Mission Reports – Page 143

NASA swaps two astronauts from Boeing missions to SpaceX crew flight

October 7, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA has reassigned two rookie astronauts from missions on Boeing’s troubled Starliner crew capsule to a SpaceX crew mission to the International Space Station late next year, a move agency officials said will allow the astronauts to gain spaceflight experience for future lunar expeditions.

SpaceX is adding two more Crew Dragons to its fleet

October 6, 2021 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is about to double the size of its fleet of Crew Dragon spaceships. The company is debuting a new spacecraft for a NASA launch later this month, and is building a fourth human-rated capsule that should be ready for flight early next year, a SpaceX official said Wednesday.

Live coverage: Japanese Epsilon rocket launch scrubbed again

October 6, 2021 Stephen Clark

Six days after a ground station malfunction scrubbed the mission’s first launch attempt, a Japanese Epsilon rocket was poised for blastoff at 8:51 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0051 GMT Thursday) with nine small technology demonstration satellites. But officials called off the mission again, this time citing unfavorable upper level winds.

Watch a video tour of NASA’s Lucy asteroid explorer

October 6, 2021 Stephen Clark

Set for launch Oct. 16 on a flight to explore asteroids in the outer solar system, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has been fueled and encapsulated inside the payload fairing of its Atlas 5 rocket. Watch as Chris McCaa, a manager from spacecraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin, points out some of the features of the probe.

NASA’s Lucy asteroid mission 10 days from launch

October 6, 2021 Stephen Clark

Fueled up for a 12-year mission of exploration, NASA’s Lucy science probe is nearly ready for launch Oct. 16 from Florida’s Space Coast to begin a journey through the solar system to visit eight asteroids, a record number for a single mission.

Soyuz arrives at space station for out-of-this-world film shoot

October 5, 2021 William Harwood

Chalking up a space first of sorts, a Russian actress, her director-cameraman and a veteran cosmonaut rocketed into orbit, chased down the International Space Station and successfully docked Tuesday, setting the stage for an out-of-this-world movie shoot.

Launch of Italian radar satellite shifts from Arianespace to SpaceX

October 5, 2021 Stephen Clark

The Italian Space Agency says it has booked a launch with SpaceX as soon as November for a COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation radar remote sensing satellite, shifting the spacecraft from a European Vega C rocket to a Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral.

Live coverage: Soyuz docks at space station with Russian film crew

October 5, 2021 Stephen Clark

A Russian actress and film director rode into orbit Tuesday alongside a veteran Russian cosmonaut, taking aim on the International Space Station to shoot scenes for a feature-length movie. The three-person crew blasted off on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT) Tuesday. Docking occurred at 8:22 a.m. EDT (1222 GMT).

Russian actress, director set for Tuesday launch to space station

October 4, 2021 William Harwood

America won the race to the moon, but Russia still proudly claims the most space “firsts,” including the first satellite, the first man in space, the first woman, the first spacewalk, the first multi-member crew and the first space station. Now, with commercial spaceflight blasting off in the United States, Russia aims to chalk up another first Tuesday, launching a Russian actress and director to the International Space Station to film scenes for a feature-length movie.

BepiColombo gets first glimpse of Mercury

October 4, 2021 Stephen Clark

The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft swept past Mercury Friday in the first of six high-speed flybys to gradually set up the probe’s trajectory for a critical maneuver in 2025 to enter orbit around the solar system’s innermost planet.