Flying for the first time in its 401 configuration in more than four years, this morning’s Atlas V launch occurred at the opening moment of Lucy’s 23-day launch window to reach the Jovian Trojans. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/AmericaSpace
Lucy will investigate multiple bodies in the outer Solar System whose origins may date back almost to the dawn of our Solar System. Image Credit: NASA
NASA and United Launch Alliance (ULA) are counting down to tomorrow’s 5:34 a.m. EDT launch of a mighty Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., laden with the ambitious Lucy mission to explore multiple Trojan-class asteroids which lead or trail the orbital path of giant Jupiter. The “Mighty Atlas”—flying in its workhorse “401” configuration, with a 13-foot-diameter (4-meter) payload fairing, no solid-fueled strap-on boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage—will lift off from storied Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41, two hours before sunrise. The mission will kick off a 12-year odyssey for Lucy, which will traverse four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) and visit some of the most ancient and puzzling worlds in our Solar System.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos applauds as William Shatner clambers out of the Crew Capsule. Photo Credit: Blue Origin
More than a half-century since he first found fame as James Tiberius Kirk, fictional captain of the Starship Enterprise, and now entering his tenth decade of life, William Shatner has reached the final frontier for real and scored a new record as the oldest human being ever to enter space. Aged 90, the veteran Star Trek actor launched atop Blue Origin’s second crew-carrying New Shepard booster at 9:50 a.m. CDT Wednesday from the desolate Launch Site One in the West Texas desert.
The world’s first nonagenarian astronaut flew the ten-minute and 15-second trip to the edge of space shoulder-to-shoulder with Dr. Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of Planet Labs, Inc., Glen de Vries of Dassault Systèmes and Blue’s own vice president of mission and flight operations, Audrey Powers. Reportedly, the New Shepard Crew Capsule bearing the world’s four newest astronauts reached an apogee of 351,185 feet, equivalent to 66.51 miles (107.04 kilometers) at the top of their suborbital “arc”, before returning smoothly back to Earth.
Crew-3 astronauts (front to rear) Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, Matthias Maurer and Tom Marshburn pose with their Falcon 9 core stage. Photo Credit: SpaceX
Four astronauts representing NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are only three weeks away from their 2:43 a.m. EST launch on 30 October to the International Space Station (ISS). Seasoned spacefarer Tom Marshburn—a veteran of two prior missions and only the second American to have flown the shuttle, Soyuz and Crew Dragon—will be accompanied by “rookies” Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, selectees from NASA’s 2017 astronaut class, and Germany’s Matthias Maurer.
Twice-flown, the CRS-23 Dragon spent a month at the International Space Station (ISS). Photo Credit: NASA
After a month spent moored at the International Space Station (ISS), SpaceX’s CRS-23 Dragon cargo ship has begun its journey back to Earth. The unpiloted craft undocked from International Docking Adapter (IDA)-2—located on the forward-facing end of the station’s Harmony node—at 9:12 a.m. EDT Thursday and is due to splash down off the Florida coast later tonight. Returning home aboard the Cargo Dragon is an estimated 4,600 pounds (2,100 kg) of scientific payloads and experiment results from a wide range of ongoing research activities aboard the multi-national orbital outpost.
Landsat-9 launches at 11:12 a.m. PDT Monday. Photo Credit: ULA
A roll of thunder broke the stillness of a foggy West Coast Monday afternoon, as United Launch Alliance (ULA)’s mighty Atlas V roared aloft from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-3E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., laden with the Northrop Grumman Corp.-built Landsat-9 payload on behalf of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Encapsulated within its payload fairing, Landsat-9 is readied for transport to the Mobile Service Tower (MST) and installation atop the Atlas V. Photo Credit: ULA
After what has so far been its least-flown year on record, United Launch Alliance (ULA) stands primed to fly a second “Mighty Atlas” of 2021 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., on Monday afternoon. The “barebones” Atlas V 401 rocket—characterized by a 13-foot-diameter (4-meter) payload fairing, no solid-fueled strap-on boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage—is set to rise from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-3E at the West Coast launch site at 11:12 a.m. PDT, at the start of a 30-minute “window”. Primary payload is Landsat-9, flying on behalf of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Tomorrow’s flight also marks the 300th member of the Atlas missile family to originate from Vandenberg since September 1959, marking over six decades of active operational service.
SpaceX’s 23rd launch of the year was arguably one of its most significant of all time, as a new era in human space exploration began. Photo Credit: Jeff Seibert/AmericaSpace
The democratization of human spaceflight drew one step closer Wednesday evening, when SpaceX triumphantly launched the first non-professional, “all-civilian” team of astronauts into low-Earth orbit. Billionaire businessmen and pilot Jared Isaacman and his Inspiration4 crewmates Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux and Chris Sembroski roared into the night at 8:02:56 p.m. EDT from historic Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
The first all-civilian spacefaring crew poses for a portrait in their SpaceX pressure suits. Commanding Inspiration4 is Jared Isaacman (top), with Sian Proctor at left, Hayley Arceneaux at right and Chris Sembroski at the bottom. Photo Credit: John Kraus/Inspiration4.com
Favorable weather is expected for Wednesday night’s much-anticipated launch of Dragon Resilience and the Inspiration4 crew, touted as the first “all-civilian” orbital spaceflight. Liftoff of the three-to-five-day mission—which features a twice-used Falcon 9 booster core and a reflown Crew Dragon vehicle—is targeted to occur from historic Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, no sooner than 8:02 p.m. EDT, at the start of a five-hour “window”.
B1049 roars into the night, late Monday, kicking off SpaceX’s first Starlink mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. Photo Credit: SpaceX
After a multi-month “pause” in Starlink launches, SpaceX has delivered its first 51-strong batch of these low-orbiting internet communications satellites to orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. Liftoff of the veteran B1049 core—making a record-tying tenth flight for a Falcon 9 booster, after nine prior missions between September 2018 and last May—took place from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-4E at 8:55 p.m. PDT Monday. Approximately 15 minutes later, the satellites were deployed on their way to a high-inclination orbit of 70 degrees to the equator. They form the inaugural members of a new Starlink orbital “shell” which will expand internet coverage as far as Alaska and Northern Europe.
