William Harwood – Page 43 – Spaceflight Now

NASA studying whether to add astronauts to first launch of new super booster

February 24, 2017 William Harwood

NASA managers said Friday they hope to know within a month or so whether it might be feasible — or advisable — to put two astronauts on board the first test flight of a huge 322-foot-tall Space Launch System super booster scheduled for its maiden launch late next year.

Star found with record seven Earth-size planets

February 22, 2017 William Harwood

Astronomers have discovered seven roughly Earth-size planets very close to a cool dwarf star some 39 light years from Earth, including three orbiting in the star’s habitable zone where liquid water, a key ingredient for life as it’s known on Earth, could be present, researchers announced Wednesday.

Apollo 1 tragedy remembered 50 years later

January 27, 2017 William Harwood

With the first Apollo launch less than a month away, America’s race to the moon was in high gear. The three-man crew of the first Apollo test flight — commander Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee — strapped into the cockpit of their spacecraft on Jan. 27, 1967 — 50 years ago Friday — for a dress-rehearsal countdown.

Astronaut Gene Cernan, last Apollo moonwalker, dies at 82

January 16, 2017 William Harwood

Former astronaut Gene Cernan, a Navy pilot and veteran of NASA’s pioneering Gemini program who was the second American to walk in space and then flew to the moon twice as an Apollo astronaut, becoming the last human to leave his bootprints on its dusty surface, died Monday after a long illness. He was 82.

Station astronauts complete second battery swap spacewalk

January 13, 2017 William Harwood

Two space station astronauts carried out a trouble-free five-hour 58-minute spacewalk Friday, completing complex battery replacement work on the right side of the lab’s solar power truss with enough time left over to carry out a variety of lower-priority “get-ahead” tasks.

Spacewalkers continue station battery refresh with EVA

January 6, 2017 William Harwood

Two spacewalking astronauts working outside the International Space Station Friday completed work to replace aging batteries in one of the lab’s eight main solar power circuits. A second spacewalk next week, along with additional work with the station’s robot arm, will upgrade a second power channel.

Astronauts set for Friday spacewalk

January 6, 2017 William Harwood

Two astronauts plan to venture outside the International Space Station Friday, taking over from earlier robotic arm operations to help replace a set of batteries used to store power from one of the lab’s four sets of solar arrays.

SpaceX failure probe complete; flights to resume Sunday from California

January 2, 2017 William Harwood

After an exhaustive investigation, SpaceX engineers have identified the most likely cause of the spectacular explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket during a pre-launch test Sept. 1 that destroyed the booster and its $195 million satellite payload, the company announced Monday.

Space station battery work starts New Year’s Eve

January 1, 2017 William Harwood

Working over the New Year holiday weekend, robot arm operators at the Johnson Space Center will begin a complex procedure to replace 12 aging batteries in the International Space Station’s solar power system with six state-of-the-art lithium-ion power packs, a multi-step process over the next two weeks that will require two spacewalks to complete.

John Glenn remembered

December 17, 2016 William Harwood

In an emotional remembrance, John Glenn was honored Saturday for an unprecedented career in public service, from his days as a combat fighter pilot, his historic journey into space as the first American in orbit, a quarter century of service as an Ohio senator and his unlikely return to space at age 77 aboard the shuttle Discovery.