SpaceX is performing a test flight of Starship SN15. The prototype will aim to be the first Starship vehicle to softly land during a high altitude flight test. Like the previous Starship prototypes, SN15 is expected to fly to approximately 10 kilometers.
Updates: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=52398.
SpaceX has once again scrubbed the latest major flight test of its Starship rocket. The next-generation spacecraft was set to launch from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, on Tuesday, but cancelled it for reasons unknown.
Starship SN15’s high-altitude flight test follows four previous attempts that all ended in massive explosions. SpaceX boss Elon Musk said previous issues with the rocket’s Raptor engines have been fixed “six ways to Sunday”, though if it fails to land cleanly there are more Starship prototypes currently under development.
Airspace clearance had been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), road closures were in place with Cameron County, and marine hazard notices had been issued. The test was expected to take place between 12pm and 8pm local time (6pm — 2am BST) on Tuesday, however a backup launch window is also in place for Wednesday.
The Virgin Galactic spaceship, VSS Imagine has been unveiled, revealing a more modular spacecraft designed to resolve challenges.
“For us to make the business start to scale, at the places that we’re aspiring towards, we need two things,” says Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier. “We need many more ships than we have right now and we also need the ships that we bring forward to be built in a way that they’re able to be maintained in a way that we can have much quicker than what we have with Unity.” In order to achieve those two elements of success, Virgin Atlantic has unveiled their latest spacecraft, the VSS Imagine. The new addition to the fleet is the third spacecraft built by Virgin Galactic and “has been designed in a way that’s taken the learnings we’ve had from all the flight testing on Unity.”
Of the many challenges astronauts will face in future missions to the Moon and Mars, keeping healthy is one of the most crucial.
But, in recent days, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) found startling solutions to sustain them on long-lasting missions. They recently enjoyed a fresh supply of vegetables due in large part to the efforts of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission commander and Expedition 64 crew member, Michael Hopkins.
Insider spoke to two NASA scientists, Matt Romeyn and Gioia Massa, who work on the crop-production experiments, known as Veg-03Kand VEG-03L. Romeyn is the lead scientist on the experiments and Gioia is a Kennedy Space Centre plant scientist.
Who could resist such an opportunity?
The iconic Launch Pad 39A will help take four Americans — a billionaire, a childhood cancer survivor, a science instructor and an engineer — into orbit.
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Four astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) came back to Earth on Sunday in what was the first nighttime splashdown by a U.S. crew since the Apollo moonshot in 1968.
Continue reading “NASA-SpaceX’s Crew Dragon splashdown goes safely—watch how it happened” »
China aims to construct a national-level space laboratory by 2022, as the country successfully launched its Long March-5B rocket carrying the core module of China’s space station Tianhe on Thursday, indicating that China is on track for its space ambitions.
China Media Group (CMG) talked on Friday with Zhong Hongen, deputy chief engineer of space application system at China’s Manned Space Flight Project, to find out the exact scientific experiments and available facilities there in the outer space, as well as the related effects on our daily lives.
NASA’s long-delayed Space Launch System (SLS) is finally beginning to take shape. Following a number of impressive engine tests, the various components of the first full spacecraft have all arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, including the newly arrived core stage. That part of the mega-rocked floated up to the spaceport on a 310-foot barge earlier this week.
The Space Launch System was envisioned as a replacement for the aging Space Shuttle, and one that could help humanity move beyond low-Earth orbit once again. Since the end of the Apollo program, we’ve been limited to hovering over our little blue marble, but the SLS has enough power to send crewed spacecraft back to the moon. That’s why it’s at the heart of the Artemis program. In the coming years, Artemis will deliver the first human explorers to the moon’s surface in half a century, and among them will be the first woman and person of color to walk on the lunar surface.
Before arriving at KSC on the agency’s Pegasus barge, the 212-foot core stage was at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. That’s where NASA ran the recent Green Run tests. The first static fire test in January ended early, after approximately one minute. NASA later confirmed this was the result of a failsafe system being triggered. In the subsequent March test, the rocket’s RS-25 engines ran for more than eight minutes, matching what they’ll have to do when the rocket launches for real.
“For those of you enrolled in our frequent flyer program, you’ve earned 68 million miles on this voyage,” SpaceX’s Mission Control radioed.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX safely returned four astronauts from the International Space Station on Sunday, making the first U.S. crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot.
The Dragon capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, just before 3 a.m., ending the second astronaut flight for Elon Musk’s company.
Continue reading “SpaceX returns 4 astronauts to Earth with rare night splashdown” »
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Are the space junk and carbon footprint issues of extra-terrestrial endeavours solvable?
