Exploring The Frontier Of Space
NASA officials Wednesday announced they have completed a rigorous review of the Space Launch System (SLS) — the heavy-lift, exploration class rocket under development to take humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars — and approved the program’s progression from formulation to development, something no other exploration class vehicle has achieved since the agency built […]
SpaceX experienced a rare but disappointing failure today when one of the company’s Falcon 9R (reusable) rockets exploded during a test flight at the SpaceX facility near McGregor, TX. It is unknown if the problem today will affect the scheduled August 27 launch from Cape Canaveral of a Falcon 9 carrying the commercial Asiasat 6 […]
ISS Expedition 40 crewmember Alexander Gerst captured this amazing photo of the Orbital Sciences Cygnus Orb-2 resupply craft re-entering Earth’s atmosphere today following its unberthing on August 15. This was the second contracted space station resupply mission for Orbital under its NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract. #Cygnus reentry. In 84 days @astro_reid, @msuraev and I […]
When SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket from Cape Canaveral carrying the first OG-2 mission for Orbcomm, a P3 Orion aircraft was waiting downrange over the Atlantic Ocean to capture the powered descent and attempted soft-landing of the rocket’s first stage in the water. After the booster separated from the second stage, it re-lit […]
Orbital Sciences Cygnus commercial cargo craft completed a month-long delivery mission to the International Space Station Friday when it was released from the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm at 6:40 a.m. EDT. Cygnus is now orbiting on its own, separating from the station and heading for a deorbit and a fiery entry over the […]
Continuing a very successful year for United Launch Alliance, an Atlas V rocket thundered into space this morning on a mission to successfully deploy the WorldView-3 satellite for commercial space imaging provider DigitalGlobe. Blasting off on time at 11:30 a.m PDT from Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg AFB in California, WorldView-3 was placed into […]
United Launch Alliance named veteran aerospace industry executive Tory Bruno as its next president and chief executive officer, succeeding Michael Gass, who has served as president and CEO since ULA’s founding in 2006. Bruno’s appointment is effective immediately; he and Gass will work collaboratively to ensure a smooth leadership transition and continued commitment to mission […]
NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project successfully flew a rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space in late June from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The goal of this experimental flight test, the first of three planned for the project, was to determine if the balloon-launched, rocket-powered, saucer-shaped, design could reach […]
By the end of September, NASA aerospace engineer Jason Budinoff is expected to complete the first imaging telescopes ever assembled almost exclusively from 3-D-manufactured components. “As far as I know, we are the first to attempt to build an entire instrument with 3-D printing,” said Budinoff, who works at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in […]
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5) launched Tuesday atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:47 p.m. EDT. The ATV-5 will take a two week trip to the International Space Station docking to the Zvezda service module on Aug. 12 at 9:43 a.m. with 7 tons […]