Space News reports that Blue Origin will conduct “its next New Shepard suborbital mission Aug. 25 with a set of research payloads, but not people, on board on the vehicle’s first flight under a revised launch license.” The NS-17 mission will launch from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One the morning of August 25, and will carry 18 research payloads aboard the capsule.
Full Story (Space News)
Tag: Mission
NASA to Crash DART into Asteroid Monday
SPACE reported that on Monday “at 7:14 p.m. EDT (2314 GMT), NASA will intentionally crash a spacecraft into an asteroid – and you might be able to see it live.” The test mission “is targeting the moonlet Dimorphos, a small celestial body orbiting the asteroid Didymos about 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) away from Earth.” The livestream “from the telescopes will begin on Monday at 6:30 p.m. EDT (2230 GMT) on the Virtual Telescope Project’s website.”
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NASA’s DART One Month Away from Impact
SPACE reported that NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) “will crash into the asteroid Dimorphos at approximately 15,000 mph (24,000 kph) in an attempt to alter the celestial body’s trajectory around a larger asteroid called Didymos” on September 26 at 7:14 p.m. EDT (2314 GMT). The DART mission is “a test to see if ‘kinetic impact technology’ would work to deflect any potential Earth-bound asteroids.” Members of the public “will be able to view live coverage of the impact on NASA TV, NASA’s website, and NASA social media pages beginning at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) on Sept. 26.”
Full Story (SPACE)
SLS Set to Fly Soon
TIME reported that NASA engineers are confident they can fix the Space Launch System’s loose collet issue in time for the launch windows in late August and early September. The mission “involves the SLS flying an Orion crew vehicle first into Earth orbit and then on a long looping trajectory that will see it fly around the moon at altitudes ranging from just 100 km (62 mi.) to 70,000 km (43,000 mi.). The Orion capsule will then return to Earth, slamming into the atmosphere at about 32,000 km/hr (20,000 mph) and sustaining temperatures of up to 2,700ºC (nearly 5,000ºF) on its heat shield, before splashing down in the Pacific off the San Diego coast.”
Full Story (TIME)
Blue Origin to Launch New Shepard Mission on August 31
SPACE reports that Blue Origin announced Wednesday “that it’s targeting Aug. 31 for NS-23, the next flight of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle. New Shepard is best known for taking space tourists on brief trips to the final frontier, but NS-23 won’t haul anyone aloft – just 36 payloads provided by universities, other institutions and students.” NS-23 is “scheduled to launch at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) on Aug. 31 from Blue Origin’s West Texas site.”
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SpaceX Launches CRS-25 Resupply Mission to ISS
The Orlando Sentinel reports that SpaceX “sent up its Dragon spacecraft on the CRS-25 resupply run to the International Space Station on Thursday night.” The launch was delayed from last week “after teams detected hydrazine vapor in the spacecraft, and ultimately decided to replace the vehicle’s parachutes.” The Dragon supply capsule is loaded with “experiments tackling wound healing, immune response and a potential way to build structures off planet, among other things.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)
Video
SpaceX launch of CRS-25 Mission, July 14, 2022.
(SpaceX via YouTube)
Russia Launches Cargo Mission to ISS
SPACE reports that Russia launched the Progress 81 freighter “atop a Russian-built Soyuz rocket at 5:32 a.m. EDT (0932 GMT) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where the local time was 2:32 p.m. in the afternoon.” Progress 81 “is carrying about three tons of food, propellant and equipment up to the International Space Station (ISS)” where it will dock at 9:02 a.m. EDT. NASA spokesperson Sandra Jones said, “It was a perfect launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.”
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Video
Progress 81 Cargo Ship Launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome – June 3, 2022 (NASA via YouTube)
SpaceX Launches Transporter-5 Mission from Cape Canaveral
Florida Today reports that SpaceX launched its Transporter-5 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 40 at 2:35 p.m. EDT Wednesday. The Transporter-5 mission was carried out by a Falcon 9 rocket carrying around 59 satellite payloads. SpaceX’s launch “came just one minute before Boeing undocked its high-profile Starliner capsule mission from the International Space Station.”
Full Story (Florida Today)
Video
Launch of the Transporter-5 Mission (SpaceX via YouTube)
NASA Europa Clipper Mission Imperiled by Chips on Spacecraft
The New York Times reports, “NASA said on Thursday that it is studying the durability of transistors on a $5 billion spacecraft to Europa, Jupiter’s ocean moon, which has led to concerns about the spacecraft’s ability to function as originally planned in the heavy radiation around the solar system’s largest planet.”
Full Story (New York Times – Subscription Publication)
NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission Performing Well
Aviation Week reports, “The largest spacecraft ever launched on a planetary mission, NASA’s Europa Clipper is doing well and speeding along toward the first of two gravity assists intended to achieve a 2030 arrival at Jupiter, a NASA update says.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
AIAA Statement on Blue Origin’s Successful NS-26 Mission
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2024 – Reston, VA – AIAA CEO Dan Dumbacher made the following statement: “On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we congratulate Blue Origin on its successful NS-26 mission. We celebrate Nicolina, Rob, Eugene, Eiman, Karsen, and Ephraim on their inspirational journey and share the excitement around the NS-26 mission, including the NASA research conducted onboard. New Shephard missions embody the promises of space for the benefit of Earth. “Reusability of space vehicles continues to help decrease the cost of access to space as we see the space economy growing. We applaud AIAA Corporate Member Blue Origin for shaping the future of aerospace.”
AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
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.
Blue Origin Announces Passengers for 12th Space Tourism Launch
SPACE reports that Blue Origin has revealed the identities of the six passengers who will fly on the company’s 12th human spaceflight mission. A target date has “yet to be announced.”
Full Story (SPACE)
NASA Requests Proposals for Private Astronaut Space Station Mission
Aviation Week reports, “NASA has requested proposals from American-led companies for two private astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of its ongoing strategy to transition the scientific development activities underway aboard the orbital lab to commercially owned and operated successors.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches Fourth Axiom Space Private Astronaut Mission to ISS
Space News reports, “SpaceX launched a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a private astronaut mission to the International Space Station June 25 after weeks of delays. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 2:31 a.m. Eastern from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. The Crew Dragon spacecraft deployed from the upper stage in low Earth orbit nearly 10 minutes later. The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to land at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral.”
Full Story (Space News)
Video
Axiom Mission 4 Launches to the International Space Station (Launch takes place at the 52:42 mark)
NASA; YouTube