Tag: Human Spaceflight

Ever have one of those nightmares where you forget your pencil, or some key item, before a big test? Astronauts flying to the moon face that situation in spades: Once everything is on the spacecraft and they’re on the way, there’s no way to add to or change anything on the Orion spacecraft. So the Artemis 2 crew practiced a “day in the life” of their moon mission, expected to fly there in 2025, to see if there were any little items they may have forgotten. The astronaut quartet literally…

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As we move closer to the greatest revolution of all time, the opening of the High Frontier of space to humanity, some assert this is somehow a bad thing. Based on inaccurate understandings of history and misplaced projections of those misunderstood times to the future, they are spreading ridiculous and possibly dangerous ideas that what is happening in what I call the Space Revolution is a repeat of the conquests and colonization of history. Wrong. Aside from the fact that we are not taking space from anyone, this time, for…

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Boeing’s Starliner capsule has left the launch pad. Starliner and its rocket ride, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V, rolled off the pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today (May 8), heading to an assembly building at the site so scientists can replace a misbehaving valve in the launcher’s upper stage. The duo could be back soon, however: They’re scheduled to launch no earlier than May 17, kicking off Starliner’s first-ever astronaut mission, a trial run to the International Space Station (ISS) called Crew Flight Test (CFT).…

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CAPE CANAVERAL — Starliner will wait at least four more days for its first crewed launch. Boeing’s new commercial spacecraft, Starliner, waved off its first launch attempt late tonight (May 6) due to a problem with an “oxygen relief valve on the Centaur Stage on the Atlas V,” NASA posted on X. Atlas V, the flight’s rocket manufactured by United Launch Alliance, has flown missions since 2002 with a 100 percent success rate, but this is its first mission with astronauts. “The engineering team has evaluated the vehicle is not…

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What has one horn, two crewmates and shares a name with its ride into orbit? “Calypso,” the plush sequined narwhal that is flying with NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams on the crew flight test (CFT) of “Calypso,” Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial spacecraft. A toy version of the deepest-diving marine mammal, it is soon to be the highest-flying example of its kind while serving as the crew’s “zero-g indicator.” “My zero-g indicator happens to be a very sparkly narwhal whose name is ‘Calypso,’” said Williams in a…

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The first Hispanic woman to launch into space is now the second female astronaut to be awarded the United States’ highest honor. Ellen Ochoa, who later directed NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, was bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony at the White House on Friday (May 3). Ochoa is the 10th astronaut to receive the medal. “For most, the American dream is to be successful in whatever endeavor you choose here on Earth. For Dr. Ellen Ochoa, her dream was in the heavens,” said President…

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Happy National Astronaut Day 2024! As the inspiring President and CEO of Uniphi Good, music industry fixture Annie Balliro has presided over her successful artist management and marketing firm since 2009 before branching out into Uniphi Space Agency, which has expanded into the nation’s biggest private talent management firm for astronauts.   Emboldened with the company’s tagline of #webelieveinastronauts, Uniphi Good partners with corporations or institutions to advise NASA’s intrepid homegrown heroes on navigating partnerships in media, film and television by creating a positive network of bridges between the worlds…

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When Suni Williams was assigned to fly on board Boeing Starliner flight in 2018, no one anticipated it would be a six-year wait for launch. The veteran NASA astronaut and former U.S. Navy test pilot spoke March 22 about the “emotional rollercoaster” the Starliner team went through in the years since, through two uncrewed test flights, the pandemic and a host of other technical issues that had to be addressed before safely launching astronauts.  The years of work in between, though intense, were a “test pilot’s dream” and are finally…

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CAPE CANAVERAL — May the rocket’s Force be with you! An Atlas V rocket rolled out to its launch pad on Saturday (May 4), also Star Wars Day, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station days before its historic first mission with astronauts. Atop the United Launch Alliance booster was Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which will also make its debut flight with humans onboard after launching no earlier than Monday (May 6). The instantaneous launch window opens at 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 GMT on Tuesday, May 7) and you can watch the…

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Virgin Galactic will fly again next month, if all goes according to plan. The company announced on Wednesday (May 1) that it’s targeting June 8 for its seventh commercial spaceflight, a suborbital jaunt called, fittingly enough, Galactic 07. It will be Virgin Galactic‘s second spaceflight of the year, after the Galactic 06 mission on Jan. 26, and its 12th overall to date. Related: Virgin Galactic launches researchers to suborbital space on 5th commercial flight (video) Virgin Galactic uses an air-launch system that consists of two vehicles: A carrier aircraft called…

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