William Harwood – Page 37 – Spaceflight Now

Soyuz takes off with three bound for space station

March 21, 2018 William Harwood

A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off and shot into orbit Wednesday, carrying a Russian cosmonaut and two NASA astronauts, all veteran space fliers, on a two-day flight to the International Space Station.

Soyuz crew set for Wednesday launch on station flight

March 20, 2018 William Harwood

Engineers readied a Russian Soyuz rocket for launch Wednesday to ferry a veteran cosmonaut and two NASA shuttle fliers to the International Space Station for a five-month stay.

ULA touts new Vulcan rocket in competition with SpaceX

March 20, 2018 William Harwood

SpaceX and its visionary founder Elon Musk win the lion’s share of public attention in the commercial rocket arena, with dramatic, increasingly routine booster landings and spectacular stunts like the launch of Musk’s Tesla Roadster on the maiden flight of the company’s new Falcon Heavy rocket last month.

Soyuz spacecraft brings three station fliers home

February 28, 2018 William Harwood

Bidding their crewmates farewell, a Russian cosmonaut and two NASA astronauts boarded their Soyuz ferry craft, undocked from the International Space Station and fell back to Earth Tuesday, landing safely on the snowy steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 168-day mission.

National Space Council acts to streamline regulatory hurdles

February 22, 2018 William Harwood

The newly re-activated National Space Council is acting quickly to streamline convoluted regulatory requirements that frequently slow development of new commercial space initiatives, a shift in focus in keeping with the Trump Administration’s directive to encourage more private sector development on the high frontier.

Spacewalking astronauts complete robot arm work

February 16, 2018 William Harwood

Astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japanese crewmate Norishige Kanai floated outside the International Space Station Friday, repositioned two robot arm grapple mechanisms following repair work last month and carried out a variety of “get-ahead” tasks before calling it a day.

Elon Musk’s Tesla will have a close encounter with Earth in 2091

February 14, 2018 William Harwood

Even though it doesn’t obey any earthly speed limit and has a space-suited mannequin for a driver, Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster won’t drive up his insurance rates anytime soon. Researchers say the sports car won’t have a really close encounter with Earth until 2091 and could last millions of years before getting totaled in a planetary crackup.

Trump administration supports transition to commercially-focused space station

February 12, 2018 William Harwood

The Trump administration is proposing to end direct government support of the International Space Station in 2025, but plans to include $150 million in NASA’s fiscal 2019 budget, to be unveiled Monday, to begin work on transitioning, if possible, to a more commercially focused outpost, according to an internal NASA review.

‘Starman’ puts Earth in the rearview mirror

February 8, 2018 William Harwood

Now in an elliptical orbit around the sun, the Tesla Roadster launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket Tuesday during the powerful booster’s maiden flight was expected to pass beyond the moon’s orbit overnight Wednesday and reach the orbit of Mars in July as it puts Earth in its rear view mirror, analysts said.

Software patch fixes station robot arm; Monday spacewalk repair called off

January 28, 2018 William Harwood

A corrective software patch has fixed a problem with a newly installed grapple fixture on one end of the International Space Station robot arm, NASA officials said Sunday. With the mechanism now fully operational, a re-planned spacewalk Monday to re-install a degraded unit has been called off.