After sitting out a one-day delay due to weather conditions in West Texas, Blue Origin conducted a much anticipated in-flight abort test of its New Shepard rocket and capsule this morning, stunning the aerospace world with a successful recovery of both elements. The capsule recovery, which was after all the point of the test, came […]
SpaceX has announced the first test firing of its next generation Raptor engine. Word came, as it so often does, via Elon Musk’s Twitter account: SpaceX propulsion just achieved first firing of the Raptor interplanetary transport engine pic.twitter.com/vRleyJvBkx — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2016 A series of follow up tweets provided a bit […]
In his latest newsletter, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos teases an upcoming in-flight escape test of the New Shepard capsule aboard the similarly named booster. While there is not an announced date, Bezos says it will take place in early October, and will be broadcast for your “viewing pleasure.” The test, which is described in […]
Update: SpaceX has provided a statement regarding today’s incident. “SpaceX can confirm that in preparation for today’s static fire, there was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload. Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries.” Notably, a close reading of the […]
As anyone who has traveled from the U.S. to India can attest, it is one damn long flight. And while it may not be getting shorter anytime soon, perhaps there is hope on the horizon. On Sunday, India took another significant step in its drive to develop cutting edge domestic aerospace technology with a successful […]
In a post to email subscribers, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos today detailed the results of the company’s recent test launch in which it deliberately failed one of three parachutes which bring its suborbital crew capsule safely to ground. Under ordinary circumstances, Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule descents to land under the canopy of three […]
Press Release from NASA.Gov June 28, 2016 RELEASE 16-069 NASA’s Space Launch System Booster Passes Major Milestone on Journey to Mars A booster for the most powerful rocket in the world, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), successfully fired up Tuesday for its second qualification ground test at Orbital ATK’s test facilities in Promontory, Utah. This […]
After pushing back a planned test flight of the New Shepard booster and capsule from Friday until Sunday due to a leaking O-ring in the capsule’s nitrogen gas pressurization system, Blue Origin made it four in a row with another successful launch and landing of both. The Father’s Day flight added two new wrinkles, one fans […]
From the Indian Space Research Organization: India’s Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), Successfully Flight Tested Today, May 23, 2016 ISRO successfully flight tested India’s first winged body aerospace vehicle operating in hypersonic flight regime. In this experimental mission, the HS9 solid rocket booster carrying RLV-TD lifted off from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan […]
NASA’s Green Propellant Green Propulsion Infusion Mission (GPIM) has passed a critical flight readiness milestone in anticipation of launch in early 2017, completing functional and equipment testing of its systems and software. The mission which will provide on-orbit demonstration of a new, less toxic “green” propellant will be tested aboard a Ball Aerospace Configurable Platform 100 satellite, […]
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