All posts tagged "Aerospacetechnology"

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — The first human spaceflight of the year is headed home as the four crew of the Axiom Space Ax-3 mission climbed aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom and departed the International Space Station on Wednesday heading for a planned Friday morning splashdown offFlorida’s coast. The astronauts spent nearly 18 days docked to the ISS after launching from KSC on Jan. 18 and arriving two days later. On board are Axiom chief astronaut and mission commander Michael López-Alegría along with Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei, Alper Gezeravcı of Turkey and European Space Agency ......

SpaceX is set to send up another Starlink launch from Kennedy Space Center on Sunday night while prepping for a unique cargo launch from Cape Canaveral now targeting Tuesday. A Falcon 9 rocket is set to lift off at 6:15 p.m. Eastern from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A on a southerly trajectory carrying another 23 satellites for the growing internet constellation. Backup launch options run through 9:55 p.m. and on Monday beginning at 5:39 p.m. The first-stage booster is making its 18th flight including Inspiration4 and Ax-1, and will make a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. ......

SpaceX is set to send up another Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral on Sunday night. A Falcon 9 carrying 23 of the internet Satellites is targeting a 7:27 p.m. liftoff from Canaveral’s Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, but has multiple launch opportunities through 11:25 p.m. The launch, which was delayed from a Saturday attempt, has a southerly trajectory so will be more visible down the Florida coast. Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts 85% chance for good conditions, which declines to 20% in the event of a 24-hour delay. The first-stage booster is flying its 12th......

SpaceX may not have a moonbound rocket on the pad, but it is aiming to send up its second launch of the year from the Space Coast on Sunday afternoon. United Launch Alliance is set to lift off with its first about 10 hours later. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 more of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites is targeting a 4 p.m. Eastern liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 during a four-hour window with backup options on Monday beginning at 4:01 p.m. Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts an 80% chance for good conditions during the initial window, but only......

SpaceX held off a Sunday night attempt to send up its fifth Falcon Heavy launch of the year, delayed it for a day and now aims for Monday night. Flying for only the ninth time ever, the Falcon Heavy is slated to lift off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A during a 10-minute window that opens at 8:14 p.m. A backup during the same window is available Tuesday night. Weather concerns were an issue for Sunday night and SpaceX said it would take the extra time to complete additional prelaunch checkouts. The payload for the mission dubbed USSF-52 is the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle on its seve......

WASHINGTON — Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas likes to think of himself as the space senator — and as the top Republican appropriator for NASA in the Senate, he is set to play a key role in the emerging space race between the United States and China. Beijing has aggressively advanced its space program in recent years, with plans to construct a permanent base on the moon by the end of the decade. China’s ambitions have fueled competition with Washington and spurred a new era of space exploration — one that officials in both countries hope will eventually put humans on Mars. “I would say that we’re in......