SPACE reports that the premiere “of the Space Coast’s newest launch vehicle, carrying a moon lander aiming for the first commercial touchdown, will likely slip to the beginning of 2024.” United Launch Alliance (ULA) “performed a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) of the company’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket over the weekend, which includes loading propellant into the spacecraft and running through launch-day procedures up to the moments before engine ignition.” However, the test did not go to plan. A social media post from ULA CEO Tory Bruno Sunday indicated the test “ran the timeline long so we didn’t quite finish.” Vulcan’s first launch, “which includes the rocket’s Centaur second stage, was scheduled for Dec. 24 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in coastal Florida.” But the incomplete WDR “means that window is likely out.” The next window “opens Jan. 8, and will last four days, the CEO clarified in a follow-up post.” Each of those opportunities “include an instantaneous launch window to accommodate the mission’s main payload: Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, headed for the moon.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Tag: Prepares
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)
Wizz Air Prepares for Grounded Aircraft Over Pratt & Whitney Engine Issues
Aviation Week reports that Wizz Air “said an average of 45 of its Airbus A320neo-family aircraft will be grounded due to Pratt & Whitney GTF engine issues as of mid-January 2024.” The carrier’s update “on the GTF groundings comes after it received a service bulletin Nov. 3; a grounding plan is being finalized.”
Full Story (Aviation Week – Subscription publication)
SpaceX, NASA Mission Delayed
CNN reports that a SpaceX and NASA mission that “was set to launch four astronauts – representing four nations and space agencies across the globe – to the International Space Station was abruptly called off Thursday evening.” The delay was announced late Thursday night for reasons that were not immediately clear. The astronauts’ SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft “had been slated to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:50 a.m. ET Friday.” In a social media post, SpaceX “said only that it was delaying the liftoff time to Saturday, August 26 at 3:27 a.m.” because it “provides teams additional time to complete and discuss analysis.” During a livestream, NASA spokesperson Rob Navias said “mission mangers met and elected to postpone the launch of the Crew-7 crew for 24 hours to provide just a bit more time to close out some open paperwork.” The latest forecasts from the US Space Force “projects a 95% chance that the weather will be favorable for the Saturday liftoff.”
Full Story (CNN)
Crew-7 Prepares for Launch
Aviation Week reports that preparations “continue for the planned Aug. 25 launch of NASA’s Crew-7’s three astronauts and a cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS) to begin a multi-mission exchange of the seven current crewmembers.” Early on Tuesday, the Crew-7 members “wrapped up a countdown dress rehearsal.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Final Antares 230+ Rocket Lifts Off to Resupply ISS
Spaceflight Insider reports that in near-perfect weather, the final Antares 230+ rocket “took to the skies to send the Cygnus cargo spacecraft on its way to the International Space Station.” Carrying the autonomous NG-19 Cygnus resupply freighter, dubbed the S.S. Laurel Clark, the Antares rocket successfully “launched at 8:31 p.m. EDT Aug. 1 (00:31 UTC Aug. 2), 2023, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.” It flawlessly lifted off “from its launchpad, drawing a bright arc of light against the fading evening sunset, marking the start of another critical cargo run to the ISS.” Some 8,200 pounds (3,700 kilograms) of supplies, hardware and experiments “are aboard NG-19. It is expected to arrive at the ISS on the morning of Aug. 4 where it will be captured by the outpost’s robotic arm and attached to the Earth-facing port of the Unity module.” Over the coming weeks, members of the station’s Expedition 69 crew “will work to unload the cargo before beginning to reload it with trash.” After about two months, Cygnus “is expected to depart the ISS for an eventual destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Insider)
Video
Last Antares Rocket Using Russian Rocket Engines
Spaceflight Now; YouTube)
Northrop Grumman Prepares for Final Antares Flight
Space News reports that a Cygnus cargo spacecraft “is set to launch to the International Space Station on the final flight of a version of an Antares rocket with Russian and Ukrainian components.” NASA and Northrop Grumman “completed a launch readiness review July 30 for the NG-19 mission, approving plans to launch the spacecraft on Aug. 1 at 8:31 p.m. Eastern from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia.” The Cygnus is “carrying nearly 3,750 kilograms of cargo to the station, including experiments, hardware and crew supplies.” An on-time launch “would allow the spacecraft to arrive at the station early Aug. 4 and remain there at least three months.”
Full Story (Space News)
Pentagon Gears Up for Potential Space Threats
The Wall Street Journal reports that as China and Russia grow closer and put more of their military resources into space, the Pentagon is putting US resources into satellites instead of orbiting crewed space weapons due to the logistics of supporting people outside of Earth’s atmosphere not being feasible.
Full Story (The Wall Street Journal – subscription publication)
Chinese Space Launches Could Double in 2023
Space News reports that launches conducted “by commercial Chinese launch service providers could more than double those attempted last year, according to firms’ plans for 2023.” The more than 20 launches “now planned by commercial launch service providers would notably eclipse the total number of orbital launches conducted by China in 2017, demonstrating the rapid growth in Chinese launch capacity and cadence in recent years.” The development could “provide momentum to deployment of Chinese commercial small satellite constellations and have implications internationally for space traffic management.” China conducted “a national record 64 launches in 2022, with 54 of these accounted for by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).” Other actors – namely Expace, Landspace, iSpace and Galactic Energy – “contributed 10 more, including a pair of launch failures.” CASC has declared “its intentions to surpass 60 launches this year, but the companies above and a handful of new entrants are planning more than 20 launches of their own.”
Full Story (Space News – Subscription Publication)
China Prepares for Over 70 Launches This Year
Space News reports that China’s state-owned and commercial space sector actors “are planning a total of more than 70 launches across 2023 as the country’s space activities continue to expand.” The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) “will again aim for more than 50 launches this year, according to an announcement from an early January meeting.” China launched 64 times in 2022. Combined launch plans “of CASC and commercial actors could see the country top 70 launches this year from three inland spaceports, the coastal Wenchang spaceport and the Haiyang spaceport facilitating sea launches.” Among CASC’s major launches “will be two Shenzhou crewed missions to the Tiangong space station and a supporting pair of Tianzhou cargo spacecraft.”
Full Story (Space News)