The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base will be renamed after the late Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong under a measure that has unanimously passed by the Senate and House of Representatives. The measure, which now goes to President Barack Obama for signature, would rename the Western Aeronautical Test Range at Edwards the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range. Dryden served as NASA deputy administrator from […]
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
Space Florida Press Release
In October 2013, the State of Florida formed a $2 million joint research fund with the State of Israel to support research, development and commercialization of aerospace and technology projects that benefit both States.
In December, Space Florida (who will administer the program on behalf of Florida) and MATIMOP (Israel’s industrial center for research and development) issued a joint Request For Proposals (RFP) for projects sponsored by companies in both states.
Proposal submissions are due by February 28, 2014.
Space Exploration Alliance Legislative Blitz February 2014 The Space Exploration Alliance (SEA) will be holding its annual grassroots visit to Congress, known as the “Legislative Blitz”, in Washington, D.C. from Sunday, February 23 to Tuesday, February 25, 2014. With unprecedented budgetary pressures facing the legislative and executive branches of government, it is uncertain which path our nation’s leaders will take with respect to our nation’s space program. More than ever […]
A couple of exclusive SpaceShipTwo pictures from my friend Ken Brown. We went out and stood atop a mountain that overlooks Koehn Lake, which is where they drop SpaceShipTwo over. The lake is maybe 20 miles north of Mojave as the crow flies.
Falcon 9 lifts off with the Thaicom-6 satellite. (Credit: SpaceX)
HAWTHORNE, Calif. (SpaceX PR) – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) was awarded a contract with SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation of Japan to launch the JCSAT-14 communications satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket in the second half of 2015.
SpaceShipTwo fires its engine on third powered test flight.
MOJAVE, Calif., Jan. 10, 2014 (VG PR) – Today, Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi’s aabar Investments PJS, successfully completed the third rocket-powered supersonic flight of its passenger carrying reusable space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo (SS2). In command on the flight deck of SS2 for the first time under rocket power was Virgin Galactic’s Chief Pilot Dave Mackay. Mackay, along with Scaled Composites’ (Scaled) Test Pilot Mark Stucky, tested the spaceship’s Reaction Control System (RCS) and the newly installed thermal protection coating on the vehicle’s tail booms. All of the test objectives were successfully completed.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL., January 9th, 2014 (CASIS PR) — The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) is proud to announce its first sponsored research payloads have launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on board the Orbital Sciences Corporation Cygnus cargo capsule. This launch marks a historic moment for the nonprofit responsible for promoting and managing research on board the ISS U.S. National Laboratory, as a variety of investigations under the CASIS manifest are part of Orbital’s first full resupply mission to the orbiting laboratory.
Orbital was selected by NASA to begin ISS resupply flights under the Commercial Resupply Service contract which authorizes eight missions to carry approximately 20,000 kilograms of cargo to the station over time. On its test flight in September 2013, the Cygnus capsule transported three CASIS-funded education payloads from the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). However, this flight signifies the first major payloads that CASIS brokered through its own outreach activities.
SEATTLE, WA, Jan. 9, 2014 (Spaceflight/NanoRacks PR) — Spaceflight and NanoRacks announced today that multiple CubeSats are en route to the International Space Station on the Orbital Sciences Cygnus Orb-1 Mission made possible by close cooperation between the two companies. The satellites were manifest via the NanoRacks Space Act Agreement with NASA, and are scheduled for deployment using the self-funded NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer.
NASA Flight Opportunities Program
SRLV Flight And Payload Integration Services
The draft solicitation for SRLV Flight and Payload Integration Services’ has been posted. Commercial entities are encouraged to provide feedback comments to the contract specialist regarding this draft solicitation within the requested date. A virtual industry day will be held via WebEx in the near future.
A full summary of the draft solicitation after the break.
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An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket launches from Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility with a Cygnus cargo vehicle aboard. (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
DULLES, VA, 9 January 2014 (OSC PR) – Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced it successfully launched its Antares™ medium-class rocket carrying the first of eight Cygnus™ cargo logistics spacecraft missions to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of its $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. The launch of Orbital’s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft will culminate in rendezvous and berthing with the ISS on Sunday, January 12 at approximately 6:00 a.m. (EST).