News Archive / Author: Derek Richardson

Derek Richardson has a degree in mass media, with an emphasis in contemporary journalism, from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. While at Washburn, he was the managing editor of the student run newspaper, the Washburn Review. He also has a blog about the International Space Station, called Orbital Velocity. He met with members of the SpaceFlight Insider team during the flight of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket with the MUOS-4 satellite. Richardson joined our team shortly thereafter. His passion for space ignited when he watched Space Shuttle Discovery launch into space Oct. 29, 1998. Today, this fervor has accelerated toward orbit and shows no signs of slowing down. After dabbling in math and engineering courses in college, he soon realized his true calling was communicating to others about space. Since joining SpaceFlight Insider in 2015, Richardson has worked to increase the quality of our content, eventually becoming our managing editor. @TheSpaceWriter

Articles By Derek Richardson

• Bringing a knife to a spacewalk: Cosmonauts inspect Soyuz leak repair

  December 12th, 2018

  During a spacewalk, two Russian cosmonauts used a knife remove thermal insulation on Soyuz MS-09 in order to inspect a leak repair made earlier in the year.

• ‘Hold hold hold’: NROL-71 mission scrubbed

  December 9th, 2018

  LOMPOC, Calif. — Just seconds before the planned liftoff of a Delta IV Heavy rocket with the NROL-71 payload, an automatic abort of the launch sequence was triggered.

• CRS-16 Dragon arrives at ISS after ground-based communications issue

  December 8th, 2018

  SpaceX’s CRS-16 Dragon was captured by the space station crew, despite a communications issue prompting a temporary retreat command being issued.

• Crewed flights to ISS resume with Soyuz MS-11 launch

  December 3rd, 2018

  Normalcy begins to return to International Space Station operations as the crew of Soyuz MS-11 has successfully launched from Baikonur.

• 1st International Space Station module turns 20

  November 20th, 2018

  For two decades, the International Space Station has been a shining example of what can be accomplished when humanity works together.

• NG-10 Cygnus brings experiments, supplies to ISS crew

  November 19th, 2018

  Less than 24 hours after Progress MS-10 docked with the International Space Station, the NG-10 Cygnus spacecraft rendezvoused with the orbiting outpost.

• Progress MS-10 arrives at International Space Station

  November 18th, 2018

  Taking two days to reach the International Space Station, Russia’s Progress MS-10 rendezvous and docked with the orbiting outpost’s Zvezda service module.

• Gallery: Antares lights up Virginia skies with Cygnus flight to space station

  November 18th, 2018

  In the dark of night, an Antares rocket launched from Virginia to send the Cygnus cargo ship to orbit to resupply the International Space Station.

• Gallery: Falcon 9 sends Qatari satellite into orbit

  November 18th, 2018

  Once again from Launch Complex 39A in Florida, SpaceX sent a satellite into orbit. A Falcon 9 lofted Es'hail 2 for the Qatari company Es'hailSat.

• Astronauts release Kounotori 7 from space station

  November 7th, 2018

  After a six-week stay at the ISS, the Kounotori 7 cargo ship was unberthed and commanded to depart the vicinity of the orbiting outpost.

• Falcon 9 second stage to be upgraded to ‘mini-BFR ship’

  November 7th, 2018

  In the lead-up to the first flights of the Big Falcon Rocket, the second stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 is to be modified to test key design features.

• ‘Off-nominal data’ prompts postponement of ICON launch

  November 7th, 2018

  The flight of NASA's ICON spacecraft was scrubbed less than 30 minutes before its planned launch via Northrop Grumman's air-dropped Pegasus XL rocket.

• Investigation finds faulty sensor the reason for Soyuz MS-10 accident

  November 2nd, 2018

  It was a faulty sensor that caused the Oct. 11, 2018, launch abort of a Soyuz-FG rocket carrying two people into space for a planned six-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

• Parker Solar Probe becomes closest spacecraft to Sun

  October 30th, 2018

  Just 11 weeks after launch, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has already beaten the record for the closest spacecraft to the Sun—and it’s only going to get closer.

• Why are SpaceX and Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program spacesuit designs different?

  October 23rd, 2018

  Boeing and SpaceX could be just months away from the first flights of their crew-rated spacecraft. In the past NASA has had a uniform standard for their spacesuits. Why has this changed on their Commercial Crew Program?