Human Spaceflight – Spaceflight Now

NASA boss pleads for funding to ensure 2024 moon landing

July 17, 2019

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told a Senate panel Wednesday that a budget impasse and subsequent spending freeze later this year would be “devastating” to the agency’s goal of sending the first woman and next man to the moon by the end of 2024.

China set to deorbit disused Tiangong 2 space lab

July 16, 2019

China’s Tiangong 2 space lab, a precursor to the country’s planned space station, is scheduled to fall out of orbit Friday and plunge back into Earth’s atmosphere for a destructive re-entry.

SpaceX points to leaky valve as culprit in Crew Dragon test accident

July 15, 2019

Investigators believe a leak of propellant inside the Crew Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system led to the capsule’s explosion April 20 during a ground test at Cape Canaveral, and a senior SpaceX official said Monday that delays are making it “increasingly difficult” to fly astronauts on the commercial spaceship before the end of the year.

Final assembly and test milestones on tap for NASA’s first Orion moon ship

July 15, 2019

The pressurized crew module and European-built service module for NASA’s first Orion spacecraft to travel to the moon will be joined together for the first time in the coming weeks at the Kennedy Space Center, with preparations — at least for Orion — on a pace to be ready for launch on an unpiloted test flight next year.

Photos: NASA conducts key Orion abort test

July 4, 2019

NASA simulated an in-flight launch abort of an Orion crew capsule high above Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, in a major test of the safety system that would whisk astronauts on future moon missions away from a failing rocket.

Watch replays of the Orion inflight abort test

July 2, 2019

Watch replays from launch pad and tracking cameras of the Orion AA-2 inflight abort test conducted at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on July 2, 2019.

Orion abort test post-launch briefing (members only)

July 2, 2019

Watch NASA’s Orion inflight abort test post-launch news briefing, held at the Kennedy Space Center two hours after the test.

NASA successfully tests Orion launch abort system before moon flights

July 2, 2019

Officials hailed an action-packed three-minute test flight Tuesday over Cape Canaveral that exercised the Orion spacecraft’s launch abort rocket, a key safety system on the capsule NASA is developing to carry astronauts back to the moon.

Orion data recorders come with return-to-sender instructions

July 1, 2019

NASA has a plan to retrieve 12 ejectable data recorders released from an Orion test capsule in the waters off Cape Canaveral following a launch abort test Tuesday, but local boaters and beachgoers could still find the floating orange devices.

Live coverage: NASA conducts Orion abort test over Cape Canaveral

July 1, 2019

NASA and industry teams at Cape Canaveral launched an Orion capsule on a three-minute atmospheric test flight Tuesday to prove the spaceship’s ability to escape from an exploding rocket during launch, demonstrating a key safety feature before astronauts ride the vehicle into deep space. Liftoff occurred at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT).