Tag: agency

Five Years Later and Looking Back Again

Five Years Later and Looking Back Again

KSC Director Robert Cabana Addresses the Media on the “21st Century Spaceport” Addressing the concerns of his audience at the Kennedy Space Center on April 15th  2010,  President Obama sought to assure NASA and contract employees that the changes his administration was about to institute; cancelling Project Constellation, maintaining ISS, greenlighting Commercial Crew, and setting […]

Posted in: NASA, NewSpace, SpaceX
American Space Policy Five Years Later

American Space Policy Five Years Later

President Obama at the Kennedy Space Center / April 15th 2010.  Image Credit : NASA The following is Part I in a multi-part series looking back at changes in American space policy put forward by President fiove years ago. Wednesday, April 15th was perhaps not the best of days for many Americans. While for those […]

Posted in: Congress, NASA, SLS / Orion
Turning Up the Power on Solar Electric Propulsion

Turning Up the Power on Solar Electric Propulsion

NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) ion thruster. /  Image Credit NASA. After arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres one month ago, NASA’s ion powered Dawn spacecraft entered an initial capture orbit which took it to a maximum altitude of more than 46,000 miles above the icy body. Firing steadily, a 2.6 kw ion engine, one […]

Posted in: Advanced propulsion
NASA May, (or May Not) Be Considering a Lunar Return After All

NASA May, (or May Not) Be Considering a Lunar Return After All

April 15th, 2015 will mark the fifth anniversary of one of the most significant, and controversial policy changes in the history of the U.S. space program, the decision to cancel Project Constellation and NASA’s planned return to the Moon. Now, according to a story by veteran reporter Eric Berger in the Houston Chronicle, with less […]

Posted in: Mars, Moon, NASA
NASA’s Year Long Mission Gets Underway

NASA’s Year Long Mission Gets Underway

Launch of Expedition 43 / Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls It’s not a five year mission, and it certainly isn’t going anywhere “no-one has gone before,” but NASA’s longest manned space mission got underway on Friday with the liftoff of a Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft carrying veteran American astronaut Scott Kelly, and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady […]

Posted in: ISS, Space Tourism
NASA Announces Option B (Or is it Plan 9)? From Outer Space

NASA Announces Option B (Or is it Plan 9)? From Outer Space

On Wednesday, March 25, NASA announced that it had reached a decision regarding which option the agency is to pursue as part of its Asteroid Redirect Mission, or ARM. In what came as no great surprise to those who have been following the space agency’s painful struggle to come up with an achievable mission plausibly […]

Posted in: Asteroids, NASA
Bigelow’s BEAM Gettting Closer to Flight

Bigelow’s BEAM Gettting Closer to Flight

NASA’s Wlliam Gerstenmaier,  associate administrator for human exploration and operations, along with director of advanced exploration systems Jason Crusan, views BEAM at the Bigelow facility in North Las Vegas. Image Credit: Stephanie Schierholz NASA and Bigelow Aerospace held a media event on Thursday to highlight preparations for the launch of the Bigelow Expandable Aerospace Activity […]

Posted in: Uncategorized
Dawn Enters Orbit at Dwarf Planet Ceres

Dawn Enters Orbit at Dwarf Planet Ceres

Image of Ceres Taken on March 1st : Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA From NASA.gov: “NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 38,000 miles (61,000) kilometers from Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet’s gravity at about 4:39 a.m. PST (7:39 a.m. EST) […]

Posted in: Asteroids
Mysterious Ceres Keeps Surprising

Mysterious Ceres Keeps Surprising

Latest image of Ceres, taken from 29,000 miles miles away. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Ceres just keeps getting more interesting. From NASA.gov: “Dwarf planet Ceres continues to puzzle scientists as NASA’s Dawn spacecraft gets closer to being captured into orbit around the object. The latest images from Dawn, taken nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers) from Ceres, […]

Posted in: Asteroids, NASA
Boeing, ULA Break Ground on Commercial Crew Access Tower

Boeing, ULA Break Ground on Commercial Crew Access Tower

Artists Conception of Boeing/ULA Commercial Crew Tower / Image Credit: ULA From NASA.GOV “Boeing and United Launch Alliance teams held a ceremonial groundbreaking Feb. 20 to begin construction on the first new crew access structure at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in decades. The preparations will enable Space Launch Complex 41 to host astronauts and […]

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