NASA announced late yesterday that it has issued the first task orders for crew rotation flights under its Commercial Crew program. The order went to Boeing, but as the press release included below makes clear, that does not necessarily mean the first flight will go to Boeing as well. In parsing previous statements, the agency […]
Lynx Mark I Under Construction / Image Credit XCOR Aerospace Forbes reports that the Chinese venture capital firm Haiyin Capital has made a $5 million dollar investment in XCOR Aerospace. The investment is noteworthy for a number of reasons, and may be pointing the way to a brighter future for NewSpace firms looking for additional […]
The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) launches aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 After nine years, two lawsuits and 18 successful Falcon 9 launches, SpaceX has received certification to compete for national security launches. Here is the press release from the Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, El Segundo, Calif. (AFNS) […]
In case you missed it, last week SpaceX released new camera footage from its successful May 6th Pad Abort Test of the Commercial Crew version of the Dragon spacecraft.
Dragon at Sunrise / Image credit NASA Update: The Dragon departed ISS on time this morning at 6:04 AM CDT as it was 250 miles over the southern coast of Australia. The SpaceX CRS-6 Dragon capsule is set to return from the International Space Station tomorrow morning, Thursday, May 21st. NASA television will provide coverage […]
While SpaceX’s long running efforts to achieve certification for launching national security payloads under the EELV program have received a great deal of press attention, a similar, but far less contentions process has been underway at NASA. On Friday afternoon came the word that the SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.1 has finally been certified to launch […]
In what is shaping up to be a truly miserably month for the Russian aerospace sector, two Russian news outlets are reporting that Friday’s planned orbit boost of the International Space Station did not take place. According to Sputnik International: “The Russian Mission Control Center was informed of the fact that the Progress’ engines did […]
Screen Capture of Proton MexSat-1 Launch The Russian aerospace industry suffered a new failure overnight as another Proton booster, this one operating for U.S. marketer International Launch Services, failed to reach orbit. The failure occurred approximately one minute before the payload, with Briz-M upper stage still attached, was supposed to separate from the rocket’s 3rd […]
Yesterday, a House Appropriations subcommittee approved a draft NASA FY 2016 funding bill. As expected, the bill was set at the same overall funding level as that offered up by the Administration, at $18.592 billion. To that extent, the bill is non-controversial, but that is also about as far as it goes. Once again, the […]
At Issue: The RD-180 According to a Reuters story the running battle between SpaceX and United Launch Alliance over military launches and Russian hardware took a new turn yesterday when Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R, Arizona) flatly rejected a request by defense officials to allow a broader interpretation of restrictions on the […]
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