UPI reports that SpaceX postponed the Arab League satellite launch due to weather for the second straight night. The satellite sitting atop the Falcon 9 rocket “will provide communications capability for Arabsat’s customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa” upon launch.
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Tag: May 2023
Virgin Orbit Closing for Good After $36.4M Asset Sale
Reuters reports that on Tuesday, Virgin Orbit “revealed that it was closing for good after a $36.4 million asset sale, including an agreement to sell the bulk of its Long Beach, California, headquarters to small-launch firm Rocket Lab USA Inc.” Rocket Lab won Virgin Orbit’s “primary manufacturing site for $16 million during an auction held on Monday, according to a court filing disclosing the results of a weeks-long Chapter 11 bid process. The purchase agreement includes machinery and equipment that had been used to manufacture Virgin Orbit’s flagship LauncherOne rockets, which air-launched from the belly of a modified Boeing 747. It is subject to the bankruptcy court’s approval during a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.”
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Artemis II Crew Begins Training
SPACE reports that the Artemis II crew has begun training for the mission. The astronauts will “be the first humans ever to fly atop NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket and ride in the agency’s Orion spacecraft.” The four Artemis II astronauts “are NASA commander Reid Wiseman, NASA pilot Victor Glover (the first Black astronaut to leave low Earth orbit), NASA mission specialist Christina Koch (the first woman on a moon mission) and Jeremy Hansen (the first Canadian to go beyond Earth orbit).” Wiseman, Glover and Koch “all have accumulated many months of experience on International Space Station missions and in many cases set records.”
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Virgin Galactic’s Four-Member Test Flight Will Take Place This Month
Reuters reports that Virgin Galactic Holdings announced May 8 that its “four-member test flight will take place in May and that it aims to launch its first commercial flight in late June.” Last May, Virgin Galactic “delayed its commercial service to the first quarter of 2023 due to supply-chain crisis and labor shortage. After completing a lengthy upgrade for its centerpiece tourist spacecraft in February, Virgin Galactic re-opened ticket sales for spacecraft flights, setting the price at $450,000 per person with an initial deposit of $150,000.” Mike Moses, president of spaceline missions and safety, said, “Returning to space is what we have all worked towards.” According to Reuters, the “mission crew will consist of Jamila Gilbert, Christopher Hue, Luke Mays and Beth Moses.”
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ULA Announces May Launch for First Vulcan Centaur Rocket
Space News reports that the “first launch of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket is now scheduled for no earlier than May 4, a date the company says is based on remaining tests of the rocket and its main engines as well as launch windows for its primary payload.” In a call with reporters Thursday, ULA CEO Tory Bruno “announced the date for the long-awaited inaugural flight of the rocket as the company gears up for a series of tests of the rocket at Space Launch Complex 41. The launch will carry Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, two demonstration satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband constellation and a payload for space memorial company Celestis.” Bruno said, “We are now targeting the fourth of May so we plan our manifest around that and be ready to fly that payload when it comes in.” According to Space News, “ULA will have a window of about four days to conduct the launch.”
Full Story (Space News)