Free Republic

Blue Origin launched and landed New Shepard rocket on Wednesday, April 14 at 10:56 AM CDT (15:56 UTC) from Corn Ranch Spaceport, Texas. This was Blue Origin’s 15th uncrewed flight of its New Shepard rocket. New Shepard is designed to take people and payloads to suborbital space and back. It is expected to start sending space tourists this year. Ticket reservations are still on hold.

One common factor of the last two test flights of SpaceX's SN8 and SN9 both resulting in crash landings is really bugging me..Unlike the Falcon boosters' successful return to Earth after going vertical LONG BEFORE LANDING, the 'pitch to vertical' maneuver of the Starship rockets seems to occur TOO LATE IN THE DESCENT and just mere seconds before landing.. WHY IS THIS?My main question is about the latent pitch to vertical before landing. Why does it wait so long to do this? Does it have to do with the tremendous weight involved that is different than the Falcon booster?

NASA's SpaceX astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi arrived at KSC historic launchpad 39-A, and boarded the launch vehicle. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission will be the first crew rotational flight of a U.S. commercial spacecraft with astronauts to the International Space Station. The launch may be viewed via link above, or streaming via SpaceX Launches, and via Roku NASA channel.

Elon Musk's company has launched two people into space to date: NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken, who rode to the International Space Station May 30 aboard a Crew Dragon capsule mounted on a Falcon 9 rocket. That test flight, termed DEMO-2, marked the first-ever commercial crewed launch, and the first launch from American soil since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. But it was a test flight, with just two astronauts aboard, lasting just 64 days with most of that time in zero-gravity spent on the International Space Station (ISS). On Nov. 14, if all...

This Thursday, Northrop Grumman will launch a Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) carrying not only supplies for the crew, but also new science experiments to be tested out in the microgravity environment. With a total of 8,000 pounds of cargo, the Cygnus will be launched on an Antares rocket from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. This will be Northrop Grumman’s 14th resupply mission to the ISS, and you can watch the launch and the arrival of the Cygnus at the ISS live. The launch and the spacecraft’s arrival at the ISS will both be shown on...

United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy rocket will make its first launch in over 19 months Thursday, carrying out a clandestine mission to deploy a surveillance satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff is expected between 02:12 and 06:16 Eastern Daylight Time (06:12-10:12 UTC), from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Thursday’s mission, designated NRO Launch 44 (NROL-44), marks the first Delta IV mission since the Medium+ variant of the rocket was retired in August 2019 and the first Delta IV Heavy since January 2019. Although ULA is phasing out the Delta IV in favour of its Vulcan...

A detached electrical connector on the second stage of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket caused a failure on a July 4 mission that destroyed seven small commercial satellites, but the company said Friday it is on track to resume launching before the end of August. Once the electrical system disconnected in flight, it cut power from the rocket’s battery to the electric turbopumps on the Electron’s second stage Rutherford engine. That caused the engine to switch off prematurely around five-and-a-half minutes after the rocket took off from Rocket Lab’s launch base in New Zealand. The early engine shutdown prevented the rocket...

The Electron rocket lifted off from the company’s Launch Complex 1 at Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, at 5:19 p.m. Eastern. The launch was originally scheduled for July 3 but pushed back two days because of poor weather in the forecast, only for the company to move up the launch to July 4 based on a reassessment of the weather. The initial phases of the launch appeared to go as planned, although the vehicle’s passage through “max-q,” or maximum dynamic pressure, appeared to be rougher than what was seen in previous launches. Onboard video taken shortly before first-stage separation showed material...

NASA’s top executive concentrating on human spaceflight, Doug Loverro, has resigned just a week before the scheduled start of a milestone space mission. Loverro became NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations last December, and was playing a leading role in NASA’s Artemis moon program as well as preparations for next week’s launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station. That mission, set for liftoff on May 27 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is due to send NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the station for a stay that could last...

The U.S. Air Force's experimental unmanned space plane is about to take off again, this time with a new attachment near its tail to hold more payloads. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett announced Wednesday that the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) will take off May 16 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, for its sixth mission, which will incorporate tasks for U.S. Space Force and NASA, among other agencies. "This important mission will host more experiments than any prior X-37B flight, including two NASA experiments," she told viewers during a conference hosted by the Space Foundation. One NASA experiment...

