Month: November 2023

55 Years Ago: Eight Months Before the Moon Landing

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November 1968 proved pivotal to achieving the goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. The highly successful Apollo 7 mission that returned American astronauts to space provided the confidence for NASA to decide to send the next flight, Apollo 8, on a trip to orbit the Moon in December. At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, the Saturn V rocket and the Apollo spacecraft for that mission sat on Launch Pad 39A undergoing tests for its upcoming launch. In the nearby Vehicle…

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50 Years Ago: Launch of Skylab 4, The Final Mission to Skylab

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The third and final crewed mission to the Skylab space station, Skylab 4, got underway on Nov. 16, 1973, with a thunderous launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Docking eight hours later, astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue began a planned 56-day mission that program managers extended to a record-breaking 84 days. During their first month, as they adjusted to weightlessness and their new surroundings, they completed the first of four spacewalks. They began an extensive science program, investigating the effects of…

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Gateway Utilization Town Hall for the International Science Community

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NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and Gateway Program will hold a Utilization Town Hall for the international science community at 3 p.m., Jan. 31, 2024. Members of the global science community, academia, and public are invited to participate in this virtual Webex event by registering below. The purpose of this event is to provide all interested international science communities with an opportunity to learn about anticipated Gateway capabilities and opportunities during the Artemis era. Participants will be invited to attend informal presentations from participating agencies, panel discussions and breakout sessions. Registration…

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Rogue rocket that slammed into the moon last year confirmed to be Chinese vehicle

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The case of the mysterious moon crash is now conclusively closed, a new study reports. On March 4, 2022, a rocket body slammed into the moon’s far side, blasting out a weird double crater about 95 feet (29 meters) wide. The crash did not come as a surprise; astronomers had been tracking the rogue rocket for weeks and predicted, with impressive accuracy, where and when it would slam into the lunar surface.  The mystery involved the identity of the impactor, which astronomers designated WE0913A. Initial observations suggested it might be…

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NASA and Japan to launch world’s 1st wooden satellite as soon as 2024. Why?

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NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are planning to launch the world’s first wooden satellite into space in a bid to make spaceflight more sustainable. LignoSat, a coffee mug-size satellite made from magnolia wood, is set to launch into Earth’s orbit by summer 2024, according to the space agencies. Wood doesn’t burn or rot in the lifeless vacuum of space, but it will incinerate into a fine ash upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, making it a surprisingly useful, biodegradable material for future satellites. After successfully testing their wood samples…

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SpaceX delays second Starship test launch to Nov. 18 to replace rocket part

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We’ll have to wait at least one more day to see Starship’s second-ever flight. SpaceX had been targeting Friday morning (Nov. 17) for the second test launch of its huge Starship rocket. But that’s no longer the plan. “We need to replace a grid fin actuator, so launch is postponed to Saturday,” company founder and CEO Elon Musk announced today (Nov. 16) via X (formerly known as Twitter). (Grid fins are the waffle-iron-like structures on Starship’s Super Heavy first stage, which help the booster steer its way back to Earth.)…

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International Colloquium on Space and Sustainability in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

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2 min read International Colloquium on Space and Sustainability in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico Members of NASA Science Activation’s NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative (NESEC) were recently invited to present and participate as part of a space and citizen science panel session at the International Colloquium on Space and Sustainability, held at the Ciudad Creativa Digital’s Plataforma Abierta de Innovación in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The Colloquium, held November 13 to 16, 2023, is a collaboration with NASA to foster discussion in Mexico about the current state of the use of Earth…

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The Marshall Star for November 15, 2023

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27 Min Read The Marshall Star for November 15, 2023 Commercial Crew Program’s Plaque Hanging Tradition Continues, Celebrating Work Done by Marshall Team By Celine Smith NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center participated in a new tradition last December to honor engineers for their exceptional efforts on CCP (Commercial Crew Program) missions to the International Space Station continued Nov. 13, with a third plaque hanging at the HOSC (Huntsville Operations Support Center). Team members are nominated at Marshall, Johnson Space Center, and Kennedy Space Center – centers that support CCP –…

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Watch SpaceX’s Starship launch for 2nd time ever on Nov. 17

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SpaceX plans to launch its Starship vehicle for the second time ever on Friday (Nov. 17), and you can watch the historic liftoff live. SpaceX aims to launch Starship, a next-generation system designed to take people and payloads to deep space, on Friday during a two-hour window that opens at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT). Liftoff will occur from Starbase, the company’s site in coastal South Texas. You can watch the action here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company. Coverage will begin at 7:30 a.m. EST…

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