Blue Origin teams up with Shaq to send kids’ postcards to space on New Shepard

The latest random act of Shaqness is going to space. Shaquille O’Neal, the retired four-time champion center with the National Basketball Association, plans to align his chain restaurant company with suborbital launching company Blue Origin.  O’Neal-owned Big Chicken will work with Blue’s children-focused nonprofit, Club for the Future, to launch “new community outreach programs” at the chain’s restaurants. Big Chicken will also participate in the Postcards to Space program that sends drawings beyond Earth’s atmosphere, the company said in a release (opens in new tab) Thursday (Feb. 10). Blue Origin…

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SpaceX’s huge Starship booster conducts historic 31-engine burn (video)

SpaceX’s giant Starship vehicle just took a huge step toward its first-ever orbital test flight, which could take place as soon as next month. A Starship first-stage prototype known as Booster 7 ignited 31 of its 33 Raptor engines during a “static fire” test today (Feb. 9) at SpaceX‘s Starbase facility in South Texas.  The goal was to fire all 33 Raptors during the test, which occurred at 4:13 p.m. EST (2113 GMT; 3:13 p.m. local Texas time). But SpaceX will take it.  “Team turned off 1 engine just before…

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Astronaut Chris Hadfield meets King Charles III, pushes space sustainability

Canada’s most famous astronaut reached royal realms on Thursday (Feb. 9). King Charles III met with Chris Hadfield, the retired Canadian astronaut best known for commanding the International Space Station (ISS) in 2012-13 with social media flair. The discussion concerned “efforts to encourage sustainability in space,” the official Royal Family Twitter account (opens in new tab) stated.  “What a pleasure and privilege to be asked to advise and assist, and make the King laugh,” Hadfield wrote of the experience on Twitter (opens in new tab), alongside a picture showing His…

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SpaceX worked to prevent Ukraine from using Starlink internet with drones: report

SpaceX has taken measures to limit Ukraine’s use of the company’s Starlink satellite-internet service during its ongoing war with Russia, according to media reports. Starlink has been a vital piece of communications infrastructure for Ukraine throughout the conflict, which began when Russia invaded the nation on Feb. 24 of last year. Service beamed down from orbit is tougher for an adversary to knock out than coverage provided by ground-bound towers, after all. But SpaceX has balked at some Ukrainian uses of Starlink, according to Reuters. Specifically, the outlet reported on…

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Virgin Orbit’s failed debut UK rocket launch traced to ‘$100 part:’ report

Virgin Orbit is within reach of figuring out what went wrong on its first U.K. mission. The debut Cornwall orbital launch of Virgin Orbit, called “Start Me Up” after a famous Rolling Stones song, had a rocket failure Jan. 9 after LauncherOne was fired from underneath the firm’s modified 747. A problem in the rocket’s second-stage engine may have caused the issue, officials said Tuesday (Feb. 7) in a conference attended by SpaceNews (opens in new tab). “Everything points to, right now, a filter that was clearly there when we…

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