Archive for May, 2013

Planetary Resources Kickstarter Campaign Takes Off

Planetary Resources Kickstarter Campaign Takes Off

In what is already turning out to be one of the more fascinating space oriented crowdsourcing efforts yet seen, Planetary Resources introduced what amounts to a public access prototype of its planned Arkyd space telescopes at a press conference yesterday.   The broadcast started late, was horribly garbled, and at times seemed more like the sort […]

Planetary Resources Hosting Two Media EventsToday

Planetary Resources Hosting Two Media EventsToday

Planetary Resources, which recently made news by entering into a collaborative  partnership with engineering and construction mega corporation Bechtel to advance its plans for asteroid mining,  will be holding a press conference at 10:00 AM PDT today, to announce a new project apparently aimed at expanding its outreach through crowdsourcing, a plan which will “change the way humanity […]

Soyuz TMA-09M Set for Liftoff

Soyuz TMA-09M Set for Liftoff

International Space Station Expedition 36, which officially began with the undocking and departure of the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft on May 13th, is set to get underway in earnest with the launch of the TMA-O9M capsule this afternoon.  Liftoff is scheduled from Baikonur at 4:31 EDT, with docking to take place approximately 6 hours later. Joining Commader Pavel Vinogradov and […]

Posted in: NASA
Texas Passes SpaceX Launch Law

Texas Passes SpaceX Launch Law

Source : Brownsville Herald With the stroke of a pen on Friday,  Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law legislation allowing for the temporary closure of part  of Boca Chica beach during SpaceX launch windows.  The legislation, House Bill 2623, allows  for the beach to be closed except for holiday and weekends during the summer.  An exception is made […]

Posted in: Space Commerce, SpaceX
First Angara Rocket Ready to Ship to Launch Site

First Angara Rocket Ready to Ship to Launch Site

Source : RIA Novosti After a seemingly endless development program stretching back into the 1990’s, the first booster in a long anticipated family of new Russian launch vehicles has completed testing and is being prepared to ship to the northern spaceport of Plesetsk. It will still be some time before launch however, as the Angara “light” is […]

Update: Delta IV Set to Launch

Update: Delta IV Set to Launch

Update: Following a scrub on Thursday due a problem with helium pressurization, the launch of the Delta IV carrying SatCom 5 has been reset for 8:37 p.m. EDT this evening. Original: After a stand down dating back to October 4th , a United Launch Alliance (Boeing) Delta IV is prepared to return to flight this […]

As NewSpace Prepares to Take Off, Will Congress Let NASA Get On Board?

As NewSpace Prepares to Take Off, Will Congress Let NASA Get On Board?

  Earlier this week, yet another Congressional committee held hearings on the direction of NASA and  future of human spaceflight.   Even for policy wonks, this gets old.  Maybe though, that is about to change.    It has been a long eight years since SpaceShip 1 won the Ansari X-Prize and began to focus the world’s attention on the […]

Exploring NASA’s Agreement with Bigelow

Exploring NASA’s Agreement with Bigelow

On Thursday, May 23 at 1:30 p.m. EDT, NASA Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier and Bigelow Aerospace founder and president Robert Bigelow will hold a “media availability” to discuss the Space Act Agreement between the two organizations.  The event comes two months after the original document outlining the participation was signed in late March of this year, and almost midway through […]

Posted in: Moon, NASA, Space Commerce
Bion M Spacecraft Returns, Most of Crew Does Not

Bion M Spacecraft Returns, Most of Crew Does Not

Source : RIA Novosti, Russianspaceweb.com A spacecraft based on an ancient design  comes crashing through the atmosphere, overshooting it pre-programmed landing zone, and emergency crews rush to the scene only to find half the crew has perished in space.  And it’s not science fiction. This is pretty much what took place in Russia over the weekend as […]

Posted in: Russian Space
NASA Seeks Tenant for Pad 39A

NASA Seeks Tenant for Pad 39A

It is starting to look like a case of too little, too late for the Kennedy Space Center.  After KSC Director Bob Cabana earlier this week seemed to reluctantly conceed that NASA would not stand in the way of Space Florida’s proposed commercial spaceport near Shiloh,  provided it passes environmental  review,  KSC released a synopsis today outlining its plans to […]

Posted in: NASA
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