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Arrokoth’s flattened shape could shed light on planetesimal formation process
Laurel KornfeldNovember 15th The flattened shape of the two lobes that make up Arrokoth, the Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) visited by the New Horizons spacecraft in January 2019, may hold clues to the formation process of planetesimals and even planets.
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“All Systems Go”: Schedule of Crew-1 launch countdown events
Sean CostelloNovember 15th Following the confirmation by SpaceX via Twitter, that “All systems are go for tonight’s launch at 7:27 p.m. EST”, SpaceFlight Insider has produced this handy reference of the key countdown events and their approximate times.
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NASA and SpaceX set to launch first operational Crew Dragon mission
Matt HaskellNovember 15th Following up on the successful launch and return of NASA Astronauts in May, SpaceX is on the cusp of flying the first certified operational mission of their Crew Dragon capsule.
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ULA successfully launches NRO-101 mission into evening Florida sky
Sean CostelloNovember 13th With the tell-tale crackle of three GEM 63 solid rocket boosters, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket leapt from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 pad at 5:32 p.m. EST this evening, carrying a top-secret National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payload skyward.
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Breakdown of Crew-1 Flight Plan: an inside look
Cullen DesforgesNovember 13th On Tuesday November 10, teams at SpaceX and NASA completed the final launch readiness review for the first operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
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ULA set for second launch attempt of classified NRO payload
Matt HaskellNovember 13th United Launch Alliance is set to re-attempt the launch of their Atlas V rocket and its NROL-101 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on Friday evening.
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Crew-1’s dress rehearsal complete; countdown to launch continues
Sean CostelloNovember 12th With less than 48 hours until the scheduled liftoff of Falcon 9 and NASA’s Crew-1 mission, all systems appear go on Florida’s Space Coast.
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GPS III-SV04 takes flight atop new Falcon 9 booster, B1062
Theresa CrossNovember 7th On November 5 at 6:24 p.m. EST, SpaceX successfully launched the fourth in a series of third-generation global positioning satellite, departing from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.
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ULA set to launch classified spy satellite atop Atlas V, featuring first GEM 63 boosters
Matt HaskellNovember 4th United Launch Alliance is set to launch their Atlas V rocket on Wednesday evening, November 4, launching the highly classified NROL-101 spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral.
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The ISS marks two decades of continuous human presence
Derek RichardsonNovember 2nd The International Space Station has just crossed 20 years of continuous human occupation as its unbroken string of expedition crews continue to perform a wide range of scientific research aboard this multinational outpost.
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OSIRIS-REx capsule closed following successful Bennu sample collection
Laurel KornfeldNovember 1st NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft collected enough soil samples of the asteroid Bennu on its first attempt that mission controllers commanded the spacecraft to close its Sample Return Capsule (SRC).
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Expedition 1 and the early International Space Station
Derek RichardsonNovember 1st Two decades ago, Expedition 1 arrived at the International Space Station to begin an unbroken chain of expeditions to inhabit this outpost.
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Expedition 1 and the early International Space Station
Derek RichardsonNovember 1st Two decades ago, Expedition 1 arrived at the International Space Station to begin an unbroken chain of expeditions to inhabit this outpost.
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SpaceX marks their 100th successful flight during Starlink launch
Matt HaskellOctober 24th On Saturday Oct 24, A SpaceX Falcon 9 took to the stars from Cape Canaveral with another batch of Starlink satellites, marking the company’s 100th successful launch.
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SLS Mobile Launcher moves to launch pad for final tests
Theresa CrossOctober 23rd On October 20, 2020, the Mobile Launcher (ML) for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket rolled to Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39B for the first time since December 2019.
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ISS Expedition 63 crew returns home safely
Cullen DesforgesOctober 22nd On October 21, 2020, the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft carrying the Expedition 63 crew members departed the International Space Station, successfully returning NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, and Russian Cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner back to planet Earth at a landing site in Kazakhstan.
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GHGSat releases PULSE, an online tool to visualize worldwide methane gas concentration
Sean CostelloOctober 21st Accessible at no-cost for public and community use, GHGSat’s newly released PULSE project brings methane gas concentration data within reach of anyone seeking to explore their interactive, online worldwide map. In this screenshot taken by the author during a tour of the PULSE platform, Dr. Sarah Gallagher with the Canadian Space Agency is explaining how […]
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Booster B1051 welcomed home for a sixth time
Sean CostelloOctober 21st The Falcon 9 first stage booster used to lift the most recent batch of Starlink satellites has entered Port Canaveral, arriving in the early morning light of October 21, 2020.
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Inter-satellite laser communications improving Starlink performance, as SpaceX expands constellation
Theresa CrossOctober 18th SpaceX launched its fourteenth batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral’s LC-39A, at 8:25 a.m. EDT, October 18, 2020, flying into blue Florida skies atop a Falcon9 booster flying for its sixth time.
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Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson resigns from Starliner test flight
Cullen DesforgesOctober 16th On Wednesday October 7, Boeing Astronaut Chris Ferguson announced that he has removed himself from the first crewed test flight of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.
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ISS Expedition 64 crew launches to ISS in record time
Cullen DesforgesOctober 16th On Wednesday, October 14 at 1:45 AM EDT, three astronauts and their Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft left the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a six month mission to the International Space Station.
