America's Newest Super Heavy-Lift Rocket Has Successfully Taken Flight!

Blue Origin - Dave Limp

Blue Origin’s New Glenn Reaches Orbit (News Release)

New Glenn safely reached its intended orbit during today's NG-1 mission, accomplishing our primary objective.

New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines ignited on January 16, 2025, at 2:03 a.m. EST (0703 UTC) from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The second stage is in its final orbit following two successful burns of the BE-3U engines. The Blue Ring Pathfinder is receiving data and performing well. We lost the booster during descent.

“I’m incredibly proud New Glenn achieved orbit on its first attempt,” said Dave Limp, CEO, Blue Origin. “We knew landing our booster, So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance, on the first try was an ambitious goal. We’ll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring. Thank you to all of Team Blue for this incredible milestone.”

New Glenn is foundational to advancing our customers’ critical missions as well as our own. The vehicle underpins our efforts to establish sustained human presence on the Moon, harness in-space resources, provide multi-mission, multi-orbit mobility through Blue Ring, and establish destinations in low-Earth orbit. Future New Glenn missions will carry the Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo lander and Mark 2 crewed lander to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.

The program has several vehicles in production and multiple years of orders. Customers include NASA, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile and several telecommunications providers, among others. Blue Origin is certifying New Glenn with the U.S. Space Force for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program to meet emerging national security objectives.

"Today marks a new era for Blue Origin and for commercial space," said Jarrett Jones, Senior Vice President, New Glenn. "We're focused on ramping our launch cadence and manufacturing rates. My heartfelt thanks to everyone at Blue Origin for the tremendous amount of work in making today's success possible, and to our customers and the space community for their continuous support. We felt that immensely today."

Source: Blue Origin

****


Blue Origin


Blue Origin


Blue Origin - Dave Limp

The International Space Station Is Set to Receive Another Power Upgrade...

NASA

Redwire Successfully Delivers Fourth Pair of Roll-Out Solar Array Wings for ISS Power (Press Release)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW), a leader in space infrastructure for the next-generation space economy, announced today the successful delivery of the fourth pair of Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) wings for the International Space Station (ISS), also known as the IROSA program. The wings were developed and delivered through a follow-on contract with Boeing, NASA’s prime contractor for ISS operations.

The IROSA wings enhance the space station’s power supply to support critical research and space operations. The fourth pair of wings were developed in partnership with Boeing’s Spectrolab and delivered through a follow-on contract awarded in June 2022. Since 2021, a total of six Redwire-built arrays have been deployed on the ISS, modernizing its critical power supply.

“With eight IROSA wings produced, and six currently deployed and powering the ISS to date, IROSA is a proven technology for powering sustained human activities in space,” said Peter Cannito, Redwire Chairman and CEO. “The technical success of the program paves the way for new opportunities for commercial space stations and sustained power infrastructure on the Moon and beyond.”

The delivery of the most recent set of IROSA wings follows acceptance testing consisting of multiple ambient functional deployments, vibration, and cold and hot temperature deployments. The wings are undergoing flight package integration in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and are slated to launch on an upcoming commercial resupply mission to the ISS.

Each wing provides an additional 20+ kW of power for over 10 years once deployed, and all eight IROSA wings combined will provide more than 160 kW. Since installation on the ISS, the six currently-deployed wings have operated nominally, enabling extended operation of ISS to 2030 and beyond.

Redwire has continued to advance ROSA technology to power other spaceflight platforms and ambitious missions with reliable and stable power solutions for civil, DoD and commercial customers. Redwire is currently building ROSA systems for the Power and Propulsion Element for NASA’s Gateway program, a part of the agency’s Artemis program, and Astrobotic’s Lunar Vertical Solar Array program, which aims to provide sustainable power on the lunar surface. Along with its previous success on the ISS, Redwire’s ROSA technology also powered NASA’s DART spacecraft to impact the asteroid Dimorphos, successfully altering the asteroid’s orbit in September 2022.

