Tag: Space
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Rocket Report: NASA delays Artemis again; SpinLaunch spins a little cash
Welcome to Edition 7.22 of the Rocket Report! The big news is the Trump administration’s announcement that commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman would be put forward as the nominee to serve as the next NASA Administrator. Isaacman has flown to space twice, and demonstrated that he takes spaceflight seriously. More background on Isaacman, and possible changes,…
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How did the CEO of an online payments firm become the nominee to lead NASA?
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday his intent to nominate entrepreneur and commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman as the next administrator of NASA. For those unfamiliar with Isaacman, who at just 16 years old founded a payment processing company in his parents’ basement that ultimately became a major player in online payments, it may seem an odd…
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Falcon 9 reaches a flight rate 30 times higher than shuttle at 1/100th the cost
SpaceX recently hit some notable milestones with its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, and even in the full context of history, the performance of the vehicle is pretty incredible. Last Tuesday, the company launched a batch of Starlink v2-mini satellites from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket, marking the 400th successful mission…
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After Russian ship docks to space station, astronauts report a foul smell
It should have been a routine mission to ferry about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies to the International Space Station, but when Russian cosmonauts opened the hatch to a cargo spacecraft on Saturday, they got a surprise—a toxic smell. “After opening the Progress spacecraft’s hatch, the Roscosmos cosmonauts noticed an unexpected odor and…
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A former Orion manager has surprisingly credible plans to fly European astronauts
It would be easy to be cynical about a German-French startup named The Exploration Company, which aims to build an increasingly sophisticated lineup of spaceships that could one day launch astronauts into orbit. After all, European space startups don’t have the greatest track record, and even with billions of dollars, one of the world’s leading…
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Rocket Report: Next Vulcan launch slips into 2025; Starship gets a green light
Welcome to Edition 7.20 of the Rocket Report! This is a super-long version of the newsletter because we did not publish last week, and there is just a ton of launch news of late. Also, I want to note that next week’s report will appear a day early, on Wednesday, due to the Thanksgiving holiday.…
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SpaceX just got exactly what it wanted from the FAA for Texas Starship launches
A day after SpaceX launched its Starship rocket for the sixth time, the company received good news from the Federal Aviation Administration regarding future launch operations from its Starbase facility in South Texas. In a draft version of what is known as an “Environmental Assessment,” the FAA indicated that it will grant SpaceX permission to…
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As NASA increasingly relies on commercial space, there are some troubling signs
When it comes to space policy, a hallmark of the first Trump administration was its embrace of private companies. NASA sought to build fewer expensive things and buy more lower-cost services. In doing so, it aimed to foster a healthy ecosystem of private space companies. Under the leadership of Jim Bridenstine, NASA, during these years,…
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SpaceX president predicts rapid increase in Starship launch rate
As SpaceX made its final preparations for the sixth launch of its Starship rocket, the company’s chief operating officer and president spoke at a financial conference on Friday about various topics, including the future of the massive rocket and the Starlink satellite system. The Starship launch system is about to reach a tipping point, Gwynne…
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SpaceX president predicts rapid increase in Starship launch rate
As SpaceX made its final preparations for the sixth launch of its Starship rocket, the company’s chief operating officer and president spoke at a financial conference on Friday about various topics, including the future of the massive rocket and the Starlink satellite system. The Starship launch system is about to reach a tipping point, Gwynne…