NASA – Page 68 – Spaceflight Now

Boeing, SpaceX aim for more commercial crew test flights this fall

August 26, 2019 Stephen Clark

Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule could take off in October on its first unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station, a company official said recently, while SpaceX finishes up the investigation into the explosion of its Crew Dragon spacecraft during a ground test earlier this year.

Astrobotic lunar lander to launch on ULA’s first Vulcan rocket

August 20, 2019 Stephen Clark

Astrobotic, a Pittsburgh-based company developing a robotic lunar lander, will launch its first moon mission under contract to NASA on the debut flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket in 2021, officials announced Monday.

NASA directs Alabama space center to manage lunar lander program

August 16, 2019 William Harwood

Despite protests from Texas lawmakers, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will manage the agency’s plans to build a lunar landing system that will carry the next man and the first woman to the surface of the moon in 2024, agency Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Friday.

Watch SpaceX Dragon launch pad escape system testing

August 9, 2019 Spaceflight Now

A slide wire escape system has been undergoing tests at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in readiness for the first SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to carry astronauts to the International Space Station.

Cygnus supply ship departs space station, begins extended mission

August 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

Wrapping up 109 days attached to the International Space Station, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship departed the orbiting research lab Tuesday to begin an extended four-month mission for additional technology demonstrations and smallsat deployments.

Halfway through all-sky survey, NASA’s planet-hunting TESS mission gets extension

August 3, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, fresh off a two-year extension to keep operating through 2022, has turned its cameras to image the northern sky after cataloguing nearly 1,000 candidate planets around other stars in the first year of its mission.

SpaceX to begin flights under new cargo resupply contract next year

August 2, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is set to retire its current fleet of Dragon capsules, in use since 2010, next year and begin flying supplies to the International Space Station on a new variant of the Dragon spacecraft based on the model in development to carry astronauts.

Mars 2020 rover on track for launch next July

July 31, 2019 Stephen Clark

The launch of NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is less than a year away, and the steady pace of work inside the craft’s pristine assembly hall in California is keeping the mission on schedule for liftoff from Cape Canaveral next July, despite growing costs, according to mission managers.

Photos: SpaceX completes resupply run to International Space Station

July 29, 2019 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Dragon capsule packed with more than 5,000 pounds of hardware, provisions and experiments launched July 25 from Cape Canaveral and arrived at the International Space Station two days later.

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule arrives at space station

July 27, 2019 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Dragon supply ship arrived at the International Space Station Saturday carrying a new docking mechanism, a spacesuit for future spacewalks, and a 3D bioprinter to test the feasibility of manufacturing human tissue in microgravity.