Space News reports that Blue Origin “has announced plans to launch its New Shepard suborbital vehicle on its first flight since a mishap more than 15 months ago.” Blue Origin “announced on social media Dec. 12 that it will launch its New Shepard vehicle no earlier than Dec. 18 from its West Texas test site.” The vehicle “will carry 33 experiments as well as 38,000 postcards from Club for the Future, the educational nonprofit affiliated with the company.” The mission, designated NS-24, “would be the first for New Shepard since a mishap on a September 2022 flight, NS-23.”
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Tag: to resume
Blue Origin to Restart Tourist Flights Following Almost 2-Year Pause
Reuters reports, “Blue Origin will resume flights to space on Sunday, ending a near two-year pause of crewed operations following a 2022 mission failure. The NS-25 mission will lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas, with the launch window for the flight starting at 0830 CT (1330 GMT), the company said on Tuesday.”
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Pratt & Whitney Cleared to Resume F-135 Engine Deliveries
Reuters reported that Raytheon Technologies Corp. said Friday that the US government has “cleared its Pratt and Whitney unit to resume deliveries of its F-135 engine for the F-35 fighter jet, after a halt was put in place in December following the discovery of a safety concern.” In a statement, the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) said that its “engineers worked alongside Pratt & Whitney and Lockheed Martin to develop ‘mitigations for a rare system phenomenon involving harmonic resonance to develop a path forward for safe operation of the F135 in flight.’” The JPO added that the “actions the government and industry team are taking will ensure incorporation of mitigation measures that will fully address/resolve this rare phenomenon in impacted F135 engines.” The JPO also said that the “government was working on drawing up instructions for safely resuming flight operations for impacted and new production aircraft.”
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DOD May Allow F-35 Deliveries to Resume Within Weeks
Aviation Week reported that the “U.S. Defense Department may allow Lockheed Martin F-35 deliveries to resume within weeks, pending the outcome of legal, security and airworthiness reviews launched after the discovery of a Chinese supplier of a metal alloy in one component.” The Hill reported that Under Secretary of Defense for acquisition and sustainment William LaPlante “said an investigation is underway and ‘moving quickly’ to look into how an alloy made in China ended up in magnets in the turbomachine pumps of the Lockheed Martin-produced F-35.” According to The Hill, “both the F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed have insisted that the Chinese-sourced alloy was magnetized in the United States and does not give any other country access to sensitive information, adding that there are no safety issues.” LaPlante told reporters, “They’re looking at two things – one, impact on security, if any, and impact on air worthiness or safety, if any. … Right now, so far it doesn’t appear to be either of them.”
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KC-46 Deliveries on Track to Resume Next Week
Breaking Defense reports, “Following a suspension of deliveries in late February, the US Air Force is ready to accept new KC-46A Pegasus refueling tankers from manufacturing Boeing as soon as next week, according to the service’s top acquisition official. During a hearing held by the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee today, Darlene Costello, who is performing the duties of the Air Force’s acquisition chief, said the service and Boeing “have identified the root cause” of a cracking issue that has held up deliveries, and that officials have “begun the process to resume deliveries.” The first delivery is expected next week, she added.”
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