Tag: SLS rocket
-
Watchdogs issue warning about NASA’s SLS moon rocket plan, but Boeing CEO stays the course
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s Space Launch System in flight. (NASA Illustration) The federal government’s watchdog agency says getting NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket off the ground is likely to take longer and cost more than the space agency says it will. Any issues that crop up in the months ahead could push the…
-
NASA considers shifting a key test flight beyond the moon to commercial rockets
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s Orion deep-space crew capsule with its European Service Module placed beneath it and an upper stage powering it out of Earth orbit. (NASA Illustration) NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told a Senate hearing today that his agency is looking into an option to double up commercial launch vehicles in order to…
-
NASA watchdogs blame SLS rocket snags on Boeing missteps and poor oversight
A structural test version of the intertank for NASA’s new deep-space rocket, the Space Launch System, arrives at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in March for testing aboard the barge Pegasus. The intertank is the second piece of structural hardware for the massive SLS core stage. (NASA Photo) NASA’s Space Launch System, the rocket that’s…
-
Engine test for NASA’s heavy-lift SLS rocket cuts off early, but achieves goals
News Brief: NASA put a developmental model of the RS-25 engine for its heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket through a hot-fire test today at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in attendance. Although the test firing ended at 319 seconds rather than the originally planned 500 seconds, officials said the test…
-
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg foresees busy commercial ‘ecosystem’ in Earth orbit
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg speaks at Northwestern University, with a model of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket standing in front of him. (Boeing via Facebook) Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg predicts that the number of space destinations will grow from one — the International Space Station — to 10 or 12 over the next couple of…
-
2020 or bust? GAO watchdogs foresee further delays for orbital spaceships
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s Orion capsule in flight. (NASA Illustration) The Government Accountability Office issued a downbeat report on NASA’s major space projects today, saying that cost and schedule performance has deteriorated over the past year. The full extent of the cost issues is unknown, primarily due to uncertainties surrounding the effort to build…
-
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says that humans could get to Mars within a decade*
Politico’s Robert Albritton (left) chats with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg (right) during a space conference. (Politico Live via Facebook) Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says it’s possible that humans will set foot on Mars in the next decade, and he’s convinced the first people will get there on a Boeing-built rocket. Muilenburg’s comments, made today during…
-
Systima gets a piece of the action for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s Space Launch System in flight. (NASA Illustration) When NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket starts carrying astronauts beyond Earth orbit in the 2020s, it’ll also be carrying a key component built by Kirkland, Wash.-based Systima Technologies. Systima will be responsible for providing a 27.6-foot-wide, ring-shaped joint assembly that separates the…
-
NASA decides against putting crew on first SLS rocket launch, now delayed to 2019
An artist’s view shows NASA’s Space Launch System launching an Orion capsule. (NASA Illustration) NASA has broken the news to the White House and the world that speeding up the first crewed flight of its exploration launch system wouldn’t be worth the added cost and risk. That means the first launch of NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch…
-
It’s a blast! NASA’s booster for heavy-lift SLS rocket gets final pre-launch test firing
Orbital ATK’s solid-rocket booster is in the midst of a test firing in Utah. (Credit: NASA) The solid-rocket booster that’s destined to help send future NASA missions into deep space has blasted through its last full-scale test firing in advance of 2018’s maiden launch of the heavy-lift SLS rocket. Today’s two-minute, six-second firing at Orbital ATK’s test…