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ARCHIVE
Month: June 2015
Opinions On Falcon Loss Aftermath Are All Over The Map
Opinions On Falcon Loss Aftermath Are All Over The Map

Orbital May Benefit From SpaceX’s Fiery Rocket Fail, Cowen Says, Bloomberg “SpaceX’s explosive mission failure may benefit Orbital ATK Inc. as the two compete for future contracts to supply the International Space Station, according to Cowen & Co.” Analyst: Rocket Failure Unlikely To Hurt SpaceX, Forbes “The launch failure by itself is not much of an issue,” Ostrove told me. “Most people in the industry understand that launching rockets into […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 30, 2015
NASA's Boulder Retrieval Mission
NASA's Boulder Retrieval Mission

Keith’s note: NASA quietly admitted today at the Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) Meeting that one of the formally baseline, prime science requirements of the Asteroid Retrieval Mission (ARM) is to retrive a boulder from the surface of an asteroid and bring it back to lunar orbit where a human crew will do science with it. Despite the mission’s name no “asteroid” will actually be “retrieved”. As such NASA really […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 29, 2015
Quick: Read The Planetary Society Mars Plan While It Is Free
Quick: Read The Planetary Society Mars Plan While It Is Free

Keith’s note: In April 2015 the Planetary Society held an invitation-only “Humans Orbiting Mars” workshop wherein they unveiled their idea for a mission to Mars. At a quick press conference after the event (no media were allowed to attend the workshop) the Planetary Society promised more detail would be made public – later. Since then nothing but crickets. Well, it now looks like the Planetary Society Mars plan is now […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 29, 2015
Falcon Mishap Details Emerge
Falcon Mishap Details Emerge

SpaceX Falcon 9 Mishap: More Details Emerge, SpaceRef “According to SpaceX telemetry received from the Dragon spacecraft showed that it too was functioning after the mishap occurred and telemetry continued to be sent back from Dragon for a significant period of time. SpaceX now confirms that the U.S. Air Force Range Safety Officer did initiate a destruct command but that this command was sent 70 seconds after the mishap occurred, […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 29, 2015
Sen. Nelson Thinks USAF Blew Up Falcon

U.S. Sen. Nelson believes Eastern Range did ultimately send a destruct signal to the Falcon 9. — James Dean (@flatoday_jdean) June 29, 2015 Keith’s update: When I asked NASA PAO yesterday for an official response to “Did the Range Safety Officer send a signal to the Falcon 9 to self-destruct?” they replied “No, the range didn’t have a chance.”. Apparently (once again) Astronaut/Rocket Scientist Sen. Nelson has better contacts with […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 29, 2015
Impact of CRS-7 Loss
Impact of CRS-7 Loss

Another major rocket failure for a space industry out to prove itself, Washington Post “SpaceX and Dulles-based Orbital ATK won contracts to carry cargo to the station. Then last year, NASA awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing to develop capsules that can carry astronauts to the space station, with the first such mission scheduled for December 2017. Politics may confound that. Congress recently slashed more than $300 million from the […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 29, 2015
Was Falcon 9 Destroyed? Answer: No.

? was destruct signal sent? Shotwell – not sure there was one. — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 28, 2015 Still waiting for #NASA to say "yes/no range safety officer hit the big red button" & blew up Falcon 9 #CRS7 @SpaceX pic.twitter.com/j630mq40f1 — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 28, 2015 Keith’s note: Dan Billow specifically asked for an answer from both SpaceX and NASA as to whether a destruct signal was […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 28, 2015
SpaceX Launch Failure
SpaceX Launch Failure

Keith’s note: The Falcon 9 Carrying CRS-7 either exploded or was destroyed shortly after launch a few minutes ago. SpaceX has assembled a team to look into this. NASA has referred to a launch vehicle “failure” and that the last data came down from the vehicle at T+ 2:19. No more news or NASA TV until contingency press conference no earlier than 12:00 pm 12:30 pm 12:50 pm 1:00 pm […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 28, 2015
Sharing Memories of Columbia and Challenger
Sharing Memories of Columbia and Challenger

A Memorial to Our Fallen Shuttle Family Members “Today, NASA and our nation take a step toward the future by honoring our past. The story of humans in space is more than 50 years old, and a major part of that exploration was our incredible flagship Space Shuttle Program. It’s now time to tell the full scope of the shuttle’s achievements; of the men and women who made the program […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 27, 2015