After Fortnite’s UFO-themed season finished with explosive results for the alien mothership Sunday (Sept. 12), players for the new Season 8 have a cosmonaut chimp skin to strive for. One of the featured skins in this season’s Battle Pass is J.B. Chimpanski, and that’s just one of the space references you’ll find. (A Battle Pass is 950 V-bucks, or Fortnite’s in-game currency; you can purchase 1,000 V-bucks for $7.99 USD.) Chimpanski appears to reference the Cold War around the 1960s and 1970s, when the Soviet Union and the United States…
Read MoreMonth: September 2021
NASA Awards Regional Architect, Engineering Services Contracts
NASA has selected nine companies to provide architect and engineering services for the agency’s facilities in the southeastern United States.
Read MoreSpot the elusive planet Mercury at its ‘greatest elongation’ from the sun this evening
Mercury, Venus and the first-quarter moon — along with the stars Spica and Arcturus — will appear to form a straight line in the evening sky on Sept. 13, 2021. This sky map shows the view from New York City at approximately 7 p.m. local time. (Image credit: SkySafari app) Of the five “naked-eye” planets in Earth’s night sky, Mercury tends to be the most difficult to spot because the tiny planet tends to linger in the sun’s bright glare. But tonight (Sept. 13) Mercury will reach its farthest separation…
Read MoreSpaceX test-fires rocket for Inspiration4, the 1st private orbital mission
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX just test-fired the rocket that will take the private Inspiration4 mission on a three-day journey around Earth. The private spaceflight company conducted a static-fire test on Monday (Sept. 13) of its Falcon 9 rocket at Pad 39A here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The test is one of the last major milestones ahead of a planned launch on Wednesday (Sept. 15). As preparations continue, launch personnel are also monitoring weather conditions, which currently offer 80% odds of supporting flight. The routine preflight test kicked off…
Read MoreNew Kind of Supernova Implodes Stars Before Their Time
Astronomers have found the first circumstantial evidence for a supernova triggered by a merger with a neutron star or maybe even a black hole. The post New Kind of Supernova Implodes Stars Before Their Time appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreLandsat 9 Spacecraft Moved Into Position for Encapsulation
Inside the Integrated Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the Landsat 9 spacecraft is moved into position for encapsulation.
Read MoreAstronauts prep space station for new solar array on first all-international spacewalk
Two astronauts installed the mount for a new solar array outside of the International Space Station during the first spacewalk to not include an American or Russian crew member as one of the pair. Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet with the European Space Agency (ESA), both clad in U.S. spacesuits bearing their respective countries’ flags on their left shoulders, spent six hours and 54 minutes working in the vacuum of space on Sunday (Sept. 12). The extravehicular activity (EVA) began at…
Read MoreSpaceX’s Inspiration4 private all-civilian orbital mission: Live updates
Refresh 2021-09-12T13:24:47.992Z SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience is seen with the Inspiration4 mission logo inside its hangar ahead of a planned Sept. 15, 2021 launch from Pad 39A of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Image credit: SpaceX) It’s launch week for SpaceX’s private Inspiration4 mission and the four civilians launching on the site have paid a final trip to their Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon Resilience, the ship that will be their home in space during the 3-day mission. SpaceX is targeting an 8 p.m. EDT launch on…
Read MoreSpaceX names 2 new recovery ships after NASA astronauts
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The two newest members of SpaceX’s recovery fleet sailed into Port Canaveral this month. At least one of the dynamic duo, named “Bob” and “Doug,” will help in the recovery efforts of the company’s newest crew mission: Inspiration 4. The ships are named after Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, two NASA astronauts who were the first to fly inside a crew Dragon spacecraft. Their mission, known as Demo-2, was the final test flight of SpaceX’s commercial crew program, which blasted off from Kennedy Space Center on…
Read MoreAstronauts in space pay tribute to 9/11 victims on 20th anniversary of attacks
As solemn ceremonies across the United States mark the devastating terrorist attacks 20 years ago today on Sept. 11, 2001, astronauts in space are also paying tribute from the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, one of seven crewmembers on the station representing the U.S., Russia, Japan and France, beamed a memorial video message to Earth to honor those lost and affected by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the Flight 93 crash in Pennsylvania. “To the victims…
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