Tag: Space Launch System
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Congress’ omnibus bill gives NASA a Christmas bonus: a bigger $19.3 billion budget
An artist’s conception shows an orbiter at Europa, a mysterious moon of Jupiter. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech) The 2,009-page omnibus bill that’s been crafted by Congress for the current fiscal year boosts NASA’s budget to $19.3 billion, which is $756 million more than the White House asked for. The big winners include NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System and its planetary…
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Aerojet Rocketdyne wins propulsion contracts worth nearly $1.4 billion
An RS-25 engine fires on the test stand in Mississippi in August as part of a series of test burns to check out the engine’s new electronics controller. Credit: NASA NASA and Boeing have awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne widely-anticipated contracts to restart the production of simplified shuttle-era rocket engines for the heavy-lift Space Launch System and…
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NASA completes SLS design review, confirms rocket to be orange
Artist concept of the Block 1 configuration of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS). The SLS program has completed its critical design review, and the program has concluded that the core stage of the rocket will remain orange along with the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter, which is the natural color of the insulation that will cover…
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NASA’s heavy-lift rocket and deep space capsule under new management
Mark Kirasich, NASA’s new Orion program manager, inspects Orion spacecraft components. Credit: NASA NASA has announced two veteran space shuttle engineers have taken charge of space agency’s Space Launch System and Orion deep space exploration projects after their previous managers both took the No. 2 jobs at space centers in Alabama and Texas. Mark Kirasich,…
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Orion spacecraft may not fly with astronauts until 2023
Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA The first piloted flight of NASA’s Orion space capsule, a vehicle designed to carry astronauts away from Earth for the first time in two generations, may slip from 2021 to 2023, agency officials said Wednesday. A thorough review of the program in recent weeks highlighted risks that…
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Orion spacecraft may not fly with astronauts until 2023
Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA The first piloted flight of NASA’s Orion space capsule, a vehicle designed to carry astronauts away from Earth for the first time in two generations, may slip from 2021 to 2023, agency officials said Wednesday. A thorough review of the program in recent weeks highlighted risks that…
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Decision looms on when to introduce new SLS upper stage
Artist’s concept of the Space Launch System’s upgraded upper stage with four RL10 engines. NASA officials want to introduce the new upper stage on the first crewed SLS launch in 2021, if budgets allow. Credit: Boeing NASA officials are waiting to see if Congress adds funding to the agency’s budget next year to kick-start development…
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Shuttle-era rocket engine primed for test firing
NASA plans to fire up a space shuttle-era rocket engine in Mississippi on Thursday for nearly nine minutes to validate upgrades to the powerplant for the Space Launch System, a new mega-rocket under development to boost astronauts on missions to deep space. The test set to begin at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) will last…
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Rocket engine fires up in latest test for behemoth booster
NASA test-fired an RS-25 development engine Thursday at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now A hydrogen-fueled rocket engine ignited with a bone-rattling sonic wave Thursday at NASA’s test facility in Southern Mississippi, throttling up to more than a half-million pounds of thrust to verify upgrades to the space shuttle’s main engines…
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Orion service module still seen as schedule driver
Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft with the European service module’s distinctive X-wing solar panels. Credit: NASA The pace of the European Space Agency’s development of a power and propulsion module for NASA’s Orion crew capsule will likely determine when an unpiloted test flight of the spaceship and its heavy-lift rocket will take off, NASA…