Tag: Moon
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ULA’s Vulcan rocket selected for launches of moon lander and mini-shuttle in 2021
An artist’s conception shows United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket lifting off. (ULA Illustration) United Launch Alliance’s next-generation Vulcan rocket – and Blue Origin’s next-generation BE-4 rocket engine – have been chosen to send Astrobotic’s Peregrine moon lander as well as Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dream Chaser mini-shuttle to the final frontier in 2021. Neither of the…
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NASA directs Alabama space center to manage lunar lander program
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Despite protests from Texas lawmakers, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will manage the agency’s plans to build a lunar landing system that will carry the next man and the first woman to the surface of the moon in…
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NASA puts Alabama center in charge of moon lander program, drawing Texans’ ire
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is dwarfed by a 149-foot-tall liquid hydrogen structural test article for the heavy-lift Space Launch System as he announces Marshall Space Flight Center’s leadership role in developing the human landing system for Artemis moon missions. (NASA Photo) NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced today that Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama will…
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Blue Origin gets in on three partnerships with NASA to boost missions to the moon
Jeff Bezos shows off a mockup of the Blue Moon lunar lander in May. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space venture, Blue Origin, has been selected to participate in three partnerships with NASA to advance technologies that could come into play for Artemis missions to the moon — and eventually for…
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NASA terminates lunar lander contract with OrbitBeyond
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) with new CLPS on-ramp announcement. OrbitBeyond’s Z-01 lunar lander. Credit: OrbitBeyond NASA has terminated a $97 million contract with OrbitBeyond, a New Jersey-based company with plans to build robotic moon landers in Florida, just two months after announcing an agreement to send science instruments to the lunar…
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First Mode celebrates first steps in space exploration – and looks ahead to the moon
First Mode’s president and chief engineer, Chris Voorhees, shows off the employee-owned company’s digs near Seattle’s Pike Place Market. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) One year after engineers from the Planetary Resources asteroid mining company peeled off to form their own employee-owned startup, known as First Mode, they can point to the profitable work they’ve…
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NASA taps Northrop Grumman in sole-source agreement to build Gateway habitat
Artist’s illustration of the Gateway in orbit around the moon, with the Power and Propulsion Element, a habitation module, and a visiting cargo resupply craft and Orion crew capsule. Credit: NASA Racing against the clock to meet the Trump administration’s 2024 deadline to land astronauts on the moon, NASA plans to select Northrop Grumman to…
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India sends Chandrayaan 2 probe toward the moon’s south pole for historic landing
India’s GSLV Mk III rocket lifts off, sending the Chandrayaan 2 probe on a trip to the moon. (ISRO Photo) India began a slow but steady space odyssey to the moon’s south polar region today with the launch of its Chandrayaan 2 mission. The lunar landing, set for Sept. 6-7, would make India the fourth…
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Pence delivers a promise, and a warning, to NASA and its contractors
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Vice President Mike Pence speaks Saturday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Office of the Vice President Despite appearances and a presidential tweet suggesting otherwise, the United States is “100%” committed to sending astronauts back to the moon in 2024 and establishing a long-term, sustainable presence…
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India launches robotic mission to land on the moon
The GSLV Mk.3 rocket lifted off at 0913 GMT (5:13 a.m. EDT) Monday with the Chandrayaan 2 mission. Credit: ISRO Seeking to become the fourth nation to successfully land on the moon, India launched an ambitious robotic lunar mission named Chandrayaan 2 on Monday, targeting a touchdown near the lunar south pole Sept. 6. Consisting…