Tag: commercial-space
-
Elon Musk threatens to sue FAA after feds propose fining SpaceX $633,000
The Federal Aviation Administration alleged Tuesday that SpaceX violated its launch license requirements on two occasions last year by using an unauthorized launch control center and fuel farm at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The regulator seeks to fine SpaceX $633,009 for the alleged violations, which occurred during a Falcon 9 launch and a…
-
Google backs privately funded satellite constellation for wildfire detection
Space is more accessible than ever thanks to the proliferation of small satellites and more affordable launch prices, which opened the door to bespoke applications like global pollution monitoring, crop observations, and new ways of collecting weather and climate data. Now you can add wildfire detection to the list. Satellites have observed wildfires from space…
-
Navy captains don’t like abandoning ship—but with Starliner, the ship left them
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are no strangers to time away from their families. Both are retired captains in the US Navy, served in war zones, and are veterans of previous six-month stays on the International Space Station. When they launched to the space station on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5, the…
-
SpaceX says regulators will keep Starship grounded until at least November
The Federal Aviation Administration has signaled to SpaceX that it won’t approve a launch license for the next test flight of the Starship rocket until at least late November, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. This is more than two months later than the mid-September timeframe the FAA previously targeted for determining whether…
-
NASA wants Starliner to make a quick getaway from the space station
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will gently back away from the International Space Station Friday evening, then fire its balky thrusters to rapidly depart the vicinity of the orbiting lab and its nine-person crew. NASA asked Boeing to adjust Starliner’s departure sequence to get away from the space station faster and reduce the workload on the thrusters…
-
Leaving behind its crew, Starliner departs space station and returns to Earth
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft sailed to a smooth landing in the New Mexico desert Friday night, an auspicious end to an otherwise disappointing three-month test flight that left the capsule’s two-person crew stuck in orbit until next year. Cushioned by airbags, the Boeing crew capsule descended under three parachutes toward an on-target landing at 10:01 pm…
-
After another Boeing letdown, NASA isn’t ready to buy more Starliner missions
NASA is ready for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, stricken with thruster problems and helium leaks, to leave the International Space Station as soon as Friday, wrapping up a disappointing test flight that has clouded the long-term future of the Starliner program. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who launched aboard Starliner on June 5, closed the…
-
Boeing will try to fly its troubled Starliner capsule back to Earth next week
NASA and Boeing are proceeding with final preparations to undock the Starliner spacecraft from the International Space Station next Friday, September 6, to head for landing at White Sands Space Harbor in southern New Mexico. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were supposed to return to Earth inside Starliner, will remain behind on the…
-
Sparks are flying day and night as SpaceX preps Starship pad to catch a rocket
Pretty much every day for the last couple of weeks, workers wielding welding guns and torches have climbed onto SpaceX’s Starship launch pad in South Texas to make last-minute upgrades ahead of the next test flight of the world’s largest rocket. Livestreams of the launch site provided by LabPadre and NASASpaceflight.com have shown sparks raining…
-
Astrobotic’s lander didn’t make it to the Moon because of a failed valve
Seven months after its first lunar lander fell short of reaching the Moon, Astrobotic announced Tuesday that the spacecraft was stricken by a valve failure that caused a propellant tank to burst in orbit. The company’s next landing attempt, using a much larger spacecraft, will include fixes to prevent a similar failure. Astrobotic’s first Peregrine…