in space flight is that of the crews listening to music both in space and even in the final minutes of a countdown. It started in 1961, and continues to this day, and is something sure to continue long into the future.
Liftoff of Apollo 11 from Launch Pad 39A with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins onboard. Photo: NASA
Some stories are almost forgotten about Apollo 11’s launch from Pad LC-39A — seemingly small stories that actually had a huge effect on the mission happening as it did. One of those stories concerns a hydrogen leak late in the countdown on the third stage of the Saturn V that was poised to launch on July 16, 1969 – if it had not been remediated, Apollo 11 would not have launched on the day that it did.
KSC’s Pad 39A sits empty as uncertainty looms about the Falcon 9 launch schedule following a booster failure on July 11, 2024. Falcon 9 boosters have been grounded by the FAA pending investigation. Photo: Mark Stone-FMN
The Commercial Crew Program – All About Redundancy
SpaceX’s second-stage failure on their venerable Falcon 9 booster Thursday demonstrates exactly why NASA wants dissimilar redundancy for crewed flights. The idea is simple: if one launch provider is grounded for a technical issue or a launch failure investigation, the other can take up the slack. The duopoly of crewed launch providers is meant to assure the nation of continuous access to orbit while launching from American soil.
Booster 1063 safely lands on a SpaceX Droneship. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX encountered its first in-flight failure of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2015 Thursday night, resulting in 20 Starlink satellites being deployed into a lower-than-intended orbit. The incident occurred during SpaceX’s 70th orbital launch of the year. The mission, designated Starlink 9-3, initially appeared to proceed without issue after lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday night at 7:35 p.m. PDT .
Starliner CST-100 in launch preparation, May 31, 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / Florida Media Now
The popular meme in a lot of space coverage these days implies that Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are stuck aboard the International Space Station. Some say that Starliner is incapacitated and unable to return them to Earth. NASA and Boeing have steadfastly stated that is not the case, but at the same time, a test flight originally scheduled for eight days has been repeatedly extended to conduct tests on faulty thrusters on the CST-100 Starliner’s service module.
NASA and Boeing officials held a press conference today and stated that no return date has yet been set for Starliner. According to the officials, engineers are continuing to investigate system failures on the spacecraft and gather data on the Starliner thruster pods.
Axiom today named Normanique Preston as VP of People and Culture. Photo: Axiom Space
In a news release today, Axiom Space has announced the appointment of Normanique Preston as the Vice President of People and Culture. The role will see Preston shaping the company’s people strategy, fostering a collaborative culture, and driving employee engagement and development. As an integral member of the executive management team, she will be responsible for attracting, developing, and retaining top talent to support Axiom Space’s ambitious goals.
Liftoff of Falcon 9 carrying Türksat-6A to orbit on July 8, 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / Florida Media Now
SpaceX weathered lightning in the area until skies cleared early this evening, allowing the company to launch the Turksat-6A mission aboard a Falcon 9. Originally scheduled for 5:20 PM EDT, Turksat liftoff was delayed several times until 7:30 PM when the afternoon’s storms were far away enough to allow the rocket to safely ascend towards orbit.
