Tag: launch

SpaceX and NASA Look to Launch Next Commercial Crew Mission to ISS

SPACE reports that NASA and SpaceX “are targeting mid-February for the launch of the next commercial crew mission to the International Space Station (ISS).” A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket “will carry a crew of four to orbit aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavor, where the spacecraft will rendezvous and dock with the ISS for approximately six months of research and station maintenance.” Crew-6 will be SpaceX’s “tenth crewed flight, and the fourth for Dragon Endeavor, which also launched Demo-2, Crew-2, and Axiom Space’s Ax-1 mission.” Aboard Endeavor, a duo of NASA astronauts, Mission Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Woody Hoburg, “will fly alongside United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist Andrey Fedyaev.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Next SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch Could Happen as Soon as Next Week

The Orlando Sentinel reports that for sheer rocket entertainment, “space fans can get excited whenever SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy launches, and that next opportunity could come next week.” Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex “posted to its website an event to view the previously announced USSF-67 mission for the Space Force using the rocket that produces 5.1 million pounds of thrust on liftoff, launching from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A.” The attraction offers “one of the closest locations to view the launch through an extra-cost package admission, and the listing targets no earlier than Thursday, Jan. 12, although neither SpaceX or the Space Force have yet to announce a target date or time beyond the intention to fly in January.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel – Subscription Publication)

SpaceX Rocket Launches Sunday Carrying UAE Lunar Rover, ispace Private Lander

The AP reports Tokyo-based company ispace “aimed for the moon with its own private lander Sunday, blasting off atop a SpaceX rocket with the United Arab Emirates’ first lunar rover and a toylike robot from Japan that’s designed to roll around up there in the gray dust,” though “it will take nearly five months for the lander and its experiments to reach the moon.” The company “designed its craft to use minimal fuel to save money and leave more room for cargo” and is “taking a slow, low-energy path to the moon, flying 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth before looping back and intersecting with the moon by the end of April,” for what ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada calls “the dawn of the lunar economy.”
Full Story (Associated Press)

 

 Video

SpaceX launches ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1 and NASA JPL’s Lunar Flashlight, December 11, 2022, at 2:38 a.m. ET.
(SpaceX; YouTube)

SpaceX Targeting December 11 for Japanese Moon Lander Launch

SPACE reports that SpaceX is “now targeting Sunday (Dec. 11) for the launch of a private Japanese moon lander after a series of delays.” If all goes according to plan, a Falcon 9 rocket “will launch the Tokyo-based company ispace’s Hakuto-R lander toward the moon on Sunday at 2:38 a.m. EST (0738 GMT), SpaceX announced today.” Sunday will be “a big day for space fans: NASA’s Orion capsule is scheduled to return to Earth that afternoon, wrapping up the agency’s Artemis 1 moon mission.” The coming SpaceX flight, “which will kick off ispace’s Mission 1, was originally supposed to get off the ground last month. It has been pushed back several times, however, so SpaceX could perform additional checks on the Falcon 9.” The company said “in today’s update that the Falcon 9 and the Hakuto-R lander, which is also carrying a small United Arab Emirates moon rover, are both ‘looking good for launch’ no earlier than Sunday.”
Full Story (SPACE)

NASA Says SLS Megarocket Performed as Planned in First-Ever Launch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPACE reports that NASA officials said the agency’s “Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket hit all of its marks during its first-ever liftoff two weeks ago.” The Nov. 16 launch “kicked off NASA’s highly anticipated Artemis 1 mission, sending an uncrewed Orion capsule on a nearly 26-day trek to the moon and back. The SLS appeared to perform exactly as planned during the liftoff, and further analyses support those initial impressions, NASA officials announced on Wednesday.” Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin said in a statement, “The first launch of the Space Launch System rocket was simply eye-watering. … While our mission with Orion is still underway and we continue to learn over the course of our flight, the rocket’s systems performed as designed and as expected in every case.”
Full Story (SPACE)

SpaceX Launch Aims to Send Private Lander to the Moon

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that a Falcon 9 rocket “is carrying private Japanese company ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lunar lander, the first of a planned series of landers that if successful will make it the first commercial soft landing ever on the moon.” Also on board is “NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s briefcase-sized Lunar Flashlight, that plans to map ice in the permanently shadowed spaces near the moon’s south pole.” Liftoff from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 “is set for…Thursday at 3:37 a.m.” The HAKUTO-R series lander is “small, less than 8 feet tall weighing around 750 pounds at landing including space for about 66 pounds of customer cargo.” It’s taking the long way “around to the moon after launch using the gravity of Earth and the sun for an assist before a planned touchdown five months after launch in April 2023, an effort to trade off costly fuel for payload space.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

SpaceX Launched Satellite On Tuesday, Plans Saturday ISS Resupply Mission Launch

Florida Today reports that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket “dodged inclement weather around Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to boost a French communications satellite to orbit late Tuesday, wrapping up one of two missions slated for this week.” The rocket’s Eutelsat 10B payload lifted off even though an earlier weather forecast predicted only a 10% “go” chance. The satellite’s purpose is to provide broadband internet for aviation and maritime applications.
Full Story (Florida Today)

 

 Video

Eutelsat 10B satellite launch, November 22, 2022
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)

AIAA Statement on Successful Artemis I Launch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2022 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) issued the following statement from AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher:

“Congratulations to the entire NASA/industry Artemis team on the successful launch of the Artemis I mission from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B. Witnessing this engineering marvel move from concept to production, and now to operation, is an inspirational moment for us today and for the Artemis generation. Kudos on this tremendous achievement!

We are excited to see our nation’s space program prepare to take the next steps toward the surface of the moon. The Artemis program provides a fundamental new capability enabling us to retain and grow U.S. leadership in space by establishing a sustainable presence on the moon in preparation for human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit.

We salute the lead contractors contributing to the success of Artemis: Lockheed Martin for the Orion spacecraft; Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Teledyne Brown for the powerful Space Launch System (SLS); and Jacobs for the Exploration Ground Systems. We also salute the European Space Agency and Airbus for their contribution to the Orion spacecraft, the European Service Module. We also commend the thousands of suppliers supporting these companies on the Artemis program.

AIAA recognizes the countless professionals across the aerospace industry involved from the earliest days of the Artemis program, including those AIAA professional and corporate members who have helped design, build, test, and operate this new system. Over the years, these innovators have chronicled their work by authoring articles for AIAA journals and meeting papers for AIAA forums. Their original research results and technological progress on Artemis have been published in AIAA’s Aerospace Research Central (ARC) at arc.aiaa.org. AIAA is committed to ensuring students and professionals have access to the most important advances in aerospace science and technology through ARC.

We applaud the entire NASA/industry Artemis team for shaping the future of aerospace.”

Media contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804.397.5270

 

 Video

Launch of the Artemis I mission from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B, 16 November 2022 at 1:04 a.m. EDT. (Launch takes place at the 3:17:08 mark)
(NASA; YouTube)



About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

ULA’s Atlas V Rocket Launched JPSS-2, LOFTID into Space Thursday

The AP reports that United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket launched the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) and NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) into space Thursday. The rocket “lifted off at 1:49 a.m. from Vandenberg Space Force Base, northwest of Los Angeles.” JPSS-2, developed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “was placed into an orbit that circles the Earth from pole to pole, joining previously launched satellites in a system designed to improve weather forecasting and climate monitoring.”
Full Story (Associated Press)

 

 Video

ULA Atlas V Launches JPSS-2 Mission, November 10, 2022
(NASASpaceflight; YouTube)