Tag: commercial-space
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Arianespace to resume launch preparations in French Guiana
Europe’s primary launch site is the Guiana Space Center, located in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – L. Boyer Targeting a pair of satellite launches in June and July, ground teams will resume work at the Guiana Space Center in South America…
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SpaceX test-fires Raptor engine on Starship test rocket
Video credit: SPadre / YouTube A test-firing of a Raptor engine on the latest in a series of Starship test rockets Tuesday night in Texas moved SpaceX closer to performing a low-altitude “hop” to gather data on the vehicle’s launch and landing characteristics. The single methane-fueled Raptor engine on the bottom of the Starship…
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NASA working with Tom Cruise to film movie on the International Space Station
Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick.” Credit: Paramount Pictures NASA said Tuesday it is working with Tom Cruise to film a movie on the International Space Station, but details on the arrangements are scarce. The news that Cruise was in talks with to shoot an action-adventure film on the space station was first reported Monday…
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Virgin Orbit’s first launch could happen later this month
Virgin Orbit’s carrier jet, named Cosmic Girl, takes off April 12 from the Mojave Air and Space Port with the LauncherOne rocket under its left wing. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News Virgin Orbit could attempt its first orbital test launch later this month over the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles, capping a development program…
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SpaceX aces last Dragon parachute test before crew launch
A Crew Dragon mass simulator descends under four main parachutes during a drop test Friday. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX completed Friday the last drop test of the Dragon crew capsule’s parachutes before the first launch of astronauts on the human-rated ship May 27, while technicians at Cape Canaveral have mated the spacecraft’s crew module with its…
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NASA and SpaceX get set to make history with landmark spaceflight during pandemic
NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley participate in an integrated SpaceX test of critical crew flight hardware in March, in preparation for this month’s scheduled launch to the International Space Station in a Crew Dragon capsule. (SpaceX Photo) Everything is in readiness for the first mission to send humans into orbit from U.S. soil…
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NASA identifies risks in SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander proposal
Artist’s illustration of SpaceX’s Starship on the lunar surface. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s proposal to land astronauts on the moon using the company’s reusable Starship vehicle could be “game-changing” for space exploration, but comes with risks and complexity that “threaten the schedule viability” to achieve NASA’s goal of returning crews moon by the end of 2024,…
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Companies release new details on human-rated lunar lander concepts
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated May 1 with details from Blue Origin. Artist’s illustration of SpaceX’s Starship on the lunar surface. Credit: SpaceX The next time astronauts land on the moon, they will ride to the lunar surface in a spacecraft that looks a lot different than the Apollo-era landing module last used in 1972. Lander concepts proposed…
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Blue Origin wins lion’s share of NASA funding for human-rated lunar lander
Artist’s illustration of Blue Origin’s lunar lander with an ascent stage, and astronauts on the lunar surface. Credit: Blue Origin NASA has selected Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to move forward with development of human-rated lunar landers, committing nearly $1 billion in funding for a range of moonship concepts that include a variant of SpaceX’s…
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Falcon Heavy set for design validation milestone before late 2020 launch
A Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on June 25, 2019. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky The U.S. Space Force expects to complete design validation on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket by July, ahead of the launch of the military’s first high-priority national security mission on the heavy-lifter late this year.…