HAMPTON, Va. (NASA PR) — A NASA technology that could one day help land humans on Mars is about to head into final integration and testing before a sub-orbital flight test next year.
Two key components of the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) are complete and recently arrived at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. At Langley, engineers will test the complete system to ensure LOFTID is flight ready.
(more…)
LONDON (UK Space Agency PR) — Another step towards space exploration from UK soil has been unlocked, with the passing of the spaceflight regulations, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced today (29 July 2021).
The legislation provides the framework to regulate the UK space industry and enable launches to take place from British soil for the very first time. It will unlock a potential £4 billion of market opportunities over the next decade, creating thousands of jobs and benefiting communities right across the UK.
(more…)HOUSTON (NASA PR) — Following the docking of the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), named Nauka, to the International Space Station at 9:29 am EDT, Russian cosmonauts aboard the space station conducted leak checks between Nauka and the service module. At 12:45 pm, the flight control team noticed the unplanned firing of MLM thrusters that caused the station to move out of orientation. Ground teams have regained attitude control and the motion of the […]
HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA and Boeing have decided to stand down from Friday’s launch attempt of the agency’s Orbital Flight Test-2 mission. Currently, launch teams are assessing the next available opportunity. The move allows the International Space Station team time to continue working checkouts of the newly arrived Roscosmos’ Nauka module and to ensure the station will be ready for Starliner’s arrival. Learn more about station activities by following […]
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Russia’s new Nauka module started firing its thrusters randomly after it docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday as the crew on board struggled to shut the system down manually, a source familiar with the situation told Parabolic Arc.
(more…)MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — In accordance with the International Space Station flight program, today, July 29, 2021, at 16:29:06 Moscow time, the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module docked with the nadir docking port of the Zvezda service module of the ISS Russian segment. According to telemetry data and reports from the ISS crew, the on-board systems of the station and the “Nauka” module are functioning normally. The multipurpose module “Nauka” was successfully […]
By Leejay Lockhart
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
Fifty years ago, Apollo 15 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, sending Commander David R. Scott, Command Module Pilot Alfred M. Worden, and Lunar Module Pilot James B. Irwin on the first of three Apollo “J” missions. These missions gave astronauts the opportunity to explore the Moon for longer periods using upgraded and more plentiful scientific instruments than ever before. Apollo 15 was the first mission where astronauts used the Apollo Lunar Surface Drill (ALSD) and the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV).
(more…)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 26, 2021 (Galileo Project PR) – The multi-institutional, international Galileo Project founders, research team and advisory boards, in conjunction with the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, today announce the Galileo Project (website: projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo). It is a transparent scientific project to advance a systematic experimental search for cross-validated evidence of potential astroarcheological artifacts or active technical equipment made by putative existing or extinct extraterrestrial technological civilizations (ETCs).
The goal of the Galileo Project is to bring the search for extraterrestrial technological signatures from accidental or anecdotal observations and legends to the mainstream of transparent, validated and systematic scientific research.
(more…)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — Two additional secondary payloads that will travel to deep space on Artemis I, the first flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, are ready for launch.
(more…)
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
MAHIA PENINSULA, New Zealand — Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket launched an U.S. Space Force satellite on Thursday in a successful return to flight for the small-satellite booster after a launch failure in May.
The booster lifted off with the USSF’s Monolith technology technology demonstration satellite. Deployment from the booster’s kick stage occurred less than an hour after liftoff from Rocket Lab’s facility on the Mahia Peninsula.
(more…)MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — On Wednesday, July 28, 2021, specialists of the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module flight control group at the TsNIIMash Mission Control Center (part of Roscosmos) performed the final corrective maneuver of the module which had launched nominally from the Baikonur Cosmodrome a week ago. The engines were fired at 13:43:07 UTC. According to telemetry information, the propulsion system of the module worked normally. No new orbit corrections […]
CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. (NASA PR) — NASA and Boeing are taking another major step on the path to regular human spaceflight launches to the International Space Station on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil with the second uncrewed flight test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
NASA’s Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is targeting launch of the Starliner spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 2:53 p.m. EDT Friday, July 30, from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Starliner is expected to arrive at the space station for docking about 24 hours later with more than 400 pounds of NASA cargo and crew supplies.
(more…)