NASA / Jim Grossmann

Atlantis: Retirement Update... Yesterday morning, the second oldest orbiter in NASA's retired fleet took up temporary residence inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Prior to Friday's move, Atlantis was undergoing transition and retirement operations...which will soon come to a close now that the vehicle had her three Replica Shuttle Main Engines installed this past week. Atlantis was being decommissioned inside Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-1...which KSC managers wanted to vacate since a commercial aerospace company will soon take up ownership of the building. Which company is using OPF-1 and what spacecraft will be built inside there is currently undisclosed. Boeing is planning to build its Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 capsule in OPF-3.

Atlantis will eventually complete her decommissioning process inside OPF-2...where Endeavour is currently residing. Atlantis will be transported from the VAB to OPF-2 once Endeavour is rolled over to the Shuttle Landing Facility this September; beginning preparations for her ferry flight to downtown Los Angeles later that month, and in turn being delivered to the California Science Center for final museum display not too long after.


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann

NASA / Lockheed Martin

Orion Update... The Orion spacecraft that will embark on the Exploration Flight Test-1 mission in 2014 has now been placed inside of its shipping container at the Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana. Orion will be delivered for final assembly to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida...with arrival at KSC scheduled for this Monday.

The photos posted with this entry are courtesy of Orion's Facebook page.


NASA / Lockheed Martin


NASA / Lockheed Martin


NASA / Lockheed Martin

SpaceX

SpaceX update... Check out this video showing SpaceX test firing its Merlin 1D engine, which is an upgrade of the Merlin engines that successfully flew on the last three Falcon 9 flights in 2010 and last month, respectively. The test fire, which was conducted yesterday at the Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas, lasted for a little over 3 minutes (185 seconds, to be exact) with 147,000 pounds of thrust; the full duration and power required for a Falcon 9 rocket launch. The Merlin 1D will eventually be used on Falcon 9 and SpaceX's newest launch vehicle, the Falcon Heavy rocket...which is scheduled for its first test flight sometime next year.

The Merlin 1D engines will debut on their first sojourn into space on Falcon 9 Flight 6, also targeted for launch in 2013.

NASA / Eric Bordelon

Orion Update... Last week, the final weld was conducted on the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) that will fly into space on the Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1 mission. The MPCV will arrive at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on July 2, after being transported from Lockheed Martin's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana. While initial construction on Orion took place at Michoud, final assembly will be done in the Operations and Checkout Facility at KSC. EFT-1 is scheduled to head to Earth orbit in early 2014. This test will be conducted using a Delta IV launch vehicle.


Courtesy of Facebook

Photo of the Day... Last week, SpaceX tested the Superdraco engine—which is much larger than the Draco thrusters already used in space during two Dragon missions in 2010 and last month, respectively—that will be utilized on a manned version of the Dragon spacecraft. Dragon will use four pairs of side-mounted Superdraco engines...with the ability to maneuver in Earth orbit even if four of its thrusters suddenly became nonoperational. The Superdracos would also be used to safely lift Dragon away from an errant Falcon 9 rocket in the event of a launch emergency.


Photo courtesy of SpaceX / Elon Musk - Twitter.com

NASA / Kim Shiflett

Endeavour: Retirement Update... While NASA's youngest orbiter achieved another transition and retirement milestone by having her twin payload bay doors permanently closed at Kennedy Space Center yesterday, progress continues to be made on the temporary hangar, known as the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion, that will house Endeavour when she arrives at the California Science Center in Los Angeles this late September. The construction photos below are courtesy of the California Science Center's Facebook page.


California Science Center


California Science Center


California Science Center


California Science Center
California Science Center

CCTV

Shenzhou-9 docks at Tiangong-1... At 2:07 PM, Beijing time today, the Shenzhou-9 vehicle carrying three taikonauts finally arrived at the Tiangong-1 space module...starting a day's worth of events that led to Tiangong-1 becoming China's first manned space station in low-Earth orbit. Liu Wang, Liu Yang and Jing Haipeng will spend at least 10 days at the station—conducting various lab experiments and testing docking maneuvers utilizing Shenzhou-9 before departing from Tiangong-1 and returning to Earth on June 29. Liu Yang, a pilot for the Chinese Air Force, has already made history by becoming the first female taikonaut to fly into space.

