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The Trump administration aims to accelerate the construction of a nuclear reactor on the moon, Transportation Secretary and acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy wrote in a memo distributed internally on Monday. The space agency has previously explored the possibility of installing an electricity-generating nuclear reactor on the lunar surface capable of powering a sustained human presence, but Duffy intends to fast-track the project and more than double the reactor’s power output, according to documents obtained by The Post. “To properly advance this critical technology to be able to support a future lunar economy, high power energy generation on Mars, and...

We won yesterday's space race. We'll win today's space race against China, and we'll always win tomorrow's space race. @SpaceX's Starship test flight success moves us one step closer toward achieving that goal.

President Donald Trump has people doing a double-take with the latest news about plans to not only get us back to the Moon, but build a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface and soon. According to documents obtained by Politico, interim NASA administrator and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will announce expedited plans with a definitive timeline to get a reactor built and take significant steps to improve U.S. efforts in the second space race. The report noted that NASA previously revealed plans, but no timeline was put in place. "It is about winning the second space race," a NASA senior...

Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) opened the Sept. 3 hearing, titled "There's a Bad Moon on the Rise," by warning that the United States risks losing the moon to China if NASA's Artemis program falters. The hearing centered on how America can stay ahead in the new space race, with lawmakers pressing the importance of Artemis and reaffirming the need for the Gateway space station and to maintain continuous operations in low Earth orbit (LEO).Witnesses underscored that delays, budget uncertainty, or wavering commitments could undermine both U.S. industry and international alliances, warning that uncertainty could drive partners and suppliers...

NASA and Northrop Grumman of Dulles, Virginia, have finalized a contract to develop the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) for Gateway, which will be a critical way station and outpost in orbit around the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program. NASA and its commercial and international partners are building Gateway to support science investigations and enable surface landings at the Moon, which will help prepare astronauts for future missions to Mars. The firm, fixed-price contract is valued at $935 million. Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will be responsible for attaching and testing the integrated HALO with the Power and...

NASA unexpectedly lost contact with its moonbound Orion capsule early Wednesday morning (Nov. 23), for reasons that remain unclear. Mission controllers lost communication with Orion at 1:09 a.m. EST (0609 GMT) while reconfiguring a link between the capsule and the Deep Space Network, the set of radio dishes that NASA uses to talk to its farflung spacecraft. Orion is gearing up for a crucial maneuver: It's scheduled to perform an engine burn on Friday (Nov. 25) that will insert the capsule into orbit around the moon. If all goes well, Orion will stay in that orbit for about a week,...

['Civ: Did anyone not see this coming?]Boeing Expects NASA to Cancel SLS Contracts, Signaling The Demise of SLS... | 10:03Ellie in Space | 179K subscribers | 69,824 views | February 7, 2025

If you think Boeing's doing a lousy job with Starliner, just wait until you hear the latest about SLS!Boeing is doing a worse job with SLS than it is with Starliner!!The latest from NASA OIG! | 17:18The Angry Astronaut | 145K subscribers | 37,566 views | August 10, 2024

On Monday, NASA failed in its first attempt to launch the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission, with engineers struggling to resolve an engine cooling issue. It’s a wholly unsurprising result, given that NASA was unable to complete a single wet dress rehearsal, of which four were attempted earlier in the year. The space agency appears to be winging it, with the botched launch attempt effectively serving as the fifth wet dress rehearsal, in what is a troubling sign. NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) was supposed to take flight on Monday morning, but instead we’re left wondering about the state of the...

Before the SLS program was officially started, the five-segment SRB concept was proven out with three development motor (DM) firings in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Those previous firings flight-qualified the five-segment SRB. Now, the Flight Support Booster (FDB) tests examine overall process quality, changes, and modifications... FSB-2 will test a newly qualified motor ignition system along with qualifying a new ablative nozzle lining. A new thrust vector control (TVC) system will also be tested, as part of early testing related to the Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE) boosters...planned to fly from Artemis IX onwards. There are enough Shuttle-era SRB...

... Orion's reentry followed a sharply angled trajectory, during which the capsule fell at an incredible speed before deploying three red and white parachutes. As the mission finished its trip of over 270,000 miles (435,000 kilometers), it looked to those on the deck of the USS Portland like the capsule had made it home in a single piece. As the recovery crew lifted Orion to the carrier's deck, shock waves ruffled across the capsule's surface. That's when crew members started to spot big cracks on Orion's lower surface, where the capsule's exterior bonds to its heat shield. But why wouldn't...

