Archive for March, 2016

Atlas V Sends Cygnus Cargo Ship on Its Way to International Space Station

Atlas V Sends Cygnus Cargo Ship on Its Way to International Space Station

In case you missed it, here is the official NASA press release from last night’s launch of the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo vessel to the International Space Station: March 23, 2016 RELEASE 16-036 NASA Sends Fire, Meteor Experiments to International Space Station on Commercial Cargo Spacecraft The station’s Expeditions 47 and 48 crews will employ […]

Posted in: Uncategorized
Fly By Night: Atlas V Awaiting Cargo Launch to ISS

Fly By Night: Atlas V Awaiting Cargo Launch to ISS

NASA, United Launch Alliance and Orbital ATK are all counting down to tonight’s scheduled launch of the OA-6 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The ULA Atlas V 401 is scheduled to lift off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 11:05 PM EDT, at the beginning of a 30 minute launch window. This will be […]

5 Teams Progress in NASA CubeQuest Challenge for 3 Slots on SLS EM-1

5 Teams Progress in NASA CubeQuest Challenge for 3 Slots on SLS EM-1

From NASA.Gov NASA Awards Second-Round Prizes in Cube Quest Challenge NASA has awarded $30,000 each to the five top-scoring teams that competed in the latest segment of the agency’s small satellite Cube Quest competition. Cube Quest is a $5 million challenge that requires teams to design, build and deliver flight-qualified CubeSats capable of advanced operations […]

Posted in: CubeSats, STEAM
Flying the Busy Skies: UAE Signs Japan’s H-IIA for 2020 Mars Launch

Flying the Busy Skies: UAE Signs Japan’s H-IIA for 2020 Mars Launch

The space lanes between Earth and Mars about to get rather crowded during the 2020 orbital launch window. The latest news comes from the United Arab Emirates, and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, who have announced a contract for Japan’s H-IIA launch vehicle to boost UAE’s HOPE mission to the Red Planet in 2020. Previous reports […]

Posted in: Japanese Space, Mars
Paragon Wins NASA SBIR Award With Implications for Propellant Depots

Paragon Wins NASA SBIR Award With Implications for Propellant Depots

Press Release: Paragon Space Development Corporation® Wins NASA Phase II For Cryogenic Fluid Management Technology TUCSON, AZ (March 21, 2016) – Paragon Space Development Corporation® (Paragon) and partner Thin Red Line Aerospace (TRLA) received a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from NASA to advance their Cryogenic Encapsulating Launch Shroud and Insulated Upper […]

Virgin Galactic’s Cosmic Girl Undergoes Mods for Launch Duty

Virgin Galactic’s Cosmic Girl Undergoes Mods for Launch Duty

Virgin Galactic is making progress in its bid to enter the small launcher business with its LauncherOne two-stage, liquid fueled booster. Last week, the company announced that LauncherOne’s carrier aircraft, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 named appropriately enough, Cosmic Girl, arrived in Waco. Texas for conversion to its new assignment. LauncherOne will be carried to […]

Posted in: Virgin Galactic
Soyuz Launch Brings ISS Complement Back to 6, Cygnus on Deck

Soyuz Launch Brings ISS Complement Back to 6, Cygnus on Deck

  NASA Press Release NASA astronaut Jeff Williams is now the first American to become a three-time, long-term resident of the International Space Station. He arrived at the orbiting laboratory at 11:09 p.m. EDT Friday, with cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, where they will continue important research that […]

Russia to Slash Space Budget By 30%

Russia to Slash Space Budget By 30%

From playing a vital role in building, staffing, and operating the International Space Station over the last 15 years, to launching the ExoMars probe this week, there is no doubt the Russian space program is a vital, and even indispensable component of the global space exploration infrastructure. According to a report in Reuters with quotes […]

Posted in: Russian Space
9 Discoveries About Pluto’s System Revealed in New Horizons Papers

9 Discoveries About Pluto’s System Revealed in New Horizons Papers

It will still be quite some time before scientists receive all the 50 gigabits of data gathered by the New Horizons probe as it sped past Pluto’s system last July, but the first comprehensive set of papers to be published from the history making mission have come out in the journal Science. According to New Horizons […]

Posted in: Outer Planets
ISS Set to Receive Orbital ATK and SpaceX Resupply Missions in Rapid Succession

ISS Set to Receive Orbital ATK and SpaceX Resupply Missions in Rapid Succession

The International Space Station will see quite a bit of traffic in the next few weeks. Later today, NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos will launch to the Station from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Liftoff of the Soyuz booster and spacecraft is set for 5:26 PM EDT. (3:26 […]

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