Jack Daleo, Author at Astronomy.com

NASA pushes first Moon landing since Apollo era to 2027

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 15:57:20 +0000

For the second time this year, NASA has pushed back its timeline to land the first Americans on the Moon since the Apollo era. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Thursday revealed that due to an issue with the heat shield on NASA’s Orion capsule discovered during the 2022 Artemis 1 test mission, the Artemis 3Continue reading

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NASA picks SpaceX, Blue Origin to fly lunar rover and habitat to the Moon

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 18:30:00 +0000

NASA has picked SpaceX and Blue Origin to deliver a lunar rover and habitat to the moon within the next decade. The space agency last week announced it will assign two lunar cargo demonstration missions—one to each partner—under the companies’ contracts to build human landing systems (HLS) for the Artemis moon mission program. SpaceX and Blue Origin are working under multibillion-dollar dealsContinue reading

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SpaceX Starship Flight 6: No booster catch, but still pushing the envelope

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 20:13:16 +0000

While it did not recreate the historic Super Heavy booster catch it pulled off last time, SpaceX continued to push the envelope during the sixth test flight of its Starship spacecraft. The largest and most powerful rocket ever built lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase launchpad in Texas on Tuesday evening, Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines creating aContinue reading

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SpaceX Starship Flight 6: What to watch for

Sat, 16 Nov 2024 02:11:38 +0000

SpaceX is targeting the sixth test flight of its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster — which comprise the largest and most powerful rocket system ever built — as early as Monday. Both the rocket and booster were moved to the launch mount this week for stacking. The mission, which like previous Starship flights willContinue reading

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SpaceX: Starship Flight 6 coming later this month

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000

The sixth test flight of Starship — the largest and most powerful rocket to ever fly — will launch no earlier than 5 p.m. EST on Monday, November 18, SpaceX said Wednesday. The previous test flight of Starship, which SpaceX also refers to simply as “Ship,” and the Super Heavy booster resulted in the unprecedented catchContinue reading

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Here’s how ISS astronauts will vote in the 2024 election

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 15:05:07 +0000

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) orbit the Earth hundreds of miles above American soil. But that doesn’t mean they can’t vote while they float. Indeed, Boeing Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams—who have been in the orbital laboratory since June after their test mission was extended due to safety concerns—said they intend to cast their ballots in theContinue reading

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What to watch: NASA Crew-8 astronauts set for early Friday splashdown

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 21:35:32 +0000

Four NASA astronauts are set to splash down Friday morning after spending more than 200 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The four-person crew of NASA’s Crew-8 mission — comprising NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin — will return to Earth around dawn on Friday, splashing downContinue reading

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Polaris Dawn crew talks mission highlights, next steps

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 21:02:49 +0000

BENTONVILLE, Arkansas — The first private spacewalk, an on-orbit symphonic performance, and nearly 40 scientific research experiments. Those were just a few highlights of September’s Polaris Dawn mission: a five-day, four-person orbital spaceflight purchased from SpaceX and commanded by Jared Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of Shift4 Payments. But Isaacman — now a SpaceX “frequent flier”Continue reading

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SpaceX achieves historic booster catch during Starship test

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 20:57:58 +0000

SpaceX’s Starship program—responsible for developing the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown—continues to make history. On Sunday, Starship and the Super Heavy booster lifted off around 8:25 a.m. EST from SpaceX’s Starbase launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, on the rocket’s fifth suborbital test flight. But rather than splash down in the Gulf ofContinue reading

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SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew completes historic private spacewalk

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 21:14:34 +0000

The four-person crew of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission made history on Thursday morning by completing the first spacewalk with private astronauts. Commander Jared Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of Shift4 Payments who purchased the five-day orbital flight from SpaceX, and mission specialist Sarah Gillis, one of the crew’s two SpaceX engineers, who are the company’s first employees toContinue reading

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