The Space Launch System's booster and engine are now projected to cost at least $13.1 billion over 25 years. An independent report looking into the development of NASA's new moon rocket has found significant cost overruns and delays that could harm the agency's plans to put astronauts back on the moon. Development of the Space Launch System (SLS) began in November 2011. It had a successful test flight in November 2022, six years after its first targeting a debut launch in late 2016. The SLS megarocket is intended to return humans to the moon as part of NASA's Artemis program,...

Left to right, NASA astronauts Christina Hammock Koch, G. Reid Wiseman (seated), Victor J. Glover Jr., and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who will be taking part in the Artemis II mission. Photo courtesy of NASA April 3 (UPI) -- NASA officials Monday revealed the four names that will make up a team astronauts from the United States and Canada that will journey around the moon next year as part of the first crewed flight of the Artemis mission. The four include a woman and a person of color, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency confirmed during the joint...

=================================================================== The suits feature new capabilities for space exploration. Photo courtesy Axiom Space Axiom Space today unveiled the spacesuits for NASA's Artemis III mission in 2025 to send humans to the moon. Photo courtesy Axiom Space =================================================================== March 15 (UPI) -- Axiom Space on Wednesday unveiled its next-generation spacesuit that astronauts from NASA's Artemis III mission will be wearing when they return to the moon. The spacesuits, which will be delivered to NASA this summer, provide more flexibility and greater protection to withstand the environment and contain built-in specialized for exploration and scientific opportunities, Axiom said in a statement. "Our...

published about 2 hours ago The agency wants to send huge payloads towards the moon starting with Artemis 5. Getting there requires more power from recycled RS-25 space shuttle engines. NASA fired up an engine Wednesday (Feb. 8) to boost human moon missions. The RS-25 engine, a veteran of the space shuttle program, has a new design for the NASA's Artemis program. Starting with Artemis 5 late in the 2020s or so, the modified engines will fly on the Space Launch System. NASA says the newer RS-25s will deliver even more power to send the Orion spacecraft, astronauts and other...

While two names are cited repeatedly as top candidates for Artemis 2, a four-person moon mission, no official confirmation will come until at least late spring. A portion of the far side of the Moon looms large just beyond the Orion spacecraft in this image taken on the sixth day of the Artemis 1 mission by a camera on the tip of one of Orion’s solar arrays. (Image credit: NASA) ************************************************************************************* NASA will soon name the astronauts on its first crewed moon mission since 1972. Artemis 2 is the next flight after the agency's uncrewed Artemis 1 mission, which launched...

The CEO of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin announced in an all-hands call on Thursday company-wide layoffs of "about 10 percent" of its employees, a sweeping readjustment as it aims to cut costs and ramp up rocket launches.The layoffs affect roughly 1,400 of the company's nearly 14,000 employees - mostly concentrated in Florida, Texas and Washington - and comes as Blue Origin starts production of its giant New Glenn rocket, which had its first long-awaited debut launch last month...[CEO Dave] Limp said the decision would help Blue Origin scale New Glenn manufacturing and increase the rocket's launch cadence, two goals crucial...

NASA announced it is delaying Artemis II and III missions, meant to take American astronauts back to the moon, because of a problem with the capsule’s heat shield. Artemis II, a mission to take astronauts around the moon, was moved from September 2025 to April of 2026. Artemis III would land astronauts on the south pole of the moon, and likely won’t happen until mid-2027, NASA said. NASA decided to push the launch of Artemis II because they found cracks in the heat shield after the Artemis I mission in 2022. Artemis I flew around the moon with no astronauts...

In 2003 and 2004, ESAG, in collaboration with Greek authorities, conducted a geophysical survey around Paleoekklisies Hill to identify traces of buried ancient buildings. In 2006, they received a permit to dig in the area of their survey that seemed to have the greatest potential. The team uncovered ancient building material, houses, and graves; however, they were from the wrong time period. There was a long history of settlement on Paleoekklisies Hill dating back to the third millennium b.c. In fact, in the second millennium b.c., the site appears to have been called Amarynthos. A clay tablet found in the...

Blue Origin didn't admit to these mishaps, of course, but every organization has its leaks! What impact will this have on NASA Artemis and HLS? Will we ever get transparency from Jeff Bezos?Two Blue Origin New Glenn rocket stages wrecked in factory mishaps! Will this delay NASA missions? | 11:07The Angry Astronaut | 144K subscribers | 71,442 views | August 22, 2024