The docking mechanism that allowed Shenzhou-9 to berth with Tiangong-1 is essentially the same type used on the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS). A few modifications to the mechanism could allow Tiangong-1 to dock with the ISS if China was someday permitted to join the multinational program. However, the U.S. Congress has a law in place that prevents NASA from cooperating with the Asian superpower in every way. This is despite the fact China may have a bigger space station in orbit by the time the ISS is retired in 2020...assuming no new funding is provided to extend the life of the 13-year-old orbital outpost well into the next decade.


CCTV


CCTV


CCTV

CCTV

China marks another spaceflight milestone... At 6:37 PM, Beijing Time today, a Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft blasted off into Earth orbit to rendezvous and dock with China's Tiangong-1 space module...which has been in orbit since last September. While China is about to make history by having its very first crewed space station within the next two days, it also achieved the milestone of launching its first female taikonaut, Liu Yang, into space. Yang, a 33-year-old pilot for the Chinese Air Force, and her two crew members will arrive at Tiangong-1 this Sunday—and return to Earth after what should be a 13-day mission at the prototype outpost.

China hopes to have a bigger and permanent space station in low-Earth orbit (LEO) as early as 2020...the same year that the International Space Station is scheduled to be decommissioned and de-orbited from LEO.


CCTV


CCTV


Chinese Ministry of Defense

NASA / Bill Ingalls

SpaceX update... Earlier today, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden paid a visit to the Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas to congratulate SpaceX founder Elon Musk and his employees on Dragon C2+'s successful mission...which concluded on May 31. While SpaceX's headquarter is located in Hawthorne, California, Dragon C2+ was transported to Texas (after it arrived via barge at the Port of Los Angeles several days after splashing down in the Pacific) so that cargo that was placed inside it by International Space Station (ISS) crew members prior to Dragon's departure from the outpost could be offloaded. The cargo would then be handed over to NASA.

The next Dragon flight, dubbed Dragon C3, will be the first of 12 official cargo delivery missions that NASA authorized SpaceX to launch to the ISS. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket that will send Dragon C3 to the orbiting laboratory is currently targeted for September 24.


NASA / Bill Ingalls


NASA / Bill Ingalls

NASA / Jim Grossmann

Atlantis: Retirement Update... About two weeks ago, the Forward Reaction Control System pod was re-installed onto the orbiter Atlantis as her transition and retirement operation comes to a close in a few months. Earlier today, technicians inside Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida began preparing for the re-attachment of the first of Atlantis' twin Orbital Maneuvering System pods to the vehicle.

Atlantis and Endeavour are the two remaining space shuttles still in the possession of NASA. Discovery has been a museum piece for the Smithsonian since mid-April, while the prototype orbiter Enterprise will soon become one after arriving at her final home, the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City, last week. Endeavour will head to the California Science Center in late September, while Atlantis will be the last shuttle to become a space artifact. She is scheduled to be transported down the street to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex between November of this year and February of 2013.


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett

NASA

Venus Transit 2012... Yesterday, NASA astronaut Don Pettit took these photos of the rare celestial event from aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Pettit launched to the ISS on December 21 of last year. Among the items that Pettit brought with him when he arrived at the orbital outpost on December 23 were special camera filters that he used to photograph Venus' crossing of the Sun's disk—which will not take place again for another 105 years.

The last time a Venus transit occurred was back in 2004...while the next transits by this greenhouse planet will not take place till 2117 and 2125, respectively.


NASA


NASA


NASA

Sierra Nevada Corp.

Rise of the Dream Chaser... Last week, a full-scale test version of the Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser spacecraft was hoisted into the air by an Erickson Air-Crane helicopter during a captive-carry test in Colorado. The test was meant to evaluate the Dream Chaser's structural integrity while being airborne...as well as examining facilities and ground operations in preparation for approach and landing tests planned for later this year. Should the Dream Chaser ever take flight into space, it will be aboard an Atlas V rocket—which is also the launch vehicle of choice for Boeing's Crew Space Transportation-100 capsule. The Dream Chaser is designed to ferry cargo or seven astronauts to low-Earth orbit destinations such as the International Space Station when it becomes operational.


Sierra Nevada Corp.


Sierra Nevada Corp.