Tag: NASA
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SpaceX given green light to launch Crew-3 mission to ISS, Crew-2’s return date set
Having completed the Flight Readiness Review for the United States Crew Vehicle 3 (USCV-3) mission, NASA, ESA, JAXA, and SpaceX teams have given the green light for Crew-3 to launch on October 31 at 02:21 EDT (06:21 UTC) and for Crew-2 to return to Earth no earlier than November 4. Crew-3 will mark SpaceX’s fifth…
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Blue Origin teams up with Sierra Space, Boeing and others on ‘Orbital Reef’ space station project
An artist’s conception shows a Boeing Starliner capsule at the Orbital Reef station. (Orbital Reef Illustration) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is joining forces with Colorado-based Sierra Space and a host of other partners, including Boeing, to propose building a space-based “mixed-use business park” called Orbital Reef. The plan, announced today at the International…
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Mockups of NASA’s newest Mars rover and helicopter will kick off a road trip in Seattle
Virginia student Alex Mather shows off a mockup of the Perseverance rover at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in July 2020, while Alabama high-school student Vaneeza Rupani points to an Ingenuity helicopter mockup. The students won trips to the Perseverance launch as a reward for naming the two spacecraft. (Photo by Ken Kremer / SpaceUpClose.com) Seattle’s…
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Artemis 1 Orion joins SLS to complete vehicle stack
The Orion spacecraft that will fly to the Moon on NASA’s Artemis 1 mission was lifted atop its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on October 20, completing major assembly of the full vehicle stack. Integrated operations team members from the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program and prime launch processing contractor Jacobs received the spacecraft…
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NASA and Boeing testing valves to confirm root cause of Starliner issues
On Tuesday, a joint teleconference between NASA and Boeing officials was held on the current status of Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) after a valve anomaly prevented its launch in August. While work to confirm the root cause of the issue continues, the launch target for OFT-2 remains in the first half of 2022, with a…
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Boeing says valve investigation will force Starliner space taxi’s test flight into 2022
Boeing says its next attempt to send an uncrewed Starliner space taxi to the International Space Station will take place no earlier than the first half of 2022, due to the time needed to fix a valve problem that led to the last-minute cancellation of an August test flight. Engineers say the problem in August…
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NASA, ULA launch historic Lucy mission
NASA and ULA (United Launch Alliance) launched NASA’s next asteroid exploration mission — Lucy — from Florida early Saturday morning, kickstarting the spacecraft’s 12-year journey through the solar system. Liftoff of Atlas V and Lucy occurred at 5:34 AM EDT (09:34 UTC) on Saturday, October 16, from SLC-41 (Space Launch Complex 41) at Cape Canaveral…
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Work on Artemis I Orion nears completion, other Orions make progress
The Artemis I Orion spacecraft is currently undergoing final checkouts before the critical milestone of transportation to the Vehicle Assembly Building for final stacking, integration, and checkout ahead of launch. Meanwhile, the Orion crew modules for the Artemis II, III, and IV missions are also continuing assembly in their processing flows. Artemis I The Artemis…
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Lucy in final preparations for launch, Principal Investigator discusses mission’s trajectory
After being shipped to Florida in early August, NASA’s most daring asteroid exploration mission yet — Lucy — is now in final launch preparations as the opening of its interplanetary transfer window to Jupiter nears. With the launch date just two weeks away, the mission’s Principal Investigator, Dr. Hal Levison, spoke with NASASpaceflight about the…
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SpaceX and NASA beginning final preparations for Crew-3 mission
With the launch just weeks away, SpaceX, NASA, and the European Space Agency (ESA) are making final preparations for the third operational Crew Dragon mission. Crew-3 will be the third long-duration mission flown by SpaceX as part of the Commercial Crew Program. The four Crew-3 astronauts will launch aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a…