Tag: NASA
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NASA picks 13 companies to envision the future of orbital human spaceflight
An artist’s conception shows three Bigelow Aerospace B330 modules linked together to create a space station being serviced by SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Such a configuration would provide as much pressurized volume as the International Space Station. (Bigelow Aerospace Illustration) Thirteen companies, including Boeing and Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture, will be doing…
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‘Smallsats are big’: NASA official details initiatives to boost tiny science satellites
Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for the science mission directorate, gives a keynote address at the SmallSat Conference in Logan, Utah. (NASA Photo via Twitter) LOGAN, Utah — NASA is already deep into small-satellite science, but today the space agency’s associate administrator for science signaled that NASA will be getting in even deeper. “We think, in…
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SpaceX Dragon cargo craft splashes down, delivering space algae and cell samples
News Brief: The International Space Station’s crew sent a Dragon back to Earth today, filled with more than 3,800 pounds of scientific samples and equipment. SpaceX’s robotic Dragon cargo capsule had been hooked up to the station for just over a month, providing plenty of time for the crew to unload shipments from Earth and…
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NASA names nine astronauts for SpaceX and Boeing flights to space station
The crews for the first four flights on SpaceX and Boeing space taxis wave to the cameras after their introduction at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas. (NASA via YouTube) NASA unveiled the first nine astronauts for its commercial crew missions to the International Space Station today, including rookies as well as seasoned veterans. The…
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NASA confirms new timetable for space taxi flights; SpaceX to fly crew next April
An artist’s conception shows SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship docking with the International Space Station, plus a cargo-carrying version of the Dragon in the foreground. (SpaceX Illustration via NASA) NASA today laid out a newly stretched-out schedule for flying astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil, with SpaceX’s first such flight set for no earlier…
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Solar probe moves into launch position at Cape Canaveral
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Aug. 1 with Tory Bruno comments on Delta 4-Heavy. Nestled inside the nose cone of its Delta 4-Heavy launcher, Parker Solar Probe departs its processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer / kenkremer.com / spaceupclose.com NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, fueled and buttoned up for liftoff Aug. 11 on the first mission…
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TESS’s planet hunt begins
Artist’s concept of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Credit: NASA NASA’s newest observatory in space has started its search for planets around other stars, officials said Friday, as astronomers zero in on worlds that are ripe for research by follow-up missions like the James Webb Space Telescope. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite officially began a…
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Engine test anomaly deals setback to Boeing’s plans for Starliner space taxi
Aerojet Rocketdyne conducts a 2016 test firing of the launch abort engines designed for use on Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi. The engines feature a new type of propellant valves. (Aerojet Rocketdyne Photo) Boeing confirms that it experienced an anomaly last month during tests of the engines that would be used on its CST-100 Starliner…
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Enjoy July’s gems from Juno at Jupiter
Jupiter’s clouds swirl in a view captured by NASA’s Juno orbiter during Perijove 14. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / Seán Doran) NASA’s Juno orbiter made another close pass of Jupiter this week, and that means there’s another crop of stunning pictures embellished by legions of citizen scientists. Every 53…
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SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule arrives in Florida to get set for uncrewed test flight
Technicians check out the Crew Dragon capsule in Florida after the completion of thermal vacuum and acoustic testing at NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio. (SpaceX via Instagram) After months of testing, a SpaceX Dragon capsule that’s designed to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station has arrived in Florida, marking a significant…