By Steven Siceloff
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

The first US companies to launch people into space from American soil may have been in the room Wednesday when NASA officials discussed an upcoming opportunity that culminates with operational missions carrying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

A pre-proposal conference by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida occurred approximately two weeks after CCP asked for proposals from aerospace companies that would lead to crewed missions to the ISS in 2017 or earlier.

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This photo was posted earlier today of the winners of the Axe Apollo Space Academy competition in Florida. There appear to be 21 men and 2 women selected for suborbital flights aboard XCOR’s Lynx space plane. They appear here with Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. The competition was run by Unilever in conjunction with Space Expedition Corporation. There’s no press release out yet that I could find, but I will […]

Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Dec. 6, 2013 (ULA PR) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifted off from Space Launch Complex-3 on Dec. 5 at 11:14 p.m. PST. Designated NROL-39, the mission is in support of national defense.

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NASA and Lockheed Martin put the final touches on the Launch Abort System tower, integrating each component that will be used during Orion’s Exploration Flight Test-1. (Credit: NASA)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — NASA engineers and contractors have successfully completed the Orion Launch Abort System (LAS) tower, marking a milestone that puts NASA one step closer to sending Orion 3,600 miles into space on the uncrewed Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission, scheduled to launch in September 2014. Orion is America’s next generation spacecraft that will carry astronauts to destinations beyond low Earth orbit.

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UPDATE: The 30th Space Wing seems happy, based on their Tweet: 30th Space Wing Yet another launch from good ole Vandenberg! To tonight’s dedicated launch watchers, go warm your fingers and toes! An Atlas V lifted off at 11:14:30 p.m. PST from Vandenberg Air Force Base carrying a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload (NROL-39).  The webcast was ended at just under four minutes into the flight after shroud jettison at […]

A student engineer works on the FIREBIRD CubeSat. (Courtesy of NASA)

With help from NASA, four student-built CubeSat research satellites will launch into space Friday from the California coast as part of the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative.

The CubeSats will be included as auxiliary payloads aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 2:13 a.m. EST carrying the National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-39 satellite. The CubeSats are a part of the Educational Launch of Nanosatellite (ELaNa) II mission, NASA’s fifth ELaNa mission to launch into space. The miniature satellites will deploy from their protective cases into Earth orbit about three hours after liftoff.

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Credit: Moon Express

LAS VEGAS, NV, December 5, 2013 (Moon Express PR) – Moon Express, Inc., a privately funded lunar resources company, unveiled its “MX-1” lunar lander spacecraft today as a breakthrough robotic space vehicle capable of a multitude of applications including delivering scientific and commercial payloads to the Moon at a fraction of the cost of conventional approaches. The spacecraft design is being unveiled today at the closing session of Autodesk University in Las Vegas in front of an audience of over 10,000 attendees.

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Video Caption: Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) –- On today’s “Regnomix,” Former NASA Astronaut Leroy Chiao, Space Adventures President Tom Shelley and Bloomberg’s Cory Johnson discuss Spacex’s successful launch of a satellite and the future of private space travel. They speak with Trish Regan and Adam Johnson on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” (Source: Bloomberg) EDITOR’S NOTE: An interesting little revelation here that SpaceX is not profitable, but it is cash flow positive. […]

Closeup of a NASA Ames PhoneSat (Credit:
NASA Ames Research Center/Dominic Hart)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (NASA PR) — PhoneSat 2.4, NASA’s next generation smartphone cubesat has phoned home. The tiny spacecraft that uses an off-the-shelf smartphone for a brain has completed checkout and sent back data confirming all systems are “go” for the spry spacefarer.

PhoneSat 2.4, a cube approximately four inches square, weighs only about 2.2 pounds, and was developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. It is first of the PhoneSat family to use a two-way S-band radio, allowing engineers to command the satellite from Earth. It is confirming the viability of using smartphones and other commercially available electronics in satellites destined for low-Earth orbit.

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HILO, Hawaii (PISCES PR) — The Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES)  is excited to announce that it has expanded its list of Memoranda of Understanding (MOU’s) to eleven, after officially partnering with Honeybee Robotics and Made In Space. PISCES will partner with the companies on the Center’s 3D laser printing projects.

The signing took place at the PISCES Board of Director’s meeting on October 6th in Honolulu – the day before the Hawaii Aerospace Summit.

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