Trying to picture what it would cost to use reusable Falcon rockets to send humans to Mars Vs multiple SLS rockets at $1billion+ each. — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) December 22, 2015 @NASAWatch Over the life of SLS, it'll cost NASA 20-30X more to fly a given pound to orbit on its own transport, versus flying commercial — John Kavanagh (@kavanagh) December 22, 2015 @NASAWatch For the ~$12B NASA will spend […]
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Month: December 2015
Congrats @SpaceX on landing Falcon's suborbital booster stage. Welcome to the club! — Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) December 22, 2015 Gee Jeff @SpaceX just put a bunch of stuff into orbit – again. Something you have yet to figure out how to do. https://t.co/YYQ7Rdnn3Y — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) December 22, 2015 Elon Musk’s SpaceX returns to flight and pulls off dramatic, historic landing, Washington Post, (Owned by Jeff Bezos) “On Monday, […]
SpaceX Lands Falcon 9 First Stage on Earth “SpaceX made space exploration history tonight when it brought a Falcon 9 first stage back to a safe landing on Earth. Minutes after ending its portion of the launch, the first stage reoriented itself, fired its engines, and came in for a pinpoint landing at Cape Canaveral. Meanwhile the Falcon 9’s second stage continued into space eventually deploying its entire 11 satellite […]
Marc’s note: SpaceX will attempt their return to flight Sunday evening with the launch of ORBCOMM-2 mission from SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This follows the successful static fire test on Friday. Of note, SpaceX may attempt landing of the Falcon 9 rockets first stage at Space Launch Complex 13. Update: You can watch the launch live on SpaceRef on the SpaceX channel starting at 8:00 p.m. ET (0100 […]
Station Managers “GO” For Monday Morning Spacewalk “The International Space Station Mission Management Team met Sunday and gave its approval to proceed with a spacewalk Monday out of the Quest airlock by Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Tim Kopra of NASA to assist in moving the Mobile Transporter rail car a few inches to a worksite on the station’s truss where it can be latched in place […]
NASA Orders Second Boeing Crew Mission to International Space “This is the third in a series of four guaranteed orders NASA will make under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts. Boeing and SpaceX received their first orders in May and November, respectively, and have started planning for, building and procuring the necessary hardware and assets to carry out their first missions for the agency. NASA will identify at a […]
NASA Astronauts to Conduct Spacewalk as Early as Monday, Dec. 21 “Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Tim Kopra of NASA are preparing for a previously unscheduled spacewalk outside the International Space Station on either Monday, Dec. 21, or Tuesday, Dec. 22. The pair will move the station’s mobile transporter rail car so it can be latched in place ahead of the Wednesday, Dec. 23 docking of a […]
NASA Releases New High-Resolution Earthrise Image “NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft’s vantage point in orbit around the moon.” “The image is simply stunning,” said Noah Petro, Deputy Project Scientist for LRO at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The image of the Earth evokes the famous ‘Blue Marble’ image taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo 17, 43 […]
Shelby to oppose spending bill he loaded with goodies, Politico “Sen. Richard Shelby loaded up the $1.1 trillion spending bill with pet provisions, including one measure worth hundreds of millions to a rocket manufacturer with operations in his home state. The cagey lawmaker also fought hard for language protecting red snapper fisheries on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, even issuing a press release bragging about his efforts. “That is why I fought […]
Spending Bill Lifts RD-180 Ban, Puts ULA Back in Competitive Game, SpaceNews “A massive U.S. government spending bill, released by lawmakers Dec. 16, effectively lifts a ban on the Russian rocket engine that powers United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket at least until Oct. 1, re-energizing competition for Defense Department launch contracts between ULA and SpaceX. The new language, included in the omnibus spending bill for 2016, says “that notwithstanding […]