Tag: Space
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Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is the new leader of Relativity Space
Another Silicon Valley investor is getting into the rocket business. Former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt has taken a controlling interest in the Long Beach, California-based Relativity Space. The New York Times first reported the change becoming official, after Schmidt told employees in an all-hands meeting on Monday. Schmidt’s involvement with Relativity has been quietly…
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What’s behind the recent string of failures and delays at SpaceX?
It has been an uncharacteristically messy start to the year for the world’s leading spaceflight company, SpaceX. Let’s start with the company’s most recent delay. The latest launch date for a NASA mission to survey the sky and better understand the early evolution of the Universe comes Monday night. The launch window for this SPHEREx…
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NASA officials undermine Musk’s claims about “stranded” astronauts
Over the last month there has been something more than a minor kerfuffle in the space industry over the return of two NASA astronauts from the International Space Station. The fate of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who launched on the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024, has become a…
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After less than a day, the Athena lander is dead on the Moon
Intuitive Machines announced on Friday morning that its Athena mission to the surface of the Moon, which landed on its side, has ended. “With the direction of the Sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge,” the company said in a…
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White House may seek to slash NASA’s science budget by 50 percent
Although the Trump administration will not publicly release its budget request for at least a few more weeks, senior agency officials are starting to be briefed on the president’s priorities. This includes NASA. As expected, the president’s plan for the space agency includes some significant shakeups, including a desire to move elements of NASA headquarters…
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Rocket Report: Starship fails for a second time; what’s to blame for Vulcan delays?
Welcome to Edition 7.34 of the Rocket Report! What a day in space Thursday was. During the morning hours we saw the triumphant second flight of the Ariane 6 rocket, a pivotal moment for European sovereignty in space. Then Intuitive Machines had a partially successful landing on the Moon. And finally, on Thursday evening, SpaceX’s…
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Intuitive Machines’ second attempt to land on the Moon also went sideways
Inside a small control room, during the middle of the day on Thursday local time in Texas, about a dozen white-knuckled engineers at a space startup named Intuitive Machines started to get worried. Their spacecraft, a lander named Athena, was beginning its final descent down to the lunar surface. A little more than a year…
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Yes, we are about to be treated to a second lunar landing in a week
The Apollo 17 mission landed on the Moon on December 11, in 1972. From that point on, literally for decades, NASA and the United States did not go back to the surface of our nearest planetary body. It was not until February 22, 2024, that another American-built spacecraft made a soft landing on the Moon.…
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Butch Wilmore says Elon Musk is “absolutely factual” on Dragon’s delayed return
Three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut are due to return home on a Crew Dragon spacecraft in a couple of weeks. For two of the crew members, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, it has been a long, strange trip. To recap: Wilmore and Williams launch on the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft…
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The modern era of low-flying satellites may begin this week
The idea of flying satellites in “very” low-Earth orbit is not new. Dating back to the dawn of the space age in the late 1950s, the first US spy satellites, as part of the Corona program, orbited the planet as low as 120 to 160 km (75 to 100 miles) above the Earth. This low…