German imaging satellite gets top billing on next SpaceX rideshare launch

The EnMAP spacecraft at its factory in Bremen, Germany. Credit: OHB/H. von der Fecht A $330 million German hyperspectral Earth-imaging satellite will hitch a ride to orbit from Cape Canaveral with 39 smaller commercial payloads on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set for blastoff Friday. The German observation satellite — named the Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program, or EnMAP — is sitting on top of a stack of microsatellites, CubeSats, and...

Read More

Comment on Blue Origin’s NS-18 Boldly Goes, Delivers Shatner, Crewmates to Threshold of Space by NS-20 New Shepard Launches, Delivers Six Crew to Edge of Space - AmericaSpace

[…] recently, last 13 October, a second crew-carrying launch (NS-18) ferried Blue’s vice president of mission and flight […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/LVvEcy4 via World Space In...

Read More

Comment on NS-19 Launches Six Crew, Flies Shepard’s Daughter, Honors De Vries by NS-20 New Shepard Launches, Delivers Six Crew to Edge of Space - AmericaSpace

[…] the first time in 2022, and only the second time since the end of the Space Shuttle Program, six humans crossed the 62-mile-high (100-kilometer) “Kármán Line” together early Thursday, […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/eTQPzLZ via World Space In...

Read More

NS-20 New Shepard Launches, Delivers Six Crew to Edge of Space

@BlueOrigin launched 6 civilians beyond the Karman Line on Thursday, via its #NewShepard booster. The post NS-20 New Shepard Launches, Delivers Six Crew to Edge of Space first appeared on AmericaSpace. from AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/QLHs9qv via World Space In...

Read More

Watch live: Blue Origin ready for fourth suborbital crew flight today

 Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital launcher will loft six passengers, including the rocket’s chief designer, on an up-and-down flight to the edge of space Thursday. The commercial space company is expected to launch the single-stage New Shepard rocket from West Texas shortly after 9:10 a.m. EDT (1310 GMT; 8:10 a.m. CDT). The mission will last a little more than 10 minutes from liftoff until touchdown of Blue Origin’s crew capsule, which...

Read More

NASA astronaut back on Earth after record-setting flight

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei gives a thumbs-up after landing in Kazakhstan, closing out 355 days in space. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei joined two Russian cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth Wednesday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a U.S.-record 355-day stay in space. Despite...

Read More

Comment on Biden-Harris Administration Extends ISS Operations Through 2030 by Vande Hei, Crewmates Back Home After Longest Single U.S. Human Space Mission - AmericaSpace

[…] troubled arrival of Russia’s long-awaited Nauka lab and also welcomed the Prichal docking node, the station’s latest permanent component, last November. But Vande Hei did not get to see the arrival of the second uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT-2) of […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/e48OxEh via World Space In...

Read More

Comment on First Axiom Mission Completes FRR, Aims for 3 April Launch by Vande Hei, Crewmates Back Home After Longest Single U.S. Human Space Mission - AmericaSpace

[…] on Wednesday, 6 April. A Static Fire Test of the nine Merlin 1D+ first-stage engines of Ax-1’s previously-flown Falcon 9 booster on historic Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida will occur on […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/3NFHlrZ via World Space In...

Read More

Vande Hei, Crewmates Back Home After Longest Single U.S. Human Space Mission

@Astro_Sabot, Pyotr Dubrov & @Anton_Astrey returned safely to Earth early Wednesday. Mark Vande Hei logged the longest single space mission for a U.S. astronaut at 355 days. The post Vande Hei, Crewmates Back Home After Longest Single U.S. Human Space Mission first appeared on AmericaSpace. from AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/0Rfbo18 via World Space In...

Read More

Comment on NG-16 Cygnus Departs Space Station, Heads for Re-entry by Vande Hei, Crewmates Back Home After Longest Single U.S. Human Space Mission - AmericaSpace

[…] Russian Progress ships, three SpaceX Cargo Dragons and two Northrop Grumman Corp. Cygnuses—and bade farewell to eight. He was aboard the ISS last July during the troubled arrival of Russia’s long-awaited Nauka lab […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/k3MaquG via World Space In...

