A note from ULA: Final preparations are occurring for the Air Force’s GPS IIF-5 launch. Liftoff is set for Thursday, Feb. 20 aboard a ULA Delta IV rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The 19-minute launch window opens at 8:40 p.m. EST. Today’s L-2 forecast continues to show an 80 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for launch. I have included below […]
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Doug Messier
SOAR spaceplane atop an A-300. (Credit: S3)
SOCHI, Russia, February 19, 2014 (S3 PR) — Swiss Space Systems (S3), the aerospace company, announced today the signature of new partnerships with Russian companies specializing in space propulsion systems. This constitutes a key milestone towards the realization of S3’s project. JSC Kuznetsov will provide the rocket engine used for the suborbital shuttle developed by S3, while RKK Energia will study the conception of the upper stage destined to place satellites in low earth orbit. This is the first time that a European company collaborates with Russian companies specializing in the development and manufacturing of propulsion systems. This agreement with the creators of the world’s best rocket engines constitutes a decisive milestone achieved by the Swiss aerospace company.
LOS ANGELES, CA, Feb. 19, 2014 (GLXP PR) — The Google Lunar XPRIZE announced today the five international teams selected as finalists for Milestone Prizes, with a total purse of $6 million to be awarded this year. After reviewing 33 total submissions, the nine member independent judging panel selected 11 submissions from the following teams: Astrobotic (US), Moon Express (US), Hakuto (Japan), Part-Time-Scientists (Germany), and Team Indus (India).
The Milestone Prizes were added to recognize the technological achievements and the associated financial hurdles faced by the teams as they vie for the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE, a global competition to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon.
A billboard featuring former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly advertises the Antelope Valley Board of Trade’s Business Outlook Conference scheduled for Friday, Feb. 21. The billboard is near the entrance to the Mojave Air and Space Port, where the conference will be held at the Stuart O. Witt Event Center. For more information and tickets, visit https://www.avbot.org/outlook-conference/
John S. Rego
For a company that is only months away from flying into space with paying customers, Virgin Galactic is experiencing a lot of high-level turnover. Three top level executives have left over the past two months.
Today, the company announced that it had hired John S. Rego as its new chief financial officer (CFO). He replaces Ken Sunshine, who joined the company as CFO in July 2011. The press release on Rego is reproduced below.
Virgin Galactic also saw the recent departures of Vice President of Safety Jon Turnipseed and Vice President of Propulsion Thomas Markusic. Turnipseed had joined the company in August 2010, while Markusic had been there since May 2011. Both departed in December, although Turnipseed is still listed on the website as VP of Safety.
Artist’s conception of the proposed SpaceX commercial launch facility near Brownsville, Texas.
A group has started a petition urging SpaceX to find another place to launch its Falcon rockets other than Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville, Texas.
To: Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies (Space X)
This south Texas site which you have selected for your rocket launch facility is surrounded by federally protected land, home to threatened and endangered species. It borders the ecologically essential South Bay of the Laguna Madre, the nation’s only hypersaline lagoon, a nursery for shrimp and coastal fish.
Please choose another location for your rocket launch site.
Read the full petition.
Over on the El Rrun Rrun blog, Juan Montoya says that it’s not just environmental concerns that should block SpaceX from building a launch facility near the beach. He also accuses local officials of over hyping the number of jobs created and the resulting economic benefits while offering too much in subsidies to SpaceX.
Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo craft moves away from the International Space Station’s robotic arm shortly after its release. (Credit: NASA TV)
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Cygnus spacecraft, which delivered nearly one-and-a-half tons of supplies and scientific equipment to the International Space Station in January, completed its first commercial cargo mission to the orbiting laboratory Tuesday.
Antares rocket on the launch pad on Wallops Island. (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Bigelow Aerospace’s Mike Gold told the Eastern Shore Defense Alliance this week that his company is looking for human space launches from Wallops Island, Virginia.
“We are prepared to make a proposal that will include human spaceflight from Wallops,” said Michael N. Gold, director of D.C. Operations for Bigelow Aerospace, a private company based in Las Vegas.
The company is talking to NASA about the possibility of conducting a demonstration mission that would involve human spaceflight — and Bigelow wants to use Virginia’s spaceport as its base.
Swimsuit 2014: Zero Gravity
Kate Upton
Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. (Credit: James Macari)
Arlington, Virginia, February 18, 2014 (ZERO-G PR) – Kate Upton and Sports Illustrated (SI) have taken swimsuit modeling where it’s never gone before. Flying with Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G), Upton flipped, floated and modeled in true weightlessness – as if in outer space – for SI’s 50th anniversary Swimsuit issue.
SI’s landmark Swimsuit Production hit newsstands today, complete with a major package, Upton, floating in zero gravity. For Upton, who appeared on SI’s swimsuit covers in 2012 and 2013, her weightless shoot was a way to bring modeling to new heights.
PR Week reports that Virgin Galactic is preparing to ramp up its publicity as it gets closer to what the company hopes will be flights into space later this year. Virgin Galactic is in the final stages of a major pitch in the UK and the US to help oversee a broad range of comms for the company, PRWeek understands. The article notes that Virgin Galactic has a history of […]