SPACE reports, “Russia’s new Soyuz 5 rocket has taken to the skies at long last. The Soyuz 5 lifted off for the first time ever on Thursday (April 30), rising off a pad at the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:00 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT; 11:00 p.m. local time in Baikonur).”
Full Story (SPACE)
Launch of the new Soyuz-5 rocket (Launch occurs at the 21:14 mark)
Мир авиации; YouTube
Space News reports, “Rocket Lab successfully launched a Japanese radar imaging satellite Dec. 21 in the final flight of a record-setting year for the company. An Electron rocket lifted off at 1:36 a.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. The rocket deployed its payload, the QPS-SAR-15 satellite for Japanese company iQPS, into a 575-kilometer orbit at an inclination of 42 degrees about 50 minutes later. The satellite later made contact with controllers, iQPS said.”
Full Story (Space News – Subscription Publication)
Ars Technica reports, “SpaceX closed a troubled but instructive chapter in its Starship rocket program Monday with a near-perfect test flight that carried the stainless steel spacecraft halfway around the world from South Texas to the Indian Ocean. The rocket’s 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines roared to life at 6:23 pm CDT (7:23 pm EDT; 23:23 UTC), throttling up to generate some 16.7 million pounds of thrust, by large measure more powerful than any rocket before Starship. Moments later, the 404-foot-tall (123.1-meter) rocket began a vertical climb away from SpaceX’s test site in Starbase, Texas, near the US-Mexico border.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)
SpaceX Starship 11th Flight Test (Launch occurs at 0:10 mark)
TheLaunchPad; YouTube
The New York Times reports, “After several disappointing failures, SpaceX’s Starship — the mammoth rocket that Elon Musk hopes to use to take people to Mars — made it all the way up to space and all the way back down to Earth during a 10th test flight on Tuesday night. The largely successful mission was a likely relief to both SpaceX and NASA, suggesting that the development program is back on track. NASA is counting on Starship as the lander to put its astronauts on the moon in the coming years.”
Full Story (New York Times – Subscription Publication)
SpaceX Starship Completes Successful Test Flight (Launch at the 2:59:19 mark)
NASASpaceFlight; YouTube
Defense Daily reports, “The V-BAT unmanned aircraft system (UAS) has successfully complete{d} operational test and evaluation with the Coast Guard, clearing the way for the service to begin employing the drones aboard its National Security Cutters (NSCs) for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance uses, the service and drone supplier said on Thursday.
Full Story (Defense Daily)
SPACE reports, “New shielding technology from NASA that protects against damaging lunar dust just passed a trial run on the moon’s surface, marking an important milestone in the agency’s lunar aspirations. The Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) flew aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, the first privately funded lunar lander to make a fully successful touchdown on the moon.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Defense News reports, “Through extensive flight tests earlier this year, Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky has proven the capability of a ‘rotor blown wing’ unmanned aircraft system that can fly like a helicopter or an airplane, the company announced Monday. The drone is a 115-pound, battery-powered twin prop-rotor aircraft that the company said can be scaled larger, ‘requiring hybrid-electric propulsion.’”
Full Story (Defense News)
Sikorsky Flies Rotor Blown Wing UAS in Helicopter and Airplane Modes
(Lockheed Martin; YouTube)
October 24, 2024 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) issued the following statement from AIAA CEO Clay Mowry:
“On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we congratulate Blue Origin on its successful NS-27 mission, debuting its second human-rated vehicle. We eagerly anticipate learning more about the results from the multiple payloads onboard.
New Shepard missions embody the promises of space for the benefit of Earth. Reusability is the future of launch. Sustainable space vehicles like New Shepard continue helping 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. Visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
New Shepard Mission NS-27 (Launch at 10:53 mark)
(Blue Origin; YouTube)
SPACE reports, “United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) powerful new Vulcan Centaur rocket is two for two. Vulcan Centaur, the successor to ULA’s workhorse Atlas V, launched today (Oct. 4) at 7:25 a.m. EDT (1125 GMT)after a series of holds, from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, kicking off a key test flight called Cert-2. The rocket could soon be certified for U.S. national security missions.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Vulcan Centaur rocket launches on 2nd test flight (Launch at 00:10 mark)
(VideoFromSpace; YouTube)
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.