By Ben Evans, on May 24th, 2020
Doug Hurley (left), mission commander of Demo-2, piloted the final Space Shuttle flight, whilst Bob Behnken, joint operations commander, is a veteran spacewalker and former chief of NASA’s astronaut corps. Photo Credit: NASA
Alan Shepard, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walt Cunningham, Bob Crippen and John Young; just a handful of many […]
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By Ben Evans, on November 13th, 2015
SpaceX’s Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF), whose construction was completed in 2015, stands astride the “crawlerway,” beyond the Pad 39A perimeter. Photo Credit: SpaceX Facebook Group (unofficial), used with permission
Not since 8 July 2011 and the final launch of the Space Shuttle Program—during which Atlantis delivered the STS-135 crew of Commander Chris Ferguson, […]
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By Ben Evans, on October 8th, 2015
The final launch, Atlantis STS-135. Photo Credit: Alan Walters / AmericaSpace
A string of “Go” calls—interspersed with an occasional poignant remark about the contributions of the Space Shuttle program over three decades of operational service—reached the ears of Launch Director Mike Leinbach, seated at his console in the Launch Control Center (LCC) at […]
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By Ben Evans, on October 4th, 2015 During almost 26 years of operational service, Atlantis flew 33 missions, travelled an estimated 125.9 million miles (202.7 million km), circled Earth 4,848 times, and spent over 306 cumulative days in orbit. She is the second most-flown member of NASA’s shuttle fleet, after Discovery. Photo Credit: NASA
For the crew of STS-132, it […]
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By Ben Evans, on October 3rd, 2015 Atlantis alights on Runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida at 5:57 a.m. EDT on 21 July 2011, wrapping up a remarkable 33-mission career. Photo Credit: NASA/Kenny Allen
In the pre-dawn darkness of 21 July 2011, the small black-and-white dot of Atlantis glided smoothly […]
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By Ken Kremer, on March 21st, 2015 Launch Complex 41 gets a radical new look and use soon! Artist’s concept of Boeing’s CST-100 space taxi ready for liftoff atop a man rated ULA Atlas-V rocket showing new crew access tower and arm at Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl. Credit: ULA
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, […]
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By Ken Kremer, on December 10th, 2014 Artist’s concept of Boeing’s CST-100 space taxi ready for liftoff atop a man rated ULA Atlas-V rocket showing new crew access tower and arm at Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl. Credit: ULA
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL — Following closely on the heels of NASA’s stunning success with the […]
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By Ken Kremer, on August 20th, 2014 SNC’s Commercial Dream Chaser atmospheric test vehicle under construction. Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)
Construction of the first commercial Dream Chaser space plane that will propel Americans back to space from American soil is well underway and accelerating to insure “its ready for the first launch in November 2016,” Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice […]
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By Ken Kremer, on June 5th, 2014 Boeing CST-100 manned space capsule in free flight in low-Earth orbit will transport astronaut crews to the International Space Station. Credit: Boeing
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL — Boeing’s CST-100 commercial “space taxi“ will be capable of flying to the space station “as a single piloted vehicle” starting from the first manned orbital test […]
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By Ken Kremer, on May 29th, 2014 Chris Ferguson, NASA’s last space shuttle commander, works at consoles testing on-orbit, docking, and entry scenarios on the Boeing CST-100 capsule, which can fly U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station in 2017. Ferguson is now Boeing’s director of Crew and Mission Operations for the Commercial Crew Program vying for NASA funding. Credit: […]
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