Tag: Human Spaceflight
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NASA confirms “independent review” of Orion heat shield issue
NASA has asked a panel of outside experts to review the agency’s investigation into the unexpected loss of material from the heat shield of the Orion spacecraft on a test flight in 2022. Chunks of charred material cracked and chipped away from Orion’s heat shield during reentry at the end of the 25-day unpiloted Artemis…
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Faulty valve scuttles Starliner’s first crew launch
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams climbed into their seats inside Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft Monday night in Florida, but trouble with the capsule’s Atlas V rocket kept the commercial ship’s long-delayed crew test flight on the ground. Around two hours before launch time, shortly after 8:30 pm EDT (00:30 UTC), United Launch Alliance’s launch team stopped…
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SpaceX got the fanfare, but Boeing’s first crew flight is still historic
If you want to know what it’s like to take a new spacecraft on its first test run in orbit, there are only three people in the Western world you can call. That fact should drive home the rarity of debuting a new human-rated spaceship. When Boeing’s Starliner capsule lifts off Monday night, this group…
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NASA still doesn’t understand root cause of Orion heat shield issue
NASA officials declared the Artemis I mission successful in late 2022, and it’s hard to argue with that assessment. The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft performed nearly flawlessly on an unpiloted flight that took it around the Moon and back to Earth, setting the stage for the Artemis II, the program’s first crew…
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All the pieces are in place for the first crew flight of Boeing’s Starliner
Ground teams on Florida’s Space Coast hoisted Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket this week, putting all the pieces in place for liftoff next month with two veteran NASA astronauts on a test flight to the International Space Station. This will be the first time astronauts fly on Boeing’s Starliner…
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Rocket Report: Blue Origin to resume human flights; progress for Polaris Dawn
Welcome to Edition 6.38 of the Rocket Report! Ed Dwight was close to joining NASA’s astronaut corps more than 60 years ago. With an aeronautical engineering degree and experience as an Air Force test pilot, Dwight met the qualifications to become an astronaut. He was one of 26 test pilots the Air Force recommended to…
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Starliner’s first commander: Don’t expect perfection on crew test flight
HOUSTON—While it doesn’t have the same relevance to public consciousness as safety problems with commercial airliners, a successful test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in May would be welcome news for the beleaguered aerospace company. This will be the first time the Starliner capsule flies into low-Earth orbit with humans aboard. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore…
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Thomas Stafford, who flew to the Moon and docked with Soyuz, dies at 93
Former NASA astronaut Thomas Stafford, a three-star Air Force general known for a historic handshake in space with a Soviet cosmonaut nearly 50 years ago, died Monday in Florida. He was 93. Stafford was perhaps the most accomplished astronaut of his era who never walked on the Moon. He flew in space four times, helping…
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A hunk of junk from the International Space Station hurtles back to Earth
A bundle of depleted batteries from the International Space Station careened around Earth for almost three years before falling out of orbit and plunging back into the atmosphere Friday. Most of the trash likely burned up during reentry, but it’s possible some fragments may have reached Earth’s surface intact. Larger pieces of space junk regularly fall…
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The world’s most-traveled crew transport spacecraft flies again
SpaceX’s oldest Crew Dragon spacecraft launched Sunday night on its fifth mission to the International Space Station, and engineers are crunching data to see if the fleet of Dragons can safely fly as many as 15 times. It has been five years since SpaceX launched the first Crew Dragon spacecraft on an unpiloted test flight…