ORLANDO, Fla., May 1 (UPI) -- The duration of SpaceX's first mission with astronauts on board -- planned to launch at May 27 from Florida -- has been extended from a few days to potentially weeks aboard the International Space Station, NASA said Friday. The mission was lengthened to ensure that the crew -- astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley -- can help maintain and operate the space station, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. "Among the work that will await their arrival is upgrading the space station's power system with new batteries due to arrive in May,"...

The United States has assessed that Iran successfully launched a military satellite into orbit for the first time on Wednesday, two US Defense Department officials said, according to CNN. The move is seen as a significant step because the country's space program utilizes the same technology that would be needed to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile, which would increase Tehran's capability to strike enemy targets. US Space Command is tracking two objects in orbit that were launched from within Iran, one of the officials said, according to CNN. One is a rocket body and the other is assessed to be...

The first flight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly nine years finally has a launch date: May 27. The mission will launch astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft in a final test flight for NASA. The mission, Demo-2, will mark NASA's first crew launch from American soil since the agency's space shuttle fleet retired in July 2011. Liftoff is set for 4:32 p.m. EDT (2032 GMT) from historic Launch Pad 39A, the same site used for NASA's Apollo and shuttle missions.

SpaceX has launched 60 more mini internet satellites, this time testing a dark coating to appease stargazers. It is a “first step” compromise between SpaceX and astronomers fearful of having dark skies spoiled by hundreds and, eventually, thousands of bright satellites circling overhead. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted into a cold, clear night sky, recycled by SpaceX for its fourth flight. As the first-stage booster flew to a vertical landing on an ocean platform, the Starlink satellites continued hurtling towards orbit to join 120 similar spacecraft launched last year. Flight controllers applauded and the launch commentator described the booster’s fourth...

By Yi Whan-woo, Kim Yoo-chul As nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the United States remain in a stalemate after no "substantial outcome" from their recent encounter in Sweden, the lack of visible progress in the denuclearization dialogue is raising concerns that the North is "buying time" for its military and nuclear advancement. During an Asan Institute for Policy Studies security forum held in Seoul, Tuesday, Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the Washington-based RAND Corporation, claimed that despite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's promise to end his nuclear program, Pyongyang has not taken any meaningful measures toward this....

North Korea has test-fired at least one unidentified projectile from a missile base just five days after its first rocket and missile launch since 2017. The projectile was launched from a medium-range ballistic missile base as South Korean, American and Japanese officials meet in Seoul to discuss North Korea amid fears that tensions could escalate again. South Korea's military said the projectile was fired from Sino-ri in an eastwards direction at 4.30pm local time on Thursday.

Original in Japanese: 北朝鮮の飛翔体、弾道ミサイルか　国連制裁違反の可能性 ("North Korean Launch, Could Possibly Be Ballistic Missile, and Possible UN Violation") Two paragraph synopsis from the original Japanese--my translation (breaking): "Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the launch of projectiles yesterday from the east coast of North Korea into the Sea of Japan. Now based on photo analysis of the launch from images provided by official North Korean news sources, South Korean military specialists have analyzed the vehicle, and a viewpoint is emerging the launch yesterday was, in fact, likely a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions against North Korea launching such ballistic missiles." "...

Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle will launch on its 11th test flight this morning (May 2), and you can watch the spaceflight action live. The reusable rocket-capsule combo is scheduled to lift off from Blue Origin's West Texas testing ground at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT; 8:30 a.m. local Texas time). The uncrewed flight will carry 38 microgravity research payloads to suborbital space and back, company representatives announced via Twitter Wednesday You can watch live here at Space.com, courtesy of Blue Origin, or directly via the company's website. New Shepard is designed to carry paying customers, offering them great...

SpaceX will attempt to pull off the world's first successful triple rocket landing during the company's first commercial Falcon Heavy flight mission today (April 10), and you can watch it all live online. The Falcon Heavy megarocket, the most powerful booster currently in use, is set to launch the Arabsat-6A communications satelliteinto orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida today at 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT). After liftoff, the huge rocket's two side boosters and central core stage are expected to return to Earth for the triple landing. You can watch the Falcon Heavy launch live here and on...

After years of on-the-ground development and testing, the SpaceX spaceship that’s destined to carry NASA astronauts is going on its first uncrewed test mission to the International Space Station tonight — and you can watch the historic liftoff from multiple angles. When SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule lifts off from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, atop a Falcon 9 rocket, there won’t be any humans aboard. But there will be a crew member of sorts. SpaceX has placed a spacesuit-wearing, sensor-laden mannequin in one of the Dragon’s seats, to gather data about how rigorous the...