Archive for June, 2015

A Dark Day for NASA, SpaceX, as Falcon 9 Fails on CRS-7 Mission

A Dark Day for NASA, SpaceX, as Falcon 9 Fails on CRS-7 Mission

Correction: A Russian Progress is scheduled to launch to ISS on July 3rd Original story: Many had hoped it would prove to be a day that changed space history forever. Instead, it offered a major launch failure for SpaceX and its Falcon 9 booster, and the sudden realization for NASA that it now faces a significant […]

Posted in: NASA, SpaceX
‘Forever Remembered’ Exhibit Honoring Challenger and Columbia Opens at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

‘Forever Remembered’ Exhibit Honoring Challenger and Columbia Opens at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett This morning, NASA held a ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center’s space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit to unveil a project which has been in the works since 2012. It is a memorial to both the crew and the ships which the agency lost in two accidents which shook the nation, the loss […]

Posted in: NASA
OneWeb Announces Largest Commercial Launch Order Ever

OneWeb Announces Largest Commercial Launch Order Ever

Image Credit: OneWeb OneWeb has announced what is being described as the largest single launch order ever placed. The order, which will eventually cover some 900 of its planned fleet of broadband internet satellites in Low Earth Orbit, will be split between the Arianespace marketed version of the Soyuz booster, and Virgin Galactic’s much smaller LauncherOne, which is under development. […]

Posted in: Arianespace, NewSpace
Still More Evidence for a Wet Mars

Still More Evidence for a Wet Mars

Wet Mars : Credits: NASA/GSFC The journal Nature Communications has published a paper detailing research into comparatively recent water flow on Mars. Abstract: “Liquid water is currently extremely rare on Mars, but was more abundant during periods of high obliquity in the last few millions of years. This is testified by the widespread occurrence of mid-latitude […]

Posted in: Mars
SpaceX, Orbital ATK Likely to Receive New Awards With CRS Contract Extension

SpaceX, Orbital ATK Likely to Receive New Awards With CRS Contract Extension

SpaceX is set to launch its 7th Commercial Resupply mission to the International Space Station on June 28th, but based on a notice posted by NASA last Friday, it may be adding at least for more missions to the count through an extension which would see the original contract run through 2018. Fellow supplier Orbital-ATK, […]

NASA Leases Shuttle Landing Facility to Space Florida

NASA Leases Shuttle Landing Facility to Space Florida

Shuttle Landing Facility  / Image Credit NASA NASA News Release June 22, 2015 RELEASE 15-135 NASA Signs Agreement with Space Florida to Operate Historic Landing Facility A new agreement marks another step in the transformation of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to a multi-user spaceport. NASA’s historic Shuttle Landing Facility, the site of one […]

Posted in: NASA, SLS / Orion
Dawn Spacecraft Finds Mysterious “Lonely Mountain” on Ceres

Dawn Spacecraft Finds Mysterious “Lonely Mountain” on Ceres

Image Credit NASA/JPL While much of the space science community is anxiously awaiting the July 14th flyby of the New Horizons probe at the system headlined by former planet Pluto, a much more accessible dwarf planet, Ceres seems determined to keep its own place in the spotlight. In addition to the growing number of mysterious […]

Posted in: Asteroids, NASA
SpaceX CRS-7 Mission Set For Sunday Morning Liftoff

SpaceX CRS-7 Mission Set For Sunday Morning Liftoff

The SpaceX CRS-7 cargo mission to the International Space Station has been moved from Friday to Sunday, June 28th with a new liftoff time of 10:21 AM EDT from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40. If liftoff, which must take place exactly on time, is delayed for any reason, a backup slot on Monday the 29th is reserved. […]

Mexico Shoots for the Moon with Astrobotic

Mexico Shoots for the Moon with Astrobotic

Mexico is set to become the first Latin American country to send a payload to the Lunar surface, courtesy of Google Lunar XPrize competitor Astrobotic. Although just a beginning, the agreement described in the press release below is an encouraging sign for other companies such as Bigelow Aerospace which are building business plans based on […]

Posted in: Moon
Senate Committee Slashes Commercial Crew, Space Technology

Senate Committee Slashes Commercial Crew, Space Technology

Last week, a Senate Appropriations Committee “marked up” the FY 2016 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill which funds among other things, NASA.  For supporters of several NASA programs, including Commercial Crew, it was a simply put, a very bad day. Despite repeated impassioned pleas from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to fully fund Commercial Crew at the requested […]

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