Tag: Moon
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New NASA spaceflight chief makes no guarantees about 2024 moon landing goal
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Kathy Lueders was named associate administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate earlier this month. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett Kathy Lueders, NASA’s newly appointed head of human spaceflight operations, said Thursday that without a crystal ball, she could not give a yes-or-no answer when asked whether she…
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NASA Selects Astrobotic to Deliver the VIPER Rover to the Lunar Surface
Astrobotic of Pittsburgh, PA has been selected to deliver NASA’s future Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, to the Moon. The Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative will provide NASA a “rapid acquisition” of commercial Lunar abilities, which will further the agency’s capability of science and commercial development of the moon. The first CLP contracts to…
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NASA Selects Astrobotic to Deliver the VIPER Rover to the Lunar Surface
Astrobotic of Pittsburgh, PA has been selected to deliver NASA’s future Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, to the Moon. The Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative will provide NASA a “rapid acquisition” of commercial Lunar abilities, which will further the agency’s capability of science and commercial development of the moon. The first CLP contracts to…
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NASA picks Astrobotic to deliver its VIPER rover to lunar south pole for nearly $200M
NASA has awarded a $199.5 million contract to Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic to deliver its VIPER rover to the moon’s south pole in 2023, marking one more not-so-small step for the commercialization of lunar exploration. VIPER, which stands for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, will conduct a detailed on-the-ground assessment of water ice buried in lunar soil.…
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NASA will likely add a rendezvous test to the first piloted Orion space mission
Artist’s illustration of an Orion spacecraft with the upper stage of its Space Launch System rocket firing its RL10 engine. Credit: NASA Astronauts will likely perform a previously-unplanned demonstration of the Orion spacecraft’s deep space rendezvous capabilities in a high-altitude orbit around Earth on the crew capsule’s first piloted test flight, now scheduled for 2023.…
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NASA lays out the ‘Artemis Accords’ for international cooperation on moon trips
An artist’s conception shows astronauts conducting a mission on the moon. (NASA Illustration) NASA today unveiled a list of 10 principles for a set of bilateral international agreements for participation in the moon exploration program known as Artemis. The Artemis Accords would apply to missions aimed at sending astronauts to the lunar surface beginning as…
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China’s next-generation crew spacecraft lands after unpiloted test flight
The Chinese crew capsule after landing Friday, concluding an unpiloted orbital test flight. Credit: Xinhua A next-generation Chinese capsule designed to carry astronauts to the country’s planned space station, and eventually the moon, wrapped up a nearly three-day unpiloted orbital test flight Friday with a landing in northwestern China. The prototype for China’s new reusable…
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NASA plans to launch first two Gateway elements on same rocket
Artist’s illustration of the Gateway space station in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA Aiming to reduce risk and costs, NASA has decided to launch the first two modules of the Gateway station in lunar orbit on the same heavy-lift rocket in 2023, rather than fly them on separate rockets and dock them together in deep space,…
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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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NASA puts Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX on the list for lunar lander development program
An artist’s conception shows Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander, equipped with an ascent module built by Lockheed Martin. (Blue Origin Illustration via NASA) NASA has selected teams led by Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to develop lunar landing systems capable of putting astronauts on the moon by as early as 2024. “We want to be…