Earlier today,Ship 28 successfully conducted a static fire for one of her six Raptor 2 engines at Starbase in Texas. And less than two hours later, Booster 10 flawlessly fired all 33 of its Raptor 2 engines during its own static fire at Starbase's Orbital Launch Site!
SpaceX continues to make rapid progress as it prepares for the third Starship Flight Test...which may happen within the next two months. But as yet another reminder, this will be made possible once the Federal Aviation Administration grants a third launch license for this demonstration.
Stay tuned!
SpaceX
Ignition of a single Raptor engine on Flight 3 Starship demonstrating a flight-like startup for an in-space burn pic.twitter.com/BCv6iIUnag
NASA’s Artemis II Crew Meet with President, VP at White House (News Release - December 19)
The first astronauts to fly around the Moon under NASA’s Artemis program visited the White House in Washington on Thursday, and met with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office to thank him for his leadership and discuss their upcoming flight test. Artemis II crew members are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The mission is currently targeted for late 2024. After launching on NASA’s SLS(Space Launch System) rocket from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the crew will travel aboard the Orion spacecraft on a 10-day mission around the Moon, testing its systems for the first time with astronauts for long-term exploration and scientific discovery through Artemis.
Driving both human and robotic exploration at the Moon and Mars, science is a key foundation of NASA’s work.
The astronauts also discussed training and plans for their mission with the President, as well as lunar science, including a Moon rock on display in the Oval Office. That rock was collected in 1972 by Apollo astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan, the last humans to step foot on the lunar surface.
Samples collected on future Artemis missions will continue to help humanity shed light on how the Moon formed and evolved, how it interacts with the Sun, and how water and other resources arrived at the Moon and are preserved.
While at the White House, the astronauts also met separately with Vice President Kamala Harris, who serves as the chair of the National Space Council. They discussed how Artemis represents the power of technological innovation and international collaboration.
Through Artemis, the U.S. is leading, innovating, discovering and inspiring humanity for the benefit of all.
Just thought I'd share these great images of Ship 28 after it successfully conducted a six-engine static fire at Starbase in Texas earlier today.
Up next: The static fire of Booster 10 at the Orbital Launch Site. It remains to be seen when the Federal Aviation Administration will grant a launch license for the third Starship Flight Test...which SpaceX aims to conduct as soon as next February.
Stay tuned!
SpaceX
SpaceX
SpaceX
Flight 3 Starship completed a full-duration static fire with all six of its Raptor engines pic.twitter.com/Mxn8faKcEv
Blue Origin Successfully Completes 24th Mission to Space (News Release)
Blue Origin successfully completed its 24th New Shepard flight and 13th payload mission today from Launch Site One in West Texas.
The flight carried 33 payloads from NASA, academia, research institutions and commercial companies, bringing the number of payloads flown on New Shepard to more than 150. Club for the Future, Blue Origin’s nonprofit, flew 38,000 postcards as part of its Postcards to Space program.
Each postcard will be returned to its creator stamped “Flown to Space.” The Club recently added a digital method to create and send postcards, which can be found here.
Key mission statistics:
Official Launch Time: 10:42:28 AM CST / 16:42:28 UTC
Booster Apogee: 347,208 ft. AGL / 350,855 ft. MSL (106 km AGL / 107 km MSL)
Crew Capsule Apogee: 347,601 ft. AGL / 351,248 ft. MSL (106 km AGL / 107 km MSL)
Crew Capsule Landing Time: 10:52:41 AM CST / 16:52:41 UTC
Mission Elapsed Time: 10 min 13 sec
“A special thank you to all of our customers who flew important science today and the students who contributed postcards to advance our future of living and working in space for the benefit of Earth,” said Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President, New Shepard. “Demand for New Shepard flights continues to grow and we’re looking forward to increasing our flight cadence in 2024.”
If you’re interested in purchasing an astronaut seat on New Shepard, please visit here. For payload inquiries, please visit here.
A full replay of today’s flight is available below.
Dream Chaser Undergoes Testing at NASA Test Facility in Ohio (News Release)
NASA and Sierra Space are preparing for the first flight of the company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft to the International Space Station. Dream Chaser and its companion cargo module, called Shooting Star, arrived at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, for environmental testing, scheduled to start in mid-December, ahead of its first flight, scheduled for the first half of 2024.
The Neil Armstrong Test Facility, part of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, is home to multiple test facilities, including the Space Environments Complex and In-Space Propulsion Facility, both stops for Dream Chaser. The complex is home to the Mechanical Vibration Facility, which subjects test articles to the rigorous conditions of launch.
While at Armstrong, the Dream Chaser winged spacecraft will be stacked atop its Shooting Star cargo module on the vibration table to experience vibrations like those during launch and re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Following vibration testing, Dream Chaser will be moved to the propulsion facility for thermal vacuum testing. Dream Chaser will be placed in a vacuum and exposed to low-ambient pressures, low-background temperatures and replicated dynamic solar heating, which simulates the environment that the spacecraft will encounter during its mission.
This facility is the only one capable of testing full-scale, upper stage rockets and rocket engines under simulated space conditions and conducting altitude hot fire.