Source: Redwire Space

Photos of the City of Angels During the SoCal Firestorms, as Seen from the ISS...

NASA / Don Pettit

Los Angeles at Night During Wildfires (Photo Release - January 10)

City lights illuminate the Los Angeles, California, metropolitan area at approximately 2:30 a.m. local time as the Palisades, Hurst and Eaton wildfires rage around nearby suburbs including Malibu, San Fernando and Pasadena.

The International Space Station was orbiting 258 miles above the southwestern United States at the time of this photograph (above).

Source: NASA.Gov

****


NASA / Don Pettit


NASA / Don Pettit

The Latest Update on Launch Preps for the Next SLS Flight...

NASA

Artemis Teams Successfully Test Uninterruptible Power for Mobile Launcher (News Release)

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, successfully tested the new uninterruptible power supply for Mobile Launcher 1 while it’s in Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). This marks the next set of integrated ground systems testing that the EGS teams are conducting to prepare for the Artemis II crewed mission.

During this test, engineers turned off the power to the Mobile Launcher and verified that new batteries, which are located in High Bay 3 of the VAB, did not negatively impact any systems. These batteries provide power to the Mobile Launcher, SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft - and allow teams to safe all systems in the unlikely event the structure loses power while it’s inside the VAB. There are similar batteries that are used for the same purpose at Launch Complex 39B, from which crewed Artemis missions will launch.

The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon.

Source: NASA.Gov

****


NASA

The First Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle That Flew to the Moon Is Back in Cape Canaveral...

NASA

Artemis I Orion Spacecraft Returns to Florida (News Release)

The Artemis I Orion crew module, now known as the Orion Environmental Test Article (ETA), returned to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 21, 2024, following an 11-month test campaign at the agency’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.

This is not the first time that the ETA has been at Kennedy. After splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11, 2022, following its journey around the Moon during the Artemis I mission, the spacecraft was transported by truck from Naval Base San Diego in California to Kennedy’s Multi-Payload Processing Facility (MPPF) to be reconfigured from spacecraft to test article and complete a series of crew module functional tests.

Now returned to the spaceport after testing at the Armstrong Test Facility, engineers will begin testing on the ETA in Kennedy’s MPPF to undergo propulsion functional testing, which includes putting the crew module’s twelve reaction control system (RCS) thrusters through a simulated hot fire. RCS thrusters provide control of rotation while in orbit, during re-entry and certain abort scenarios.

Once testing is complete, the ETA will travel down the road to Kennedy’s Space Systems Processing Facility for an acoustic noise demonstration test that will help improve future acoustic testing for NASA and Lockheed Martin, the agency’s primary contractor for Orion. In addition to undergoing further testing at Kennedy, teams will remove hardware from the ETA for reusability studies that could impact future Artemis missions. With NASA’s Artemis campaign, we are exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars.

Source: NASA.Gov

****

America's Newest Super Heavy-Lift Rocket Is Set to Fly by this Weekend...

Blue Origin

New Glenn Launch Targeting No Earlier Than January 10 (News Release)

New Glenn’s inaugural mission (NG-1) is targeting no earlier than Friday, January 10, from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The three-hour launch window opens at 1 a.m. EST (0600 UTC). NG-1 is our first National Security Space Launch certification flight.

The payload is our Blue Ring Pathfinder. It will test Blue Ring’s core flight, ground systems and operational capabilities as part of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Orbital Logistics prototype effort.

Our key objective is to reach orbit safely. We know landing the booster on our first try offshore in the Atlantic is ambitious—but we’re going for it.

“This is our first flight and we’ve prepared rigorously for it,” said Jarrett Jones, SVP, New Glenn. “But no amount of ground testing or mission simulations are a replacement for flying this rocket. It’s time to fly. No matter what happens, we’ll learn, refine and apply that knowledge to our next launch.”

Source: Blue Origin

****


Blue Origin - Dave Limp

Photos of the Day: A Mini Mega-Moon Rocket...

Richard T. Par

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! Just thought I'd share these images that I took of the LEGO® Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that I got as a Christmas gift by one of my siblings last week.

