HAMPTON, Virg. (NASA PR) — After a successful demonstration flight in September, the next Orb-1 mission is scheduled to launch on an Antares rocket in January 2014 as part of the NASA Commercial Resupply to Station contract.

The first operational delivery flight to actually carry supplies and experiments, Orbital Sciences Corporation’s unmanned cargo freighter Cygnus will loft approximately 3,217 pounds (1,459 kg) of science equipment, spare parts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA.

Along for the ride with this payload will be the ISS Fluid Slosh experiment, a Space Technology Mission Directorate, Game Changing Development Program project dedicated to improving our understanding of how liquids behave when there is little to no gravity.

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BREVARD COUNTY, Fla., December 16, 2013 (Space Coast EDC PR) — Working to strengthen the cohesion of Florida’s 29-member Congressional delegation and further build awareness of the challenges and opportunities in the space and defense industries, the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to meet with key congressional leaders and staff.

In separate meetings with chiefs of staff from Florida’s Republican and Democratic delegations, as well as with staff from U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s office and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s office, the EDC team began its efforts to unify all Florida representatives and senators behind issues of statewide impact.

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Steve Szabo

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., December 20, 2013 (Space Florida PR) – Space Florida is pleased to announce the recent hiring of Mr. Steve Szabo, P.E. as spaceport development program manager.

In his position, Szabo will be responsible for directing spaceport development and planning activities to implement the Florida Spaceport System Plan and the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Complex Master Plan. These plans provide the framework to guide public and private investment into Florida’s spaceport infrastructure.

Szabo holds 16 years of infrastructure development experience statewide and is a licensed Professional Engineer. He most recently served as a vice president for Jones Edmunds and Associates in Titusville, where he provided consulting engineering services since 2001.

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Looks like there will be some rest for the weary over at SpaceX. Although not that much. The company hoped to launch the Thaicom 6 communications satellite aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 31. However, that date has slipped to Jan. 3. That change probably frees up some time over the Christmas holiday for employees, but means a lot of prep over New Year’s. Meanwhile, Orbital Sciences Corporation says […]

Depiction of Ariane 5 ME. (Credit: ESA)

By Thilo Kranz
DLR

Nothing is more gratifying than starting the holidays with good news! A good example of this is ESA’s Ariane 5 programme, which has taken some important steps in the closing days of the current year – the ordering of a further 18 Ariane 5 ECA launchers for the existing Ariane operations, the successful completion of ‘verification key points’ for the Ariane 5 ME ‘Midlife Evolution’ development programme and the start of construction work on a new upper stage tank facility in Bremen.

As part of the preparations for the decisions in the launchers area, which will be made at the ESA Ministerial Council Meeting in Luxembourg towards the end of 2014, the Ariane 5ME development programme introduced a milestone to evaluate the current status. An expert panel, consisting of representatives of the space agencies ESA, CNES and DLR, as well as industry, reviewed the project intensively over a two-week period. The objective was to determine whether the technical, planning and commercial project goals are being met and whether the programme costs are under control.

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Mars InSight lander (Credit: NASA)

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA has selected United Launch Services LLC of Centennial, Colo., to launch the Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to Mars.

InSight will launch in March 2016 aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex 3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

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Inaugural Vega flight. (Credits: ESA – S. Corvaja, 2012)

EVRY, France (Arianespace PRs) — Arianespace, the world’s leading launch services company, and Astrium, the world’s second leading space technology company, have signed a contract for 18 additional Ariane 5 ECA launchers, worth more than 2 billion euros. These 18 new Ariane 5 rockets will be launched starting in 2017, following the 35 launchers that were already ordered in 2009, in the PB batch.

Arianespace also announces that it has signed a contract to launch two satellites into low Earth orbit. These launches will be carried out by two Vega launch vehicles, operating from the Guiana Space Center in 2017 and 2018.

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A VASIMR powered space tug. (Credit: Ad Astra Rocket Company)

HOUSTON, Texas (Ad Astra PR) -– Ad Astra Rocket Company and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have signed an Umbrella Space Act Agreement to continue the parties’ collaboration in the development of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket engine (VASIMR®).

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL., December 19th, 2013 (CASIS PR) — The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) today announced a partnership with Angelus Funding to identify and possibly fund new and intriguing start-up commercial projects destined for the International Space Station (ISS) that are capable of benefitting life on Earth.

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Steve Heck

Washington, D.C. (CSF PR) – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is excited to announce that Steve Heck will be joining its Suborbital Applications Researcher’s Group. Steve served as a Command Pilot in the United States Air Force where he amassed over 2700 hours of jet flight time and holds two world flight records. Since 1996, Steve has taught middle and elementary school students. He is currently a 5th grade STEM teacher at the Milford Exempted Village School District. Steve was selected as an Astronaut Educator in the new Citizens in Space Program and awarded a NASA Endeavor Fellowship. In the summer of 2013, Steve completed NASTAR’s Suborbital Scientist Training Program.

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