SpaceX

NASA has certified a new lander flight training course using helicopters, marking a key milestone in crew training for Artemis missions to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will explore the lunar South Pole, paving the way for human exploration farther into the solar system, including Mars.  The mountains in northern Colorado offer similar visual illusions and flight environments to the Moon. NASA partnered with the Colorado Army National Guard at the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site near Gypsum, Colorado, to develop the foundational flight training course. “Artemis astronauts who will land on the Moon will need to master crew coordination and communication with one another,” said Paul Felker, acting deputy director of flight operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center ...

21 satellites manufactured by York Space Systems for Space Development Agency’s upcoming Tranche 1 Transport Layer launch. Image: York Space Systems The first in a series of launches supporting a burgeoning satellite constellation for the Space Development Agency (SDA) is set to take flight Wednesday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The SDA was formed as an independent agency 2019 with the goal of safeguarding the United States against hypersonic weapons and offering a network of satellites and ground support systems that could unify the Department of Defense’s capabilities across a “resilient, threat-driven space surveillance and communications architecture,” according its establishing memorandum. It became a part of the U.S. Space Force in October 2022. The 21 sate...

An artist’s rendering of the Nusantara Lima satellite in gestationary Earth orbit. Graphic: Boeing Update Sept. 9, 9:20 a.m. EDT: Added updated weather information. Update Sept. 8, 9:30 p.m. EDT: SpaceX scrubbed the launch attempt, targeting Tuesday, Sept. 9. An Indonesian company is looking to improve its space-based communications service with a state-of-the-art Boeing-built satellite bound for geostationary orbit. The spacecraft comes from Satelit Nusantara Lima (SNL), a subsidiary of Indonesia’s first private satellite company, Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN). The satellite itself is called Nusantara Lima or N5 for short. The name is derived from the Old Javanese language words nūsa, “island”, and antara “outer.” Lima, meanwhile, means “five” in Indonesian. SpaceX scrubbed a launch att...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the Starlink 10-57 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein / Spaceflight Now Update Sept. 5, 9:40 a.m. EDT: SpaceX confirms deployment of the 28 Starlink satellites. SpaceX completed its 500th recovery of a Falcon booster during a Friday morning flight supporting its Starlink satellite constellation. The Falcon 9 rocket roared away from Launch Complex 39A at 8:32 a.m. EDT (1232 UTC). The Starlink 10-57 mission flew on a north-easterly trajectory upon leaving the pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with the rocket soaring past and through the clouds over Florida’s Space Coast. Nearly 8.5 minutes after takeoff, the Falcon 9 booster supporting this mission, tail number 1069, safely landed on the drone ship, ‘J...

NASA and Northrop Grumman are preparing to send the company’s next cargo mission to the International Space Station, flying research to support Artemis missions to the Moon and human exploration of Mars and beyond, while improving life on Earth. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch Northrop Grumman’s 23rd commercial resupply services mission to the orbiting laboratory. The investigations aboard the Cygnus spacecraft aim to refine semiconductor crystals for next-generation technologies, reduce harmful microbes, improve medication production, and manage fuel pressure. NASA, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX are targeting launch in mid-September from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Read about some of the investigations traveling to the space station: Res...