Read More

Live coverage: NASA astronaut returning home today with two Russian cosmonauts

Live coverage of the Expedition 66 mission on the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. from Spaceflight Now https://ift.tt/uPzq7cZ via World Space In...

Read More

NASA astronaut, two cosmonauts set for Wednesday return to Earth

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei in his Russian Sokol launch and entry spacesuit. Credit: NASA NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, launched by Russia to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft last April, returns this week to a world torn by war in Ukraine and escalating superpower tension as he closes out a 355-day stay in orbit, the longest single flight by a U.S. astronaut. Despite...

Read More

White House requests $26 billion for NASA in ’23, adds funds for second moon lander

The waning gibbous moon as viewed from the International Space Station on Jan. 21. Credit: NASA The White House’s fiscal year 2023 budget request for NASA totals $26 billion, including $7.5 billion for the agency’s Artemis moon program, a boost over this year’s budget to help pay for development of a second human-rated lander to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface. NASA officials announced last week they plan to fund development of a second lunar...

Read More

NASA gives priority to Artemis ground test over commercial astronaut launch

Pilot Larry Connor and commander Mike Lopez-Alegria (left and right) during training inside a SpaceX simulator. Credit: Axiom Space / SpaceX NASA officials gave the green light Friday for the first all-commercial astronaut launch to the International Space Station on a SpaceX rocket as soon as April 3. But the astronaut launch could be delayed a day, or longer, to give priority to a countdown test for NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket on a...

Read More

Comment on Pad 39A Supports First U.S. Launch of 2022, Next Starlink Batch Lifted to Low Orbit by First Axiom Mission Completes FRR, Aims for 3 April Launch - AmericaSpace

[…] But Endeavour is not the only frequent-flyer on Ax-1; so too is her Falcon 9 core stage, which will be making its fifth launch. First flown in November 2020, the B1062 core delivered a pair of Block III Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation and timing satellites into Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) for the U.S. Space Force, then lifted the four-person Inspiration4 crew to low-Earth orbit aboard Dragon Resilience last September and 49 Starlink internet communications satellites in January 2022. […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/elE03Q9 via...

Read More

Comment on Crew-2 Returns Home, Wraps Up Longest Single Mission by U.S. Crewed Spacecraft by First Axiom Mission Completes FRR, Aims for 3 April Launch - AmericaSpace

[…] Agency (JAXA), Crew-2 spent 199 days in orbit. With the completion of her second mission, last November, Endeavour wrapped up the longest single mission by any U.S. crew-carrying orbital spacecraft. When […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/aQoSVmn via World Space In...

Read More

First Axiom Mission Completes FRR, Aims for 3 April Launch

@CommanderMLA & 3 crewmates will launch no sooner than 3 April (pending range availability) on 1st all-private crewed mission to @Space_Station. The post First Axiom Mission Completes FRR, Aims for 3 April Launch first appeared on AmericaSpace. from AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/uEfBqG3 via World Space In...

Read More

Hydrazine fueling operations underway for SLS booster steering system

Live views of launch pad 39B and updates on preparations for the inaugural launch of NASA’s Space Launch System Moon rocket on the Artemis 1 test flight. from Spaceflight Now https://ift.tt/ABtDbJf via World Space In...

Read More

Russian military communications satellite launched on Soyuz rocket

A Soyuz rocket lifts off Tuesday with a Russian military satellite. Credit: Russian Ministry of Defense A Russian Soyuz rocket delivered a military communications satellite to orbit Tuesday in the first space launch for Russia’s military since forces invaded Ukraine last month. The Soyuz launcher lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 8:48 a.m. EDT (1248 GMT) Tuesday. The rocket headed southeast from the military-run spaceport, located about...

