SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo circle over the Mojave Air and Space Port during a successful glide flight on July 18, 2012. (Credit: Bill Deaver)
MOJAVE, Calif., Oct. 5, 2012 (VG PR)–Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline, today announced that it has taken 100% ownership of its sister company, The Spaceship Company (TSC), by acquiring the 30% stake held by Scaled Composites (Scaled) since TSC’s formation under a joint venture with Virgin Galactic.
The Orlando Sentinel reports on environmental concerns about a proposed new launch complex at the northern end of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida:
New plans to convert an abandoned citrus town into a Space Coast rocket hub has triggered another round of fighting between environmentalists and the aerospace industry — and this time the rocketeers could have an edge….
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (NASA PR) — The first SpaceX launch for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 7, from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. There is a single instantaneous launch opportunity for the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule at 8:35 p.m. EDT. Backup launch opportunities are available on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, if needed.
NASA Television (https://www.nasa.gov/ntv) launch coverage from Cape Canaveral begins at 7 p.m. on Oct. 7.
The Stratolaunch hangar continues to take shape at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. With the rear of the hangar assembled, beams are being put up for the front section which must be wide enough to accommodate a plane with a 385-foot wingspan.
Astronaut Shannon Walker activates an experiment aboard the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA and its international partners have announced an agreement to send two crew members to the International Space Station on a one-year mission designed to collect valuable scientific data needed to send humans to new destinations in the solar system.
The crew members, one American astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut, will launch and land in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and are scheduled to begin their voyage in spring 2015.
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An update today from the Virgin Galactic Facebook page: “When building the world’s first commercial spaceline, you’ve gotta be safe. Yesterday, WhiteKnightTwo successfully completed her 100th test flight. We love our mothership!” WhiteKnightTwo made a solo flight on Thursday at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. It was at least the third such flight within the past nine days. The 100th flight took place on Oct. 4, the […]
by Karin Nilsdotter
CEO, Spaceport Sweden
Commercial human spaceflight is a new emerging industry and globally, space tourism is only the tip of an iceberg in this second space age. Spaceport Sweden is a pioneering initiative to establish space tourism and commercial human spaceflight as a new industry in Sweden and has now been selected by innovation researchers as a live case study.
During a plenary session at the International Astronautic Federation conference in Naples on Wednesday, Reaction Engines Founding Director Alan Bond said that the Skylon space plane could be commercially operational in 2022 after a development program that would cost about $14 billion. Flights of the reusable, single-stage-to-orbit vehicle would cost roughly $5 million each.
None of that is really news to anyone who has been following the program. However, what Bond said about the technical progress on the Skylon’s advanced propulsion system was intriguing, providing hope to supporters that the company might find the financial backing it needs to carry the program to completion.
Dragon berthed at the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) —Twenty-three microgravity experiments designed by participants of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) will become part of space history Oct. 7. They will be launched to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Dragon, the first commercially developed and built American spacecraft to fly a resupply cargo resupply mission to the station.
Twelve of the SSEP experiments are getting a second flight opportunity. They were delivered to the space station on a SpaceX demonstration mission in May, but were not completed. The other 11 experiments are new.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. (Credit: NASA)
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will discuss the first contracted cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station during a Google+ Hangout from 1-1:30 p.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 5. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon cargo spacecraft are scheduled to lift off at 8:35 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 7 from at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
