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.
Apollo 11 Launch, July 16, 1969 View from the Press Site aside the Launch Control Center Photo: Dan Beaumont Space Museum
Fifty-five years ago today, I saw Apollo 11 as she lifted off from Cape Kennedy and on her way to the moon. There are still a lot of us that were present that morning here on the Space Coast, and like a lot of those folks, the memory is as vivid today as it was in July, 1969.
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 .
Utopia of the Seas arrived at her new home port of Port Canaveral, Florida on July 11, 2024. Photo: Royal Carribean
This morning, the arrival of the world’s second-largest cruise ship and Royal Caribbean International’s newest vessel, Utopia of the Seas, was celebrated with fanfare and excitement as it docked at Port Canaveral. Observers say the ship could redefine luxury and innovation in the cruising industry, bringing with it a host of technology, features, and amenities that elevate the cruising experience to new heights.
Florida’s Crystal River plant no longer uses its reactor due to issues with the containment building. Photo: Greenpeace
Florida is considering the addition of new nuclear power plants for the first time in decades, following the inclusion of a nuclear power study in a broad energy bill signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. The legislative push in Florida comes despite historical concerns stemming from incidents like the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania. Now, state regulators are set to assess the feasibility of new, advanced nuclear technologies, reflecting both state and federal pushes toward a cleaner energy future. Despite the common goal of a cleaner environment, the new legislation is angering some environmental groups.
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.