This Artemis 1 LEGO set contains 3,601 pieces...and took me about a day-and-a-half to complete. By comparison, the LEGO Perseverance Mars rover that my sibling got me for Christmas a year ago contains over 1,100 pieces—but took me two full days to finish, I believe. (I never built LEGO sets of such complexity when I was a kid!)

Just like with LEGO Percy (and Ginny, as in the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter), I ordered an acrylic case online to put the SLS rocket in for posterity. The case should be delivered to my home by the end of next month.

I'll take more photos of the LEGO SLS once it's finally enshrouded by its glass case. Have a wonderful 2025!


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par


Richard T. Par

A New Super Heavy-Lift Rocket Is Ready to Fly in Early January...

Blue Origin

Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket Completes Integrated Launch Vehicle Hotfire (News Release)

New Glenn successfully completed an integrated launch vehicle hotfire test today, the final major milestone on our road to first flight. NG-1 will carry a Blue Ring Pathfinder as its first manifested payload and will launch from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, FL.

The seven-engine hotfire lasted 24 seconds and marked the first time that we operated the entire flight vehicle as an integrated system. The multi-day test campaign leading up to the hotfire included numerous inert functional and tanking tests. The integrated launch vehicle included the first and second stages of the NG-1 flight vehicle, and a payload test article comprised of manufacturing test demonstrator fairings, a high-capacity fixed adapter flight unit, and a 45,000 lb payload mass simulator.

One of the primary goals of the test campaign was to demonstrate day-of-launch operations in our NG-1 test configuration. Additionally, the team conducted several tests to validate vehicle and ground systems in the fully-integrated, on-pad configuration. This data will be utilized to finalize day-of-launch timelines, confirm expected performance, and correlate our models to real-world test data.

“This is a monumental milestone and a glimpse of what’s just around the corner for New Glenn’s first launch,” said Jarrett Jones, SVP, New Glenn. “Today’s success proves that our rigorous approach to testing–combined with our incredible tooling and design engineering–is working as intended.”

The tanking test included a full run-through of the terminal count sequence, testing the hand-off authority to and from the flight computer, and collecting fluid validation data. The first stage (GS1) tanks were filled and pressed with liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LOX), and the second stage (GS2) with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen–both to representative NG-1 set points.

The formal NG-1 Wet Dress Rehearsal demonstrated the final launch procedures leading into the hotfire engine run. All seven engines performed nominally, firing for 24 seconds, including at 100% thrust for 13 seconds. The test also demonstrated New Glenn’s autogenous pressurization system, which self-generates gases to pressurize GS1’s propellant tanks.

This test campaign captured a number of firsts for the New Glenn launch system, including the first seven-engine operations, the first integrated GS1-GS2 tanking demonstration, the first LNG/LOX fill for GS1, as well as first chilled helium operations for GS2.

The campaign met all objectives and marks the final major test prior to launch.

Blue Origin has several New Glenn vehicles in production and a full customer manifest. Customers include NASA, Amazon's Project Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile, several telecommunications providers and a mix of U.S. government customers. Blue Origin is certifying New Glenn with the U.S. Space Force for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program to meet emerging national security objectives.

Source: Blue Origin

****


Blue Origin

Next stop launch pic.twitter.com/GQFz4XxEt5

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) December 28, 2024

The FAA has approved the launch license for Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket! According to NOTAMs released today, launch is targeted for NET January 6th at 06:00 UTC, pending a successful static fire. For the 1st flight, New Glenn will carry the DarkSky-1 Blue Ring flight system. https://t.co/6xUMCVD6qs pic.twitter.com/dxTGXoOXLf

— Lukas C. H. (@GewoonLukas_) December 27, 2024

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! The Latest Update on the Next SLS Flight...

NASA / Kim Shiflett

Artemis Launch Team Successfully Test Upgraded Launch Software (News Release - December 19)

Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida successfully tested the launch control system, the software used to launch the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis Moon missions. The evaluations, which took place in the firing rooms of Kennedy’s Launch Control Center, included testing that software, audio and imagery displays function well together, as well as practicing a launch pad-abort scenario.

