Month: August 2022

NASA awards SpaceX $1.4 billion for 5 more astronaut missions

NeRD

SpaceX will be able to outfit five more astronaut crews in its iconic white flight suits. NASA has just tasked SpaceX with carrying out five additional astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS) under a new $1.4 billion deal, which modifies an existing agreement between the two organizations. The deal, which will employ SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rockets, “allows NASA to maintain an uninterrupted U.S. capability for human access to the space station until 2030,” NASA officials said in an update today (Aug. 31) (opens in…

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SpaceX ignites multiple engines on Starship Super Heavy booster for 1st time (video)

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SpaceX just lit up multiple engines on its Starship Super Heavy booster for the first time ever. The company is gearing up for the first orbital test flight of Starship, a fully reusable vehicle that consists of a huge booster called Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 meters) spacecraft known as Starship. Both elements will be powered by SpaceX‘s next-gen Raptor engine — 33 of them for Super Heavy and six for Starship. The ongoing prep work includes “static fire” tests of Booster 7 and Ship 24, the two prototypes that…

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Watch NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission launch live online for free

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Update: This page was updated on Aug. 31 with NASA’s new Artemis 1 launch schedule.  NASA’s huge Artemis 1 rocket is counting down to a second launch attempt to return the moon and when it does, you can watch the historic mission live online for free.  The Artemis 1 mission is scheduled to launch on Saturday, Sept. 1, at 2:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT) from Pad 39B of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.  NASA will host a series of webcasts leading up to the uncrewed Artemis 1 launch, which will mark…

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SpaceX launches 46 Starlink satellites, lands rocket at sea

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Another day, another Starlink launch. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Wednesday (Aug. 31) at 1:40 a.m. EDT (0540 GMT; 10:40 p.m. local California time), carrying 46 of the company’s Starlink internet satellites to orbit.  About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the two-stage Falcon 9‘s first stage came down for a pinpoint landing on the SpaceX robotic droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean. Related: SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation launches in photos It was the seventh…

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NASA now aims to launch Artemis 1 moon mission on Sept. 3 after glitch

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NASA aims to get its Artemis 1 moon mission off the ground this weekend despite a recent glitch. The agency announced today (Aug. 30) that it’s now targeting Saturday (Sept. 3) for the launch of Artemis 1, a crucial mission whose first liftoff attempt on Monday (Aug. 29) was scuttled by a technical issue.  If all goes according to plan, Artemis 1 will launch from Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida during a two-hour window that opens at 2:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT). You can watch…

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Listen live: NASA provides updates on Artemis 1 moon mission status

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Update for Aug. 30, 9:45 a.m. EDT: NASA will hold a media teleconference on Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) to discuss the next steps for the Artemis 1 mission following the scrubbed first launch attempt. The conference will be streamed online here at Space.com or on the agency’s website (opens in new tab). NASA’s huge Artemis 1 rocket is counting down to a second launch attempt to return the moon and when it does, you can watch the historic mission live online for free.  The space…

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