2021 – Page 66 – Spaceflight Now

Biden backs Artemis moon program; watchdog says it’ll cost $86 billion

February 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

The Biden administration supports continuing NASA’s Artemis program to return astronauts back to the moon, the White House said last week, without stating whether it will back away from the program’s already-in-doubt schedule for a lunar landing by the end of 2024.

China’s first Mars mission enters orbit around Red Planet

February 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

China placed is first spacecraft into orbit around Mars on Wednesday, continuing an international blitz on the Red Planet one day after the arrival of a spacecraft from United Arab Emirates and eight days before the landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover.

Arab world’s first interplanetary spacecraft safely arrives at Mars

February 9, 2021 Stephen Clark

The United Arab Emirates became the fifth nation or space agency to put a spacecraft into orbit around Mars on Tuesday with the arrival of Hope, a probe built in partnership with U.S. scientists to obtain a unique global perspective on the Red Planet’s weather and climate.

SpaceX wins contract to launch first pieces of NASA’s Gateway lunar outpost

February 9, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA announced Tuesday it has awarded SpaceX a $331 million contract to launch the first two pieces of the Gateway lunar outpost in 2024 using a modified version of the Falcon Heavy rocket to hurl the massive core of the deep space station toward the moon.

Live coverage: United Arab Emirates probe arrives in orbit around Mars

February 9, 2021 Stephen Clark

The Emirates Mars Mission, the first deep space probe from the Arab world, steered into orbit around the Red Planet on Tuesday to cap a 307 million-mile (494 million-kilometer), 205-day interplanetary voyage from Earth and begin a science mission studying the Martian climate. The critical 27-minute Mars Orbit Insertion maneuver began at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).

Crew Dragon breaks record for longest flight by human-rated U.S. spacecraft

February 9, 2021 Stephen Clark

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that carried four astronauts to the International Space Station in November broke the record Sunday for the longest spaceflight by a U.S. crew vehicle, surpassing the 84-day mark set by an Apollo capsule on the final flight to the Skylab space station in 1974.

Year: 2021

Biden backs Artemis moon program; watchdog says it’ll cost $86 billion

China’s first Mars mission enters orbit around Red Planet

Arab world’s first interplanetary spacecraft safely arrives at Mars

SpaceX wins contract to launch first pieces of NASA’s Gateway lunar outpost

Live coverage: United Arab Emirates probe arrives in orbit around Mars

Crew Dragon breaks record for longest flight by human-rated U.S. spacecraft

Photos: Sixty more Starlinks rocket through moonlit sky over Cape Canaveral

UAE’s Hope orbiter on course for arrival at Mars

China launches military satellite toward geostationary orbit

Russian Soyuz rocket delivers military intelligence-gathering satellite into orbit