Engineers with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program divided the test into two parts: teams first ensured that the software the Artemis launch team uses can handle multiple inputs at the same time. Following software testing, teams performed a launch countdown simulation starting at T-minus 2 hours and 30 minutes until liftoff, which included testing the “abort switch,” a switch that only the launch director and assistant launch director can flip in the event an abort at the launch pad is needed.

This marks the next set of integrated ground systems tests that NASA completed to prepare for the Artemis II mission. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon.

Source: NASA.Gov

****


NASA

A Christmas Eve Update: Another Private Company Wants to Join Axiom Space in Sending Astronauts to the ISS...

SpaceX

Vast Announces Deal with SpaceX to Launch Two Human Spaceflight Missions to the International Space Station (News Release - December 19)

Vast, the pioneering space habitation technology company building Haven-1, which is expected to become the world’s first commercial station when it launches in 2025, announced today that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch up to two Dragon missions to the International Space Station (ISS) in support of Vast’s future bid for NASA’s private astronaut missions (PAM). These missions, contingent on Vast being selected by NASA, will be the fifth and sixth PAMs ever awarded by the agency.

While Vast is developing its private space station, Haven-1, the company plans to leverage additional missions to the ISS in partnership with NASA to draw on the agency’s extensive expertise. These missions provide opportunities to collaborate with private individuals and international space agency customers through the NASA PAM program and strengthen current partnerships. This is an important step as Vast prepares to compete with its Haven-2 design in NASA’s upcoming Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Destination (CLD) Phase II program, which is positioned to select a successor to the ISS.‍

‍"Enabling payload and crewed missions to the ISS is a key part of Vast’s strategy, allowing us to further our collaboration with NASA and global space agencies. These missions not only strengthen our expertise in human spaceflight operations and collaboration with NASA, but also position Vast as a leading contender to deliver the next-generation successor to the ISS, advancing the future of human space exploration," said Max Haot, Chief Executive Officer of Vast.‍

‍These two missions expand Vast’s launch manifest with SpaceX, which includes the company’s Falcon 9 rocket delivering Haven-1 to low-Earth orbit and a subsequent Dragon mission to fly crew to the commercial space station. Haven-1 will also be supported by Starlink laser-based high-speed internet.

‍ ‍“I am excited to work with Vast as they build more opportunities and destinations for more people to travel amongst the stars,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s President and Chief Operating Officer.‍

‍With SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Dragon human spaceflight system, a Vast PAM mission is set to achieve multiple NASA objectives, including increasing the number of PAM providers, more widely sharing the knowledge and experience gained from conducting PAM missions, and supporting NASA in further meeting its mandate of enabling a low-Earth orbit (LEO) space economy.

NASA’s PAM strategy was introduced in 2019 to accelerate a burgeoning LEO space economy and highlight the utility of future commercial destinations. PAMs have allowed commercial industry partners to gain valuable insight into the costs and operations of LEO destinations, giving them insight into the infrastructure and processes required to safely accomplish a human spaceflight mission. This includes crew selection and training, mission planning and execution, mission management, cargo integration, and crew health and medical care protocols.

The success of these missions has subsequently increased the demand for more PAMs, now exceeding NASA’s supply of opportunities as the ISS nears retirement in 2030.

Sovereign governments have also expressed strong interest in flying crews to the ISS. Vast is in active discussions with multiple governments regarding PAMs, including the Czech Republic, which signed an MOU with Vast in November 2024.‍

In preparation for missions to Haven-1 and the NASA CLD Phase II contract competition, NASA’s PAM program offers Vast an additional opportunity to demonstrate its capability and competency to plan, manage, and safely and successfully execute a crewed mission in its entirety. These missions will augment knowledge and lessons learned applicable to Haven-1 and Haven-2, Vast’s CLD space station and proposed successor to the ISS.

Source: VastSpace.com

****


Vast