Sierra Nevada Corp. has business activity across a spectrum of programs, from Orbcomm communications satellites to parts on the New Horizons mission to Pluto, but all eyes are now on the company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft. Sierra Nevada’s Mark Sirangelo met with reporters at the 2015 International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight.
Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark spoke with Rolf de Groot, head of ESA’s robotic exploration coordination office, on Sept. 25, discussing the two-month launch delay of Europe’s ExoMars orbiter and landing demonstrator set to depart for Mars in 2016 and the status of an ambitious rover mission in 2018.
VIDEO: By the light of a waning moon, the space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth on July 21, dropping out of predawn darkness to close out NASA’s 135th and final shuttle voyage, a long-awaited – and long-dreaded – milestone marking the end of an era for American manned space flight. (Membership Required)
This video from a camera on Atlantis’ flight deck shows what it’s like to launch into orbit aboard the space shuttle. The footage begins with the final countdown to blastoff and continues through the astronauts getting out of their seats to see the jettisoned fuel tank fall away. (Membership Required)
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