Tag: NASA
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Virgin Galactic pilots land safely after aborting suborbital flight
Two pilots aboard Virgin Galactic’s commercial SpaceShipTwo suborbital rocketplane safely landed back in New Mexico Saturday after a “computer communications loss” triggered an abort of the craft’s engine ignition sequence. Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company founder by billionaire Richard Branson, was attempting its first suborbital spaceflight from the company’s new home base at Spaceport…
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Blue Origin’s team turns in its moon landing proposal — and provides a sneak peek
An artist’s conception shows the three main elements of the human landing system being proposed by a team led by Blue Origin. Northrop Grumman’s transfer element is at left, Blue Origin’s descent element is in the middle, and Lockheed Martin’s ascent element is at right. (Blue Origin Illustration) Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin venture…
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Two Washington state women join ‘Artemis Team’ to go on NASA’s moon missions
Artemis astronauts Kayla Barron and Anne McClain have roots in Washington state. (NASA Photos) NASA today named the first 18 astronauts of its “Artemis Team” for missions to the moon — and two of the teammates trace their roots to Washington state. One of the pair, Anne McClain, was born in Spokane and went on…
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SLS Green Run WDR scrubbed, provides initial Core Stage tanking data
The first attempt to conduct a Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage was scrubbed on Monday, December 7 near the beginning of the operation. The test team ran into problems early in the process of loading liquid oxygen (LOX) from the Stennis facilities into the stage. As the WDR…
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SpaceX’s debut Cargo Dragon 2 docks to Station
SpaceX launched their 21st contracted Cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station (ISS), marking the first flight of Cargo Dragon 2, the company’s new and upgraded un-crewed cargo spacecraft. The Commercial Resupply Services-21 (CRS-21) mission lifted off from Launch Complex-39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center on 6 December 2020 at 16:17:08 UTC (11:17:08…
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New Artemis 1 schedule uncertainty as NASA EGS ready to continue SLS Booster stacking
The NASA Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida is prepared to continue integration of the vehicle for the Artemis 1 lunar mission, but space agency and contractor management for the EGS, Orion, and Space Launch System (SLS) programs are monitoring the status of hardware elements that will be needed…
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NASA agrees to purchase moon rocks for $1 in a deal that may involve Blue Origin
An artist’s conception shows the uncrewed cargo version of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lunar lander. (Blue Origin Illustration) NASA has selected four companies to collect material on the moon and store it up as the space agency’s property, for a total price of $25,001. And one deal stands out: a $1 purchase that may rely…
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Arecibo Observatory collapses as scientists lament loss of deep space radar
The instrument platform of the Arecibo Observatory — seen here in an earlier photo — collapsed onto the telescope’s dish Dec. 1. Credit: National Science Foundation The 900-ton suspended platform of Puerto Rico’s famed Arecibo Observatory collapsed Tuesday after cable failures, crashing into the radio telescope’s iconic dish and shattering a research instrument used for…
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Missing dark matter & shadows from a black hole, Hubble continues to unlock cosmic mysteries
It’s a constant of the universe. Dark matter – a key ingredient for the formation and evolution of galaxies is present in whatever galaxy is observed. That is until NGC 1052-DF2 was discovered – a galaxy missing most of its dark matter. A year later, galaxy NGC 1052-DF4 was discovered 45 million light years from…
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EGS, Jacobs begin vehicle integration for Artemis 1 launch
NASA Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and prime test and operations contractor (TOSC) Jacobs started assembling the Artemis 1 vehicle on its Mobile Launcher this week in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Placement of the two aft assemblies of the Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters (SRB)…