Tag: International Space Station
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NASA and SpaceX launch a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station
A shock collar forms around SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as it ascended from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday, August 4, 2024. The NG-21 mission launched a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to begin a roughly 40-hour journey to the ISS. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Update 9:02 p.m. EDT: The Cygnus spacecraft…
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Boeing’s Starliner has cost at least twice as much as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon
Boeing announced another financial charge Wednesday for its troubled Starliner commercial crew program, bringing the company’s total losses on Starliner to $1.6 billion. In its quarterly earnings report, Boeing registered a $125 million loss on the Starliner program, blaming delays on the spacecraft’s still-ongoing Crew Flight Test, the program’s first mission to carry astronauts into…
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SpaceX moving Dragon splashdowns to Pacific to solve falling debris problem
Sometime next year, SpaceX will begin returning its Dragon crew and cargo capsules to splashdowns in the Pacific Ocean and end recoveries of the spacecraft off the coast of Florida. This will allow SpaceX to make changes to the way it brings Dragons back to Earth and eliminate the risk, however tiny, that a piece…
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NASA nears decision on what to do with Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft
The astronauts who rode Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station last month still don’t know when they will return to Earth. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been in space for 51 days, six weeks longer than originally planned, as engineers on the groundwork through problems with Starliner’s propulsion system. The problems…
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NASA plans for space station’s demise with new SpaceX ‘Deorbit Vehicle’
An artist’s impression of SpaceX’s ISS Deorbit Vehicle pushing the lab toward a controlled re-entry and breakup in the 2030 timeframe, after a formal decision to retire the lab complex after three decades of operation. Graphic: SpaceX SpaceX is building a souped-up version of its cargo Dragon spacecraft to drive the International Space Station out…
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NASA update on Starliner thruster issues: This is fine
Before clearing Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule to depart the International Space Station and head for Earth, NASA managers want to ensure the spacecraft’s problematic control thrusters can help guide the ship’s two-person crew home. The two astronauts who launched June 5 on the Starliner spacecraft’s first crew test flight agree with the managers, although they…
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Starliner crew confident spacecraft will bring them safely home
Boeing Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore spoke to reporters Wednesday and said they’re confident the spacecraft will bring them safely back to Earth. In the meantime, Williams said, they’re both enjoying their extended stay aboard the International Space Station. Image: NASA TV The crew of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft said Wednesday they’re confident…
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Gravitics wins $125M contract from Axiom for commercial space station hardware
An artist’s conception shows Gravitics’ spacecraft in orbit. (Gravitics Illustration) Marysville, Wash.-based Gravitics says it has won a $125 million contract from Axiom Space to provide a pressurized spacecraft for Axiom’s yet-to-be-launched commercial space station. The hardware would play a utility role by providing a variety of support services for Axiom Station. Axiom Station’s first…
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To guard against cyberattacks in space, researchers ask “what if?”
If space systems such as GPS were hacked and knocked offline, much of the world would instantly be returned to the communications and navigation technologies of the 1950s. Yet space cybersecurity is largely invisible to the public at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions. Cyberattacks on satellites have occurred since the 1980s, but the global…
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NASA orders more tests on Starliner, but says crew isn’t stranded in space
NASA and Boeing officials pushed back Friday on headlines that the commercial Starliner crew capsule is stranded at the International Space Station but said they need more time to analyze data before formally clearing the spacecraft for undocking and reentry. Two NASA astronauts, commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams, will spend at least a…