[ad_1] NASA’s private spaceflight plans extend well beyond launching people into orbit. The agency is forming a plan to fly astronauts, investigators and other staff aboard suborbital spacecraft. Once a Suborbital Crew office inside the Commercial Crew Program has qualified a suborbital system as safe to use, NASA will buy seats aboard suborbital flights for […]
Category: spaceflight
SpaceX plans seaborne spaceports for Mars missions and hypersonic flights
[ad_1] Don’t think SpaceX is toning down its spaceflight ambitions in light of the pandemic — if anything, the company is ramping things up. Elon Musk has confirmed a SpaceXFleet scoop (via TechCrunch) that SpaceX is hiring staff to help build “floating, superheavy-class spaceports” for Mars and Moon missions, not to mention hypersonic flights for […]
Australia aims to launch locally-made hybrid rockets by 2022
[ad_1] Australia is increasingly keen on greater independence in spaceflight. The University of Queensland and Gilmour Space are moving forward on a domestically-made “next-generation” hybrid rocket that could start launching satellites into low Earth orbit in 2022. Crucially, all the rockets and components would be made in Australia — they wouldn’t have to lean on […]
Interstellar is still struggling to put private rockets in space
[ad_1] Japan’s budding private spaceflight industry is still struggling, even with some early signs of success. Interstellar Technologies’ MOMO-5 sounding rocket failed to reach space after its launch from Hokkaido early on June 14th. The engine was “manually stopped in an emergency” about 70 seconds into the flight, the company said. Interstellar pinned the flaw […]
Elon Musk says Starship is SpaceX’s ‘top priority’ from now on
[ad_1] Don’t expect SpaceX to lavish much more attention on Crew Dragon now that it has launched people into orbit. CNBC said it had obtained email from Elon Musk asking staff to treat Starship as the “top SpaceX priority,” pushing them to “dramatically and immediately” speed up progress on the super-heavy rocket. About the only […]
Senate bill offers more incentives for private spaceflight
[ad_1] Politicians are seizing on Crew Dragon fervor to offer more incentives for private spaceflight. A group of US senators including Marco Rubio, Dianne Feinstein and Ted Cruz have put forward the American Space Commerce Act, a bill that would expand perks for companies like SpaceX. It would extend depreciation-related tax deductions by another 10 […]
SpaceX will answer Crew Dragon and Starlink questions on Reddit at 3PM ET
[ad_1] If you’ve wanted to learn more about SpaceX’s projects than you normally see in the news, now’s your chance. The company’s software team is holding a Reddit AMA session today starting at 3PM Eastern to answer questions on the software that guides SpaceX’s projects, including Crew Dragon and Starlink. Six key staffers will be […]
SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with the International Space Station
[ad_1] SpaceX just completed another milestone in Crew Dragon’s historic journey. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have successfully docked the capsule with the International Space Station just under 19 hours after launch from Cape Canaveral. The largely automated process was uneventful. The crew tested manual operation at one point, which they said behaved much […]
Watch SpaceX’s second attempt at launching astronauts at 3:22PM ET
[ad_1] It’s time for take two. NASA and SpaceX are making their second attempt at launching the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission after scrubbing the first due to weather, and they’re once again livestreaming the potentially historic event. The launch itself is scheduled for 3:22PM Eastern, although pre-launch coverage is available now and will continue right […]
Watch NASA and SpaceX launch astronauts (updated)
[ad_1] This afternoon NASA astronauts will take off from US soil for the first time since NASA’s space shuttle program ended in 2011. The launch is historic for another reason too. It will be the first time NASA launches astronauts in a SpaceX spacecraft, and it marks the beginning of what could be many crewed […]