Tag: 2023

NASA Celebrating 25th Anniversary of ISS

ABC News reports, “NASA and its astronauts are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station being in orbit.” On Wednesday, the agency “broadcast a live conversation between the Expedition 70 crew and NASA Associate Administrator Robert Cabana and Joel Montalbano, space station program manager.” The space station “has been continuously occupied for more than 23 years, ‘testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth,’ NASA said in a press release. According to NASA, the station has been visited by 273 people from 21 countries and has conducted more than 3,300 [investigations].”
Full Story (ABC News)

Dassault’s First Falcon 6X Business Jet Enters Service

Aviation International News reports Dassault announced that on November 30, the company’s “Falcon 6X began flying for its new owner. … Dassault did not reveal the identity or location of the 6X launch customer.” The 6X, with a maximum range of 5,500 nm, was launched in February 2018 “after the 5X program was canceled due to problems with the in-development Safran Silvercrest engine. The 6X is 20 inches longer than the 5X, to accommodate the 6X’s more powerful Pratt & Whitney PW812D engines.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

NASA Honors Former Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk

A press release from NASA read in part, “Former NASA Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk passed away Nov. 23, at the age of 61, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. During his career, which spanned more than three decades with the agency, Jurczyk rose in ranks to associate administrator, the highest-ranking civil servant, a position he held from May 2018 until January 2021. He ultimately went on to serve as acting administrator between administration changes, serving in that position from January 2021 until his retirement in May 2021. … He also was an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.”
Full Story (NASA)

Japanese Authorities Hand Over Pieces of Wreckage from USAF Osprey Crash

The AP reported, “Japanese authorities handed over pieces of the wreckage from an U.S. Air Force Osprey that crashed off southwestern Japan to the U.S. military on Sunday, as the search continued for seven missing servicemembers.” The wreckage “had been collected by a ship from the regional coast guard headquarters and by fishers from the town of Yakushima since the CV-22 aircraft crashed into the water near the town Wednesday during a training mission to Okinawa.”
Full Story (The AP)

NASA Working to Resolve Hubble Space Telescope Gyroscope Issue

SPACE reports NASA on Wednesday confirmed that the Hubble Space Telescope “automatically entered safe mode on Nov. 23.” The reason behind the interruption “lies with issues concerning one of the observatory’s gyroscopes.” Mission scientists said “that they’re working to resolve the issue and bring Hubble back on again.”
Full Story (SPACE)

SpaceX Makes Space Coast’s 66th Launch of the Year

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports, “SpaceX chalked up another Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to mark the Space Coast’s 66th launch of the year.” A Falcon 9 carrying “23 of the company’s Starlink internet satellites lifted off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:20 p.m. Monday.” The booster launched “for the 17th time, the third time SpaceX has flown one of its boosters 17 times, although one has flown 18 missions.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

 

Video

SpaceX Falcon 9 launches 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)

China Makes Progress on Engine Program for Super Heavy Rocket

Space News reports, “China is progressing with a program to develop full-flow staged-combustion-cycle methane engines to power its reusable Long March 9 super heavy-lift launcher.” Work to develop “engines producing 200 tons of thrust includes progress on overall design and components. Testing includes firing prototype and scaled components such as igniters, gas generators and thrust chambers.”
Full Story (Space News)

Sunday Air Travel Could Set Record, Travel Experts Say

The Hill reported that according to travel experts, a “record number” of holiday travelers were expected to board flights on Sunday. The TSA “said it screened 2.6 million passengers Tuesday, and another 2.7 million were expected to pass through checkpoints Wednesday. The TSA expects to screen 2.9 million passengers, a record number on Sunday.” Delta Air Lines “told passengers to arrive at least two hours before their flight if they are traveling in the U.S. and three hours if they are flying overseas,” suggesting that “passengers arrive even earlier Sunday and Monday due to an expected influx of people traveling home after the holiday.”
Full Story (The Hill)

ULA Prepares for First Vulcan Centaur Launch

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that United Launch Alliance “has its missing rocket piece in hand at Cape Canaveral and all systems are go for a Christmas Eve launch to mark the debut of its Vulcan Centaur rocket.” A new Centaur upper stage “arrived by barge to the Space Coast on Monday, a replacement for the stage ULA originally planned to fly on the Certification-1 mission this past May.” That initial flight, “already delayed for nearly two years, was again put on hold after an issue with a test version of the Centaur stage was destroyed amid a massive fireball in the spring, requiring design changes to ensure a repeat didn’t happen during actual liftoff.” ULA has been anxious “to get this debut launch off the ground with its primary payload of Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander, part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions.” The lander “traveled from Astrobotic’s headquarters in Pittsburgh arriving to the Space Coast on Oct. 31.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)