Bill Harwood of CBS News reports that SpaceX is delaying the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket by two weeks to deal with “apparently contamination” on its Dragon cargo vehicle. But the launch was put on hold, sources said, when engineers noticed contamination of some sort on the Dragon’s lower unpressurized trunk section. Two of six electrically powered payloads aboard the Dragon are mounted in the trunk section — a […]
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Doug Messier
SOAR spaceplane atop an A-300. (Credit: S3)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, March 14, 2014 (S3 PR) – Today, aerospace company Swiss Space Systems (S3) inaugurates its new U.S. subsidiary, S3 USA Operations (Florida) Inc., at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). S3 has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Space Florida for future utilization the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) and associated infrastructure for its flight operations, which are slated to begin in 2015 with zero gravity flights. S3 will also evaluate the SLF as a main site for satellite launches beginning in 2018.
David W. Miller
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced Thursday that David W. Miller, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass., has been named the agency’s new Chief Technologist. As chief technologist, he will be Bolden’s principal advisor and advocate on matters concerning agency-wide technology policy and programs.
A statement from SpaceX, which had planned to launch the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon freighter on Sunday, March 16: To ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance and allow additional time to resolve remaining open items, SpaceX is now targeting March 30th for the CRS-3 launch, with April 2nd as a back-up. These represent the earliest available launch opportunities given existing schedules, and are currently pending approval with […]
Swiss Space Systems will inaugurate its Florida operations on Friday evening with an event at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The official launch event agenda will include: Presentation of S3’s program, and design of its innovative air-launched shuttle for small satellite delivery, by Pascal Jaussi, Founder & CEO of Swiss Space Systems Announcement of activities of S3 in Florida, and its future developments, by Robert Feierbach, Head of S3 […]
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (Space Florida PR) – Space Florida, the state’s spaceport authority and aerospace development organization, and NanoRacks LLC, a designer and manufacturer of microgravity research platforms, are pleased to announce that two of the seven winners of the Space Florida International Space Station (ISS) Research Competition are scheduled to launch their payloads to the ISS onboard SpaceX CRS-3 (Commercial Resupply Services, Mission 3), from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on March 16, 2014. The two NanoLabs holding these payloads will fly inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule being launched on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, version 1.1.
PLESETSK, Russia (ILS PR) — System-level tests of the Angara Launch System continue at Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia.
The engineering mock-up of the light-lift Angara launch vehicle was rolled out of the Integration-and-Test Facility (ITF) and installed at the Launch Complex on Monday, February 17, in full accordance with the schedule.
An artist’s rendering shows the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS). (Credit: OPALS)
PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — What’s more interesting than videos of cats chasing laser beams over the kitchen floor? How about videos sent OVER laser beams from NASA’s International Space Station back to Earth?
A team of about 20 working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif., through the lab’s Phaeton early-career-hire program, led the development of the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) investigation, which is preparing for a March 16 launch to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX-3 mission. The goal? NASA’s first optical communication experiment on the orbital laboratory.
Astronauts Mark Kelly (right), STS-124 commander, and Scott Kelly are pictured in the check-out facility at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center as the STS-124 crewmembers prepare for a flight to Kennedy Space Center in NASA T-38 trainer jets. (Credit:
NASA)
On March 7, NASA announced the selection of 10 investigations for the study of identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly and, in doing so, launched human space life science research into a new era. Although NASA’s Human Research Program has been researching the effects of spaceflight on the human body for decades, these 10 investigations will provide NASA with broader insight into the subtle effects and changes that may occur in spaceflight as compared to Earth-based environments. NASA and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) will jointly manage this ambitious new undertaking.
Zarya, the first component of the International Space Station, launches flawlessly at 1:40 a.m. EST on November 20, 1998, from Kazahkstan (Credit: NASA)
A busy launch month begins this weekend with the flight of a Russian Proton rocket from Kazakhstan on Saturday and an early-morning lift-off of a SpaceX Falcon 9 on Sunday carrying a Dragon freighter bound for the International Space Station.
International launch providers are planning 11 launches through April 15. The U.S. plans four launches while the Russians are planning three, the Europeans two, and India one. One of the European launches will involve a Russian Soyuz rocket that will fly from the European launch base in South America. The final flight during this period will be of a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket, which is a joint Russian-Ukraine program.