Join me as I take a tour of SpaceX’s Starbase facility with Elon Musk as our tour guide! This is part 1 of 3, so stay tuned, there’s a lot more coming! If you need some notes on this video with key points, check out our article – https://everydayastronaut.com/starbas… Need a rundown on Starship? I’ve got you covered with our “Complete Guide to Starship” https://youtu.be/-8p2JDTd13k

SAN FRANCISCO (Planet PR) — We’re thrilled to announce a multi-year, multi-launch agreement with SpaceX, solidifying them as our go-to-launch provider through the end of 2025. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is the world’s most reliable and frequently-flown rocket that offers low-cost rideshare services, making SpaceX a natural choice for us. The first planned launch under this agreement is Flock 4x, 44 SuperDoves on the Falcon 9 Transporter-3 SSO rideshare mission scheduled for launch December 2021.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

On July 11, Richard Branson returned from a suborbital journey declaring the start of a new era of flight that would make outer space open to everyone, and promoting a raffle for two averagenauts to fly aboard early flights of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.

Today, Virgin Galactic announced it was hiking the cost of those seats from $250,000 to $450,000 for new ticket buyers. It was the second time the company has raised ticket prices even before any paying passengers have flown. In 2013, the price rose from $200,000 to $250,000. The first paying passengers haven’t even flown yet.

Take a closer look at the complex choreography involved in building NASA’s Europa Clipper as the mission to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa approaches its 2024 launch date.

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) – The hardware that makes up NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft is rapidly taking shape, as engineering components and instruments are prepared for delivery to the main clean room at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. In workshops and labs across the country and in Europe, teams are crafting the complex pieces that make up the whole as mission leaders direct the elaborate choreography of building a flagship mission.

Flight will occur aboard a next generation space station resupply vehicle HTV-X1.

TOKYO and CHIBA, Japan (Space BD PR) – The Department of Aerospace Engineering, College of Science and Technology, Nihon University and Space BD announced that they have concluded a collaboration agreement on overall preparatory work, including various applications and safety review support for the satellite launch in the small satellite deployment mission of the new space station resupply vehicle HTV-X1 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

This is the first initiative since Space BD’s selection by JAXA in October 2020 as the sole official service provider for the smallsatellite deployment service to be performed by the HTV-X1.

Video Caption: The three Chinese astronauts have conducted a series of experiments during their stay at the country’s first space station, Tiangong. https://www.cctvplus.com/news/2021080…

In the wake of losing its protest over NASA’s decision to award the Human Landing System contract to SpaceX, Blue Origin has released an information graphic calling the Starship system “immensely complex & high risk.” The comparison on the right shows the distance from the surface to the hatches of the two vehicles. The text from the infographic is reproduced below. LUNAR STARSHIP: IMMENSELY COMPLEX & HIGH RISK There are […]

DUNDEE, UK, August 4, 2021 (Bright Ascension PR) — Bright Ascension Ltd ., an industry leading space software technology provider, is pleased to announce the launch of its Bright Start Academic Programme. Building on the support provided to academic institutions over the recent years, the company has created an extensive programme to support the student community and enhance learning opportunities for building future industry skills and expertise within academic settings. Bright Ascension will be holding a free online launch event and invites all interested parties to attend.

The Bright Start Academic Programme aims to support academic research by offering free or heavily discounted bundles of Bright Ascension’s Flight Software Development Kit and Mission Control Software. Through significant improvements in efficiency, lower service delivery costs and increased capabilities, these software products will allow students and researchers to launch their missions sooner, reduce risks, automate processes and operate spacecraft more efficiently.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

It could take between several weeks and two months for Boeing to work through the valve problems that resulted in the launch scrub of the Starliner spacecraft on Tuesday, a source tells Parabolic Arc. The vehicle will be launched from Florida on an uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station (ISS).

The launch was scrubbed after engineers received what Boeing said “unexpected valve position indications in the propulsion system” of the spacecraft. The signals came from more than half of the 24 propulsion valves in Starliner’s service module, according to the source, who insisted upon anonymity due to not being authorized to speak to media.

WALLOPS, Va. (NASA PR) — NASA and Northrop Grumman are targeting 5:56 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Aug. 10, for the company’s 16th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Live coverage of the launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia, will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website beginning at 5:30 p.m. NASA also will hold a prelaunch news briefing Monday, Aug. 9.

The Chinese commercial launch provider iSpace failed to orbit a satellite with its Hyperbola-1 rocket for the second time in a row on Tuesday. iSpace, which is also known as the Interstellar Glory Space Technology, said in a press release that the four-stage rocket worked as planned after liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. However, the fairing failed to separate, so the unidentified satellite could not enter its planned […]