NASA’s PACE Mission lifts off from Pad 40 at CCFS. Photo: Ed Cordero / FMN
In the early hours of Thursday, NASA’s latest Earth science mission began its journey to space, marking the start of a mission to better our understanding of the planet’s marine life and atmospheric conditions.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
Laughinghouse and a test article at the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama Photo: Hal Foxton / FMN
Black History Month is here again, and FMN is proud to honor an outstanding NASA engineer.
In the vast realm of space exploration, one name has been shining bright at the forefront of innovation and discovery – Tawnya Plummer Laughinghouse. Laughinghouse is manager for Technology Demonstration Missions at Marshall Space Flight Center, where she oversees the largest program in the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
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.
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.
Explorer 1 launching aboard a Jupiter-C Booster on January 31, 1958 Photo: NASA Archives
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 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.
By Jim Turner, Florida News Service. Reprinted with permission.
TALLAHASSEE — With Florida rocket launches in 2024 expected to top a record set last year, the state’s aerospace agency is seeking more money from lawmakers and is backing an expansion of spaceport designations.
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.
