by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Of the six launches known to be scheduled to close out August, there’s only one – Artemis I — that truly matters in any real sense. The others will be duly recorded but little remembered in what could be the busiest launch year in human history.

By Kendall Murphy
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

GREENBELT, Md. — NASA uses lasers to send information to and from Earth, employing invisible beams to traverse the skies, sending terabytes of data – pictures and videos – to increase our knowledge of the universe. This capability is known as laser, or optical, communications, even though these eye-safe, infrared beams can’t be seen by human eyes.

• Orion’s European Service Module 4 successfully completed integration activities in Thales Alenia Space’s Turin plant
• Thales Alenia Space is responsible for the primary and the secondary structure, and thermo-mechanical systems of ESA’s European Service Modules (ESM)

TURIN, Italy, 31th May 2022 (Thales Alenia Space PR) — Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has successfully completed the activities related to the final integration of the critical systems of Orion’s European Service Module 4. The module is now on its way to Airbus Defence and Space’s clean rooms in Bremen, Germany. There, it will complete the integration and carry out final tests, supported by Thales Alenia Space engineers on-site.

JUSTIN, Texas, April 13, 2022 (Canoo Inc. PR) — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected Canoo Inc. (Nasdaq: GOEV) a high-tech advanced mobility company to provide Crew Transportation Vehicles (CTVs) for crewed Artemis lunar exploration launches. Canoo will deliver multiple customized all-electric LV models to NASA by June 2023.

by David Bullock
Staff Writer

The White House has proposed hiking NASA’s budget by nearly $2 billion to $26 billion for fiscal year 2023 as the space agency gears up for an uncrewed flight test of a new rocket and spacecraft designed to help return astronauts to the moon for the first time in 50 years.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

NASA plans to release a draft request for proposal (RFP) by the end of the month for a second crewed lunar lander to join the Human Landing System (HLS) being developed by SpaceX, officials announced during a media conference on Wednesday.

“Competition is the key to our success,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in describing the Sustaining Lunar Development contract.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Earlier this week, NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin presented the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee with the results of his office’s latest analysis of the space agency’s decade-old effort to return astronauts to the moon, otherwise known as the Artemis program. The results were eye popping, depressing and not at all surprising.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (NASA PR) — As teams continue to prepare NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for its debut flight with the launch of Artemis I, NASA and its partners across the country have made great progress building the rocket for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission. The team is also manufacturing and testing major parts for Artemis missions III, IV and V.

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — In 2021, NASA completed its busiest year of development yet in low-Earth orbit, made history on Mars, continued to make progress on its Artemis plans for the Moon, tested new technologies for a supersonic aircraft, finalized launch preparations for the next-generation space telescope, and much more – all while safely operating during a pandemic and welcoming new leadership under the Biden-Harris Administration.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

A new report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General says the agency’s plan to land two astronauts on the surface of the moon could be delayed by several years beyond the recently abandoned 2024 goal due to continuing problems in the Artemis program.