Read More

Comment on Crew-2 Returns Home, Wraps Up Longest Single Mission by U.S. Crewed Spacecraft by Moghbeli, Mogensen Named to SpaceX Crew-7 Mission - AmericaSpace

[…] More records fell like ninepins with Crew-2, which saw Endeavour launch on her second mission in April 2021, carrying U.S. astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, plus France’s Thomas Pesquet and Japan’s Aki Hoshide. Endeavour thus became the first U.S. crewed orbital vehicle to log a repeat flight since the final missions of the shuttle, more than a decade before. McArthur, who is married to Behnken, occupied the very same seat occupied by her husband several months earlier. And Crew-2 went on to log 199 days aloft, breaking the old...

Read More

Moghbeli, Mogensen Named to SpaceX Crew-7 Mission

@AstroJaws & @Astro_Andreas are assigned to SpaceX Crew-7 mission, targeted for 2023, as the Commercial Crew Program heads for routine flight ops. The post Moghbeli, Mogensen Named to SpaceX Crew-7 Mission first appeared on AmericaSpace. from AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/8mK1eSA via World Space In...

Read More

China launches military spy satellite

A Long March 4C rocket lifts off with the Yaogan 34-02 satellite. Credit: CASC China launched a classified military remote sensing satellite March 17 on a Long March 4C rocket. The three-stage rocket placed the Yaogan 34-02 satellite into an orbit at an altitude of 680 miles (1,100 kilometers). The Long March 4C lifted off from the Jiuquan space center in the Gobi Desert of northwestern China at 0709 GMT (3:09 a.m. EDT) on March 17. The launch...

Read More

Photos: SLS makes its debut at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Credit: Alex Polimeni / Spaceflight Now The first 322-foot-tall (98-meter) Space Launch System moon rocket arrived on launch pad 39B Friday after an overnight trek from the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The trip aboard one of NASA’s crawler-transporters lasted more than 10 hours from the time the moon rocket began moving out of the assembly building until the mobile launch platform arrived at the deck of pad 39B,...

Read More

Comment on EVA Youth & Experience Tackle Tricky S-Band Antenna Replacement by Chari, Maurer Complete ISS Upgrades in Lengthy U.S. EVA-80 - AmericaSpace

[…] of EVA-80, the fourth and final spacewalk of Expedition 66 is over. Two U.S. spacewalks last week and last December, plus a Russian excursion in January, have totaled over 27 hours. Current plans are for the next […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/EDPWAlk via World Space In...

Read More

Chari, Maurer Complete ISS Upgrades in Lengthy U.S. EVA-80

Astronauts @Astro_Raja & @Astro_Matthias spent 6hr 54min outside @Space_Station on Wednesday, tending to hardware & upgrades. Maurer now holds a record for the longest single EVA by a German astronaut. The post Chari, Maurer Complete ISS Upgrades in Lengthy U.S. EVA-80 first appeared on AmericaSpace. from AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/YjGEe9S via World Space In...

Read More

Comment on U.S. Launch Schedule 2022 by Mike Stevens

If the f.f.a. is going to be like this is not right and something needs to be done the first step I would take I would cancel all the up and coming missions for the NASA program. I think that are holding you back. You have too test BFR and its not the way it’s supposed to be. from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/5Bb7AaO via World Space In...

Read More

Video: Interview with Howard Hu, NASA’s Orion program manager

 Howard Hu manages NASA’s Orion program, overseeing developing and operations for the space agency’s new deep space crew capsule. We spoke with Hu before the rollout of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 mission’s wet dress rehearsal. Hu discussed the Orion spacecraft’s role in the wet dress rehearsal, outlined the goals of the Artemis 1 test flight, and provided an update on preparations of Orion vehicles for future Artemis missions, including the Artemis 2 flight that will carry astronauts around the moon. Email...

Read More

NASA’s most powerful rocket moved to launch pad for first time

NASA’s Space Launch System rolls eastbound toward pad 39B. Credit: Alex Polimeni / Spaceflight Now NASA’s powerful new moon rocket, standing more than 30 stories tall, arrived on the launch pad early Friday for the first time at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ready for a series of checkouts culminating in fueling test and simulated countdown in early April. The Space Launch System is designed to launch astronauts to the moon for the first...

Read More