SpaceX’s next Starship test launch could lift off as early as Nov. 17, pending regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies. The potential launch from SpaceX‘s Starbase test site at Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville, Texas will mark the company’s second test flight of an orbital class Starship and Super Heavy booster — the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. SpaceX launched its first Starship test flight in April, but it exploded shortly after liftoff. “Starship preparing to launch as early as November 17, pending final…
Read MoreSpaceX launches 90 payloads into orbit on ‘rideshare’ mission
SpaceX launched its Transporter-9 mission on Saturday (Nov. 11), a ‘rideshare’ flight that lofted 90 payloads into orbit. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 1:49 p.m. EST (1849 GMT; 10:49 a.m. local California time), kicking off the Transporter-9 mission. Related: 8 ways that SpaceX has transformed spaceflight A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage touches down at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023. (Image credit: SpaceX (via X)) The Falcon 9’s first stage came…
Read MoreThis Week In Space podcast: Episode 87 — One Lunar Fizz Please
On Episode 87 of This Week In Space, Tariq and Rod discuss drinking in space with Colleen McLeod Garner. As more people take tourist jaunts into space, and eventually into orbit for longer stays, social drinking will become part of the experience—even if it’s just that bottle of congratulatory champagne. Besides the odd effects of zero-g on fizzy drinks in the stomach, the effects of imbibing alcohol cause a wide variety of risks and concerns. And while this is not entirely unknown territory—the Russians have been known to drink cognac…
Read MoreInternational Space Station dodges orbital debris hours before SpaceX cargo ship’s arrival: report
The International Space Station moved out of the way of space debris yet again this year, hours before a new cargo ship is supposed to arrive. A Russian Progress cargo spacecraft attached to the International Space Station (ISS) fired its engines Friday (Nov. 10) in a space debris avoidance maneuver, Russian federal space agency Roscosmos officials wrote on Telegram; translation was provided automatically by Google. (Space.com reached out to NASA officials and is awaiting the agency’s confirmation of the maneuver, as well as the nature of the debris.) The five-minute…
Read More‘Lunar swirls’ have confused scientists for years. New NASA moon data might clear things up
Swirls across the lunar surface are connected to changes in the moon’s physical features after all, new observations from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have revealed. Lunar swirls are twisted-looking patches on the moon that shine brightly because they reflect high levels of sunlight. Because the amount of sunlight reflected back to space by a body is called its “albedo,” these swirls are often referred to as being “high albedo.” The swirls are marked by contrasting bright and dark imprints on the lunar surface, expressed as broad, bright loops separated…
Read More‘For All Mankind’ season 4 episode 1 review: Lots of moving parts but light on plot
After the obligatory time jump, Apple TV Plus’s “For All Mankind” splashes down in 2003. The U.S. has teamed up with the Soviet Union and other allies to build a thriving colony on Mars, and plans are afoot to capture and mine asteroids that will help the base to become self-sustainable. But, this being “For All Mankind,” there’s also plenty of human drama to unpack. Indeed, the key players are still dealing with the aftermath of a 1995-set season three finale in which NASA was left reeling by the Johnson…
Read MoreNASA’s Mars Fleet Will Still Conduct Science While Lying Low
NASA’s Perseverance rover captured this view of the location where it will be parked for several weeks during Mars solar conjunction, a period when engineers stop sending commands to spacecraft at the Red Planet because the Sun may interfere with radio signals. NASA/JPL-Caltech Rovers and orbiters will continue collecting limited data during a two-week communications pause due to the position of Earth, the Sun, and the Red Planet. NASA will hold off sending commands to its Mars fleet for two weeks, from Nov. 11 to 25, while Earth and the…
Read MoreInvestigations launching aboard SpaceX-29 will help humans go farther and stay longer in space
The SpaceX-29 commercial resupply spacecraft will deliver numerous physical sciences and space biology experiments, along with other cargo, to the International Space Station. The research aboard this resupply services mission will help researchers learn how humans, and the plants needed to sustain them, can thrive in deep space. The biological and physical sciences investigations headed to the Space Station are: Plant Water Management-5 and 6 (PWM-5 and 6) NASA has grown plants on the Space Station even without the help of gravity. But microgravity does present challenges and affects Space…
Read MoreNASA, SpaceX Launch New Science, Hardware to Space Station
4 min read NASA, SpaceX Launch New Science, Hardware to Space Station NASA’s SpaceX 29th commercial resupply mission launched at 8:28 p.m. EST, Thursday, Nov. 9, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Following a successful launch of NASA’s SpaceX 29th commercial resupply mission, scientific experiments and technology demonstrations, including studies of enhanced optical communications and measurement of atmospheric waves, are on their way to the International Space Station. SpaceX’s uncrewed Dragon resupply spacecraft, carrying about 6,500 pounds of cargo to the orbiting laboratory, launched…
Read MoreNASA Ames Astrogram – November/December 2023
Astronaut Candidates Visit Ames and Learn about Heat Shields and More NASA astronaut candidates visited the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley on Nov. 8 to learn about the center’s unique facilities and contributions to NASA missions, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. Pictured here at the Arc Jet Complex, where spacecraft thermal protection systems are tested, are the 10 members of NASA’s current astronaut candidate class and two United Arab Emirates astronauts who are training with NASA. From left: Nichole Ayers, Mohammad Almulla (UAE), Marcos Berríos, Nora Almatrooshi (UAE),…
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