Tag: Human Spaceflight

Cards Against Humanity has just filed a $15 million lawsuit against SpaceX. The Chicago-based Cards Against Humanity (CAH) — the company behind the bestselling adult party game in which players use cards to create either wonderfully clever or hilariously disturbing strings of phrases — distributed a statement on Friday (Sept. 20) blasting Elon Musk and SpaceX for allegedly encroaching upon and damaging land that CAH purchased in 2017. This land is located along the U.S.-Mexico border, and CAH bought it as part of a movement to thwart former President Donald…

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Although they may never completely shed the label, the women who worked for NASA as human computers during the space race are no longer “hidden figures,” and they now have a medal to prove it. On Wednesday (Sept. 18), the women as a group and four individuals who have come to represent their collective experiences were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors in the United States. As authorized by Congress, the medals were bestowed to Christine Darden and posthumously to Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and…

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An epic picture of Polaris Dawn’s nighttime reentry has been beamed to Earth from space. NASA astronaut Don Pettit caught the conclusion of Polaris Dawn, a private space mission that included the first-ever commercial spacewalk, during its SpaceX Dragon spacecraft’s return to Earth before dawn on Sunday (Sept. 15). “In addition to the multi-colored entry trail over Florida, the basic cone shape of the Dragon capsule can be seen,” Pettit wrote on X, formerly Twitter, Sunday afternoon about his picture taken from the International Space Station (ISS). Related: Exquisite Star…

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Polaris Dawn has landed. The historic SpaceX astronaut mission — which conducted the first-ever private spacewalk, among other achievements —returned to Earth today (Sept. 15), splashing down safely in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida at 3:36 a.m. EDT (0736 GMT). “Polaris Dawn we are mission complete. Thanks for all the big help pulling this mission together,” said mission commander Jared Isaacman after the crew splashed down in the ocean. A drone view of the Polaris Dawn crew capsule after splashdown on Sept. 15, 2024. (Image credit:…

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Boeing’s Starliner capsule might have been able to finish its mission as planned if time had been on its side. Starliner launched June 5 on its first-ever crewed flight, a trial run that sent NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station (ISS). The duo were supposed to live on the orbiting lab for just a week or so, but NASA extended their stay to about three months while studying thruster issues that cropped up during Starliner‘s rendezvous with the ISS. Ultimately, the agency concluded that…

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The private Polaris Dawn crew called home from space to share their historic mission with two nonprofit organizations close to their hearts. Polaris Dawn, funded and commanded by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, lifted off early Tuesday morning (Sept. 10) and has since accomplished the first commercial spacewalk and the highest orbit of a crewed vehicle since the Apollo years. But Isaacman and his crew also are supporting nonprofits through fundraising and public events to raise awareness. As an example, the four astronauts unveiled the U.S. flag in their SpaceX Crew…

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A commercial space crew has flown higher above Earth than anyone who has traveled since the last Apollo astronauts went to the moon. The four members of the Polaris Dawn mission, riding aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft “Resilience,” climbed into an elliptical orbit with a high point, or apogee, of 870 miles (1,400.7 kilometers) on Tuesday (Sep. 10). They reached the record distance about 15 hours after lifting off at 5:23 a.m. EDT (0923 GMT) from Florida earlier in the day and circling the planet about eight times in an initial…

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NASA astronaut Don Pettit is about to embark on his fourth space mission — one sure to be filled with chances to tinker with things in orbit. Pettit, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will ride on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday (Sept. 11) at 12:23 p.m. EDT (1623 GMT; 9:23 p.m. local Baikonur time). The 69-year-old Pettit will spend six months in space on the coming mission, adding to his 370-day…

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After more than three months in space, Starliner’s 10-day Crew Flight Test (CFT) has finally concluded. The Boeing spacecraft made a successful landing over the weekend, parachuting to a soft touchdown in the dark desert night of White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) Saturday (Sep. 7). The return marked an end to a long-delayed and issue-ridden mission, which launched with two NASA astronauts, but returned with none. It turns out they would have been totally fine. Despite the issues it experienced on its flight…

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Boeing’s Starliner capsule just returned to Earth without astronauts, marking the beginning of a new set of investigations by NASA. Starliner left the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday evening (Sept. 6), then aced a landing in New Mexico just after midnight on Saturday (Sept. 7). The touchdown brought an end to Crew Flight Test (CFT), Starliner’s first-ever astronaut mission. But no astronauts came down with the capsule on Saturday; Starliner experienced problems with its reaction control system (RCS) thrusters shortly after CFT’s June 5 liftoff, and NASA decided not…

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