News Archive / Author: Rae Botsford End

Rae Botsford End is a freelance writer and editor whose primary work currently is writing technical white papers, contributing to SFI, and working on a speculative fiction novel that she hopes to have published soon. Rae wanted an opportunity to report on the various space-related events in and around Florida's Space Coast and approached SFI's founder about the possibility. Rae now covers an array of subjects for our growing website.

Articles By Rae Botsford End

• Rocket Lab Electron orbits DARPA’s R3D2 prototype antenna

  March 28th, 2019

  Although a few weeks after initially scheduled, Rocket Lab's Electron launch vehicle successfully orbited a prototype satellite for DARPA.

• Finally ‘business time’ for Rocket Lab with 7 payloads launched

  November 11th, 2018

  Rocket Lab sent its third Electron rocket into orbit on the company's first fully-commercial mission, called "It's Business Time."

• Rocket Lab’s manifest grows as it preps for its 1st fully-commercial flight

  October 12th, 2018

  In spite of a few setbacks with its Electron launcher earlier this year, Rocket Lab has a lavish lineup planned for the rocket.

• Business Time Postponed: Rocket Lab planning for new launch window

  June 28th, 2018

  Due to a motor controller issue discovered during pre-launch checks on June 27 (NZST), Rocket Lab is standing down from this launch window for 'It’s Business Time,' the company’s first fully commercial mission.

• It’s not Business Time: Scrub called on Rocket Lab’s first commercial flight

  June 23rd, 2018

  Rocket Lab’s first fully commercial mission, “It’s Business Time," will have to wait a little while longer before it takes to the skies.

• Electron soars to orbit on Rocket Lab’s “Still Testing” flight

  January 21st, 2018

  On Sunday, January 21, at 2:43 p.m. NZDT (01:43 GMT), Rocket Lab successfully completed the second test flight of the company's Electron rocket from their own Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand.

• Rocket Lab delays 2nd Electron test flight until 2018

  December 20th, 2017

  After four scrubs, the second test flight of Rocket Lab's Electron rocket has been postponed until early 2018. In the initial release about the launch window, Rocket Lab CEO and CTO Peter Beck said the company was expecting to scrub multiple times as it waits for the perfect conditions and ensures everything on the vehicle performs as designed. That patience was and continues to be needed.

• Astronauts Baker and Fossum retire from NASA

  January 11th, 2017

  On Saturday, Jan. 7, astronauts Mike Baker and Mike Fossum both retired from NASA to pursue work in the private sector. Both of the spaceflight veterans served in the U.S. military, and both wore numerous hats during their time with the space agency.

• Rocket Lab’s Rutherford engine qualified for flight

  March 24th, 2016

  On Monday, March 21, aerospace startup Rocket Lab announced that its Rutherford engine, named for the New Zealand-born British physicist, has been qualified for flight. This milestone is the latest for the firm who has been working to field their Electron rocket in the middle of this year.

• Jason-3 satellite to track rising sea levels, global weather

  January 16th, 2016

  After several delays throughout 2015, the Jason-3 satellite is now ready to take its place as the latest instrument deployed to track the changing surface height of Earth's oceans. The spacecraft is set to be launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Jan. 17.

• Amateur spaceflight? Copenhagen Suborbitals, SpaceChain Space Program give it a shot

  June 4th, 2015

  On Sunday, May 31, Copenhagen Suborbitals (CS) performed the second test fire of their BPM-5 rocket engine. Earlier in May, CryptoCoinsNews posted a report about SpaceChain Space Program, the space agency of Bitnation. Both of these groups are essentially collections of enthusiastic amateurs, volunteering their time, talent, and money to achieve spaceflight on their own terms.

• MoonLIGHT lunar laser ranging array to continue work of Apollo

  May 16th, 2015

  Moon Express announced on Friday a new agreement with The National Laboratories of Frascati (LNF), which is part of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), and with the University of Maryland (UM), which will bring a new set of lunar laser ranging arrays to the Moon over a series of missions. The arrays will be […]

• Sierra Nevada to develop module for NASA’s polar-orbiting JPSS-2 mission

  May 15th, 2015

  SPARKS, Nev. — Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC ) Space Systems will be building and developing the Azimuth Rotation Module (ARM) for the Radiation Budget Instrument (RBI) that will be aboard NASA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) mission, according to a press release issued on Thursday.

• What’s in a name? Possible NASA naming contest for SLS nothing new

  May 8th, 2015

  According to a report appearing on Spaceflight Now, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS ) may receive a new name in the near future, and it would be chosen by young students. Having the names of spacecraft, robots, and rockets selected by members of the public is nothing new and, as recent events have shown, does not […]

• SpaceX’s SuperDraco engine: Abort capability all the way to orbit

  May 7th, 2015

  The SuperDraco engines developed by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) successfully propelled a crew-rated version of the company’s Dragon capsule away from the pad during the company’s Pad Abort Test on Wednesday, May 6, just after 9 a.m. ET (13:00 GMT), in Cape Canaveral, Florida. These engines serve as the basis of the Dragon launch escape system, which […]