Month: April 2022

NASA delays Artemis 1 moon mission test until after Friday SpaceX astronaut launch

NeRD

NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission won’t wrap up a crucial test until this weekend at the earliest. Artemis 1 will use a huge Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a roughly month-long mission around the moon. Artemis 1 is expected to lift off in June or thereabouts, but NASA won’t set a target date until it finishes a “wet dress rehearsal” — a practice run of the most important prelaunch activities, including fueling up the SLS. The Artemis 1 wet dress rehearsal began on Friday…

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Amazon joins Orbital Reef commercial space station project

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Amazon is getting into the private space station business.  The company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos has joined the Orbital Reef commercial space station project to provide supply-chain logistics and Amazon Web Services for the private orbital outpost, which is slated to launch by the late 2020s. The Orbital Reef project is led by Blue Origin (another company founded by Bezos) and Sierra Space, and is a partnership with Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering and Arizona State University.  Amazon’s role in Orbital Reef, which the company…

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Elon Musk buys 9% stake in Twitter, becoming platform’s largest shareholder

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Elon Musk can now add “social media magnate” to his list of titles. The billionaire entrepreneur, who runs both SpaceX and Tesla, has purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter, regulatory documents released on Monday (April 4) reveal. His stake in the company is worth nearly $2.9 billion based on Friday’s (April 1) stock prices, Bloomberg reported. That makes Musk the social media platform’s largest single shareholder, according to Bloomberg, which also noted that Twitter’s stock price increased as much as 27% on Monday in response to the news. Elon Musk:…

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Stuck valve stalls NASA’s 2nd attempt to fuel giant Artemis 1 moon rocket

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NASA’s second attempt to fuel its Artemis 1 moon mission megarocket hit another snag on Monday (April 4) due to a valve issue on ground equipment.  A stuck vent valve high up on the mobile launcher structure supporting the Artemis 1’s Space Launch System rocket  at Launch Pad 39B of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center forced NASA to scrub the Artemis 1 test after fueling began on Monday, agency officials said. The valve is use to relieve pressure from the rocket’s core stage during fueling. “Due [to] the vent valve issue, the…

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Mass grave in Ukraine seen from space (satellite photos)

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A mass grave in the Ukrainian town of Bucha has been spotted from space. Maxar Technologies’ WorldView-3 satellite snapped photos of the mass grave, on the grounds of the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints, on March 31. The grave site includes a trench about 45 feet (14 meters) long, company representatives said in an emailed statement. Local residents and the Kyiv Regional Police — Bucha is not far from the Ukrainian capital — said they believe at least 150 people are interred in the makeshift grave, CNN reported.…

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