Tag: International Space Station
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NASA says Boeing Starliner test crew may have to return in SpaceX capsule in 2025
An image captured through the window of a docked SpaceX Dragon capsule shows Boeing’s Starliner capsule hooked up to the International Space Station. (NASA Photo) Continuing concerns about the thruster system on Boeing’s Starliner space capsule may lead NASA to decide against letting astronauts take the craft back down to Earth from the International Space…
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As it happened: NASA discusses ISS schedule shuffle, SpaceX Crew-9 launch delay, Boeing Starliner questions
NASA officials aim to add context to some of its recent changes to the manifest of the International Space Station. It will host a media teleconference on Wednesday, Aug. 7, to discuss the timelines of the SpaceX Crew-9 launch, the Crew-8 return to Earth and the impacts to the schedule from the ongoing Boeing Starliner…
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Axiom Space’s fourth private astronaut crew named, begins training in Houston
The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft is pictured docked to the space-facing port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module. Dragon Freedom carried four Axiom Mission-2 astronauts to the orbital lab on May 22, 2023, including Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot John Shoffner, and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. Image: NASA The full crew of…
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Cygnus completes two-day journey to the International Space Station
The Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft, named the S.S. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, completed installation onto the International Space Station at 5:33 a.m. EDT (0933 UTC) on Aug. 6, 2024. The NG-21 mission launched from Florida at 11:02 a.m. EDT (1502 UTC) on Aug. 4. Image: NASA Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft completed a roughly 40-hour journey…
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NASA and SpaceX launch a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station
A shock collar forms around SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as it ascended from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday, August 4, 2024. The NG-21 mission launched a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to begin a roughly 40-hour journey to the ISS. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Update 9:02 p.m. EDT: The Cygnus spacecraft…
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Boeing’s Starliner has cost at least twice as much as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon
Boeing announced another financial charge Wednesday for its troubled Starliner commercial crew program, bringing the company’s total losses on Starliner to $1.6 billion. In its quarterly earnings report, Boeing registered a $125 million loss on the Starliner program, blaming delays on the spacecraft’s still-ongoing Crew Flight Test, the program’s first mission to carry astronauts into…
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SpaceX moving Dragon splashdowns to Pacific to solve falling debris problem
Sometime next year, SpaceX will begin returning its Dragon crew and cargo capsules to splashdowns in the Pacific Ocean and end recoveries of the spacecraft off the coast of Florida. This will allow SpaceX to make changes to the way it brings Dragons back to Earth and eliminate the risk, however tiny, that a piece…
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NASA nears decision on what to do with Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft
The astronauts who rode Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station last month still don’t know when they will return to Earth. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been in space for 51 days, six weeks longer than originally planned, as engineers on the groundwork through problems with Starliner’s propulsion system. The problems…
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NASA plans for space station’s demise with new SpaceX ‘Deorbit Vehicle’
An artist’s impression of SpaceX’s ISS Deorbit Vehicle pushing the lab toward a controlled re-entry and breakup in the 2030 timeframe, after a formal decision to retire the lab complex after three decades of operation. Graphic: SpaceX SpaceX is building a souped-up version of its cargo Dragon spacecraft to drive the International Space Station out…
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NASA update on Starliner thruster issues: This is fine
Before clearing Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule to depart the International Space Station and head for Earth, NASA managers want to ensure the spacecraft’s problematic control thrusters can help guide the ship’s two-person crew home. The two astronauts who launched June 5 on the Starliner spacecraft’s first crew test flight agree with the managers, although they…