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Weather clears, allows famed Falcon 9 to lift a thirteenth batch of Starlink satellites
Theresa CrossOctober 6th Early Tuesday morning, SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink satellites, flying from LC-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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Weather continues to wreak havoc, SpaceX forced to scrub Starlink launch
Sean CostelloOctober 5th At 7:26 a.m. EDT, SpaceX tweeted that they were calling a scrub on their latest attempt to launch the thirteenth batch of Starlink satellites, with no likelihood for the current weather systems to clear the area. “We are standing down from today’s Starlink mission due to weather violations on the Range. The team is setting […]
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Northrop Grumman successfully launches NG-14 Cygnus spacecraft
Sean CostelloOctober 2nd It was an on-time departure from Wallops Island tonight, as a Northrop Grumman Antares booster lifted the NG-14 payload aloft at 9:16 p.m. EDT.
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NROL-44 remains grounded following second hot-fire abort
Sean CostelloOctober 1st With just 7 seconds remaining in the count, ULA’s Delta IV Heavy Terminal Count Sequencer Rack (TCSR) aborted the September 30, 2020 launch attempt, which was scheduled for 23:43 p.m. EDT.
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Weather systems prevail, ULA forced to scrub NROL-44
Sean CostelloSeptember 28th At 6:32 p.m. this evening, ULA tweeted that weather was responsible for the scrub of their planned NROL-44 launch attempt, scheduled to have occurred at 12:02 a.m. early Tuesday morning.
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Weather scrubs SpaceX launch of Starlink satellites, NROL-44 still set to fly tonight
Sean CostelloSeptember 28th Weather has forced the scrub of the next launch of Starlink satellites, abandoning SpaceX’s plans for a September 28, 2020 liftoff.
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Northrop Grumman prepares to launch next Cygnus re-supply to ISS
Cullen DesforgesSeptember 28th Northrop Grumman is preparing to launch its next Antares Rocket and Cygnus re-supply spacecraft from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The mission, dubbed NG-14, will send the Cygnus spacecraft loaded with supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station.
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NROL-44 slips to Saturday, weather remains 80% go
August 27th
The launch of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy NROL-44 mission is now set for Sat., Aug. 29. -
Pluto’s glaciers change with its seasons
August 26th
Using data returned by NASA’s New Horizons mission’s July 2015 Pluto flyby, a group of researchers discovered evidence that the dwarf planet’s glaciers expand and grow in response to seasonal changes. -
Commercial spaceflight advocate outlines revolution in the field
July 7th
Bruce Pittman of NASA’s Space Portal Office, a 35-year advocate for commercial spaceflight, outlined his vision of the endeavor over the next 42 months in a June webinar run by NASA’s Night Sky Network. -
Pluto’s subsurface ocean may date back to planet’s formation
June 29th
Scientists who recently studied the detailed images of Pluto’s surface returned by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015 have found evidence that the dwarf planet’s subsurface ocean may have been around since Pluto’s formation over four billion years ago. -
New Horizons parallax experiment observes an alien sky
June 14th
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, now over 4.3 billion miles (6.9 billion km) from Earth, successfully imaged two nearby stars displaced from the locations in the sky where they are seen from Earth in its April stellar parallax experiment. -
President Trump delivers remarks after Demo-2 launch
June 6th
President Donald J. Trump gave a speech inside of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building after the successful launch of astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. -
SOFIA data sheds new light on endurance of Pluto’s atmosphere
June 1st
Data captured by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), an airborne observatory that studied Pluto’s atmospheric hazes just two weeks before New Horizons‘ 2015 flyby, indicates the hazes in Pluto’s atmosphere are regularly replenished. -
NASA researcher provides overview of science on the ISS
May 29th
Research conducted on board the International Space Station (ISS) encompasses numerous science fields, such as biology and biotechnology, human research, the physical sciences, technological demonstrations, Earth and space science, and public education, noted Brandon Redell of NASA’s ISS Integration Office at the Johnson Space Center. -
Weather not favoring backup Demo-2 launch dates
May 28th
Yesterday’s attempt to launch NASA’s and SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station was plagued by weather issues that ultimately caused the attempt to be scrubbed. There remains the potential for weather complicate Saturday’s and Sunday’s launch attempts. -
Meet Crew Dragon: narrated tour of design features, design history
May 26th
Crew Dragon capsule, about to fly atop a Falcon 9 as part of the Demo-2 mission with two humans aboard, is a great advance in the field of spacecraft design. -
SpaceX to test sun visors on Starlink satellites
May 19th
SpaceX will test sun visors on one of their Starlink satellites on their next launch, currently planned for early June. -
Astronaut Douglas Hurley to serve as Demo-2 spacecraft commander
May 8th
NASA astronaut Douglas Gerald Hurley flew on the last crewed mission to launch from American soil 11 years ago, and fittingly, will serve as spacecraft commander of Crew Dragon Demo-2, the first crewed flight to resume launches from the US. -
James Webb Space Telescope to unlock wonders of the Universe.
May 8th
The James Webb Space Telescope will work to further uncover the mysteries of the Universe after it launches in 2021 from the Guiana Space Center aboard an Ariane 5 rocket -
Astronaut Bob Behnken will be one of two-person crew on Crew Dragon Demo-2 launch
May 6th
When NASA’s Crew Dragon Demo-2 launches astronauts from American soil for the first time since 2011, astronaut Robert L. “Bob” Behnken will ride on the spacecraft as the mission’s joint operations commander. -
SpaceX completes final testing milestone before first crewed launch
May 3rd
SpaceX successfully completed its 27th test of the Mark 3 Parachute for the Crew Dragon capsule, fulfilling the final testing requirement for NASA certification and review of the parachute system. The test comes following several successful milestones, including January’s in flight Abort test.