After completion of testing at Armstrong, Dream Chaser will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for further launch preparations, currently scheduled for liftoff in the first half of 2024.
NASA Stennis Continues Preparations for Future Artemis Testing (News Release)
Crews at NASA’s Stennis Space Center cleared a milestone on December 11, installing a key component in preparation for future Green Run testing of NASA’s new Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) vehicle for use on the SLS(Space Launch System) rocket.
Four large diffusers, each weighing 14 tons, were lifted by crane for installation on the Thad Cochran Test Stand (B-2). The diffusers are a critical component designed to help direct engine exhaust away from the EUS during hot fire testing to minimize heat exposure to sensitive vehicle systems.
NASA’s new EUS is being built at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans as a more powerful SLS second stage to send the Orion spacecraft and heavier payloads to deep space as NASA continues its mission to explore the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. The EUS is expected to fly on the Artemis IV mission following a series of Green Run tests of its integrated systems at NASA Stennis to demonstrate that it is ready to fly.
The test series will culminate with a hot fire of the four RL10 engines that will power the EUS.
During an actual flight, critical EUS systems will be protected by the SLS interstage. To protect the systems during Green Run testing, teams are using an interstage simulator, a size-and-weight replica of the actual SLS interstage, and the connected diffusers.
The system requires a high level of precision. The diffusers will be connected to the EUS engine nozzles using a flexible seal so gimbaling, or moving a rocket engine a few degrees along a tight circular axis to direct the thrust and “steer” the vehicle, can occur during testing.
They are also designed to facilitate propellant connections and allow test teams access to the engine area as needed.
The carbon steel diffusers were precisely designed by a joint NASA Stennis and Jacobs Engineering team, using computational models, subscale testing and historical data. The units were then made by Custom Steel Fabricators in Columbia, Tennessee, and delivered by truck to NASA Stennis.
Following lift and installation on the test stand, the diffuser system will be connected to the facility water and hydraulic supplies. A final checkout of the system will include a full test stand water flow demonstration.
Artemis II Booster Surges Ahead at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (News Release)
Inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians process the right forward center segment of the SLS(Space Launch System) rocket on November 28, 2023. The ongoing processing of the segments is the first step before stacking operations begin and the segments will form the twin solid rocket boosters for the SLS rocket that will power NASA’s Artemis II mission.
After arriving via rail in September, the team has been inspecting each segment one-by-one and lifting them to a vertical position to ensure that the solid propellant and segment are ready for integration and launch.
Once processing is complete for all 10 segments, they will be moved one at a time to the Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking atop the mobile launcher. Standing 17 stories-tall and burning approximately six tons of propellant every second, each booster generates more thrust than 14 four-engine jumbo commercial airliners.
Together, the twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch.
The Artemis II mission will send four astronauts around the Moon as part of the agency’s effort to establish a long-term science and exploration presence at the Moon, and eventually Mars.
Station Reaches 25 Years in Orbit, Crew Continues Advanced Space Research (News Release)
25 years ago today, the first two modules of the International Space Station – Zarya and Unity – were mated during the STS-88 mission of space shuttle Endeavour. The shuttle’s Canadarm robotic arm reached out and grappled Zarya, which had been in orbit for just over two weeks, and attached it to the Unity module stowed inside Endeavour’s payload bay.
Endeavour would undock from the young dual-module station one week later...beginning the space station assembly era.
The seven-member Expedition 70 crew called down to Earth today and discussed with NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana and International Space Station Program Manager Joel Montalbano the orbital outpost’s accomplishments since the assembly era began on December 6, 1998. Cabana was the commander of Endeavour when both modules were robotically mated then outfitted during a series of spacewalks.
Montalbano, NASA’s sixth station leader since the program’s inception, remarked today, “We want to celebrate today all the people who designed, built and operate the International Space Station.”
Meanwhile, a host of space biology work continued aboard the orbital lab on Wednesday to improve human health on Earth and in space. Cargo operations and lab maintenance rounded out the day keeping the four astronauts and three cosmonauts busy during the middle of the week.
Aging studies are taking place on the orbital lab helping researchers understand space-caused accelerated aging symptoms at the molecular and cellular level. NASA Flight Engineers Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli took turns processing liver stem samples for the Space AGE study taking place in the Kibo laboratory module.
Kibo’s Life Science Glovebox is hosting the research operation that is exploring aging-like properties of immune cells and the regenerative capacity of liver cells.
Mental health and cognition are key concerns for NASA and its international partners as the space agencies plan longer human missions farther away from Earth. Commander Andreas Mogensen wore virtual reality goggles for the VR Mental Care experiment today and watched a 360-degree movie to understand its stabilizing effect on the nervous system.
Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa took a computerized robotics test for a CIPHER investigation studying how microgravity affects brain structure, sleep quality, stress and immune function.
Mogensen from ESA (European Space Agency) and Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) also partnered with O’Hara and Moghbeli...transferring payloads in and out of the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft throughout the day. The foursome then spent the rest of Wednesday supporting a variety of other ongoing space research and life support activities.
Veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko tended to eggs being incubated for a Roscosmos space biology study, deployed carbon dioxide monitors, and practiced using emergency masks. Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub worked on an immunity study and continued unpacking cargo from the Progress 86 resupply ship.
Flight Engineer Konstantin Borisov started his morning replacing electrical plumbing gear and then worked in the afternoon checking smoke detectors and charging a science laptop computer.
A few hours ago, a huge milestone was achieved for space shuttle Endeavour's permanent display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles when Endeavour's twin solid rocket boosters (SRBs) each received their forward assembly...aka nose cones.
With the solid rocket boosters now fully assembled, the next milestone to reach is transporting external fuel tank ET-94 and Endeavour herself to the construction site of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. This task is scheduled for no earlier than next month.
And as a reminder, December 31 is the last day where you can view Endeavour inside her current exhibit—the Samuel Oschin Pavilion—prior to it permanently closing to the public. The next chance to see the retired orbiter will be when she is moved over to the construction site, or the few days after Endeavour is mated to ET-94 and her SRBs before the space shuttle stack is fully concealed by scaffolding for environmental protection as work continues on the Air and Space Center.
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center was, I believe, set to open to the public in 2025...but that date might change. Stay tuned!
California Science Center
California Science Center
It's finally December!
As a reminder, you have till December 31 to view Endeavour inside California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Pavilion before it permanently closes!
Endeavour is set to be relocated to the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center's construction site next month. pic.twitter.com/OyqojMWw56
NASA Continues Progress on Artemis III Rocket Adapter with Key Joint Installation (News Release)
Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently installed a key component called the frangible joint assembly onto the adapter that connects the core stage to the upper part of NASA’s SLS(Space Launch System) rocket. The cone-shaped stage adapter, called the launch vehicle stage adapter, will be part of the SLS mega rocket that will power NASA’s Artemis III mission to the Moon.
The frangible joint sits atop the adapter and operates as a separation mechanism. The frangible joint is designed to break apart upon command, allowing the upper part of the rocket, NASA’s Orion spacecraft, and the crew inside Orion to quickly separate from the SLS core stage and adapter.
Frangible joint assemblies are widely used across the space industry in a variety of crewed and uncrewed spacecraft to efficiently separate fairings or stages during launch, during ascent, in orbit and during payload deployment. The stage adapter used for Artemis III is set to be the last of its kind as SLS evolves into a larger and more powerful configuration for future Artemis missions, beginning with Artemis IV.
The adapter is fully assembled at Marshall by NASA and lead contractor Teledyne Brown, which is also based in Huntsville.
SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with Orion and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.
Good Vibrations for Gateway (News Release - November 30)
The structural model of the communications system that ESA is supplying for NASA’s Habitation and Logistics Outpost(HALO) on the Gateway recently completed a vibrations test to check it will withstand the intense shaking during the launch.
The HALO Lunar Communication System (HLCS) is an advanced piece of technology that will enable communication between the upcoming lunar space station, the Gateway, and satellites and rovers around and on the Moon.
After a successful design review earlier this year that gave the green light for final manufacturing, industry partners are working to make sure the system will be ready for its launch to lunar orbit on top of the HALO module.
The launch presents significant challenges, as the powerful vibrations during liftoff can potentially damage space systems. To mitigate this risk, designers go through multiple steps and simulations to ensure that the equipment can withstand these vibrations.
Each component must not only be strong enough to endure the vibrations but also be as lightweight as possible to reduce as much as possible the amount of fuel needed to reach the Moon.
A crucial phase in confirming the accuracy of calculations and simulations involves constructing a structural model, essentially an exact copy of the unit intended for flight. The model replicates the construction and materials of the actual unit, with the internal equipment substituted by dummies of equal weight.
Ahead of the test, several accelerometers are strategically placed within the structure. These accelerometers help engineers to monitor the structure’s real-time response and verify that the results seen during computer simulations match what is actually happening.
In October, the structural model of the main box of HLCS completed a critical mechanical qualification test. This included a vibration test, which checks that the system can endure vibration levels exceeding those expected during launch; this ensures an additional safety margin beyond the anticipated flight conditions.
The qualification test was a success, as it aligned with the engineers’ predictions. After passing the test campaign, the manufacturing of the final flight units can begin.
This comprehensive testing and manufacturing process aims to ensure that the HLCS is not only functional but also durable and reliable for its mission in lunar communication, navigating the challenges of space travel with resilience and precision.
NASA Welcomes Angola as Newest Artemis Accords Signatory (News Release - December 1)
During a ceremony in Washington on November 30, Angola became the 33rd country to sign the Artemis Accords.
The Artemis Accords establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations, including those participating in NASA’s Artemis program.
NASA, in coordination with the U.S. Department of State, established the Artemis Accords in 2020 together with seven other original signatories. Since then, the Accords signatories have held focused discussions on how best to implement the Artemis Accords principles.
The Artemis Accords reinforce and implement key obligations in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. They also strengthen the commitment by the United States and signatory nations to the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices and norms of responsible behavior that NASA and its partners have supported, including the public release of scientific data.
More countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the months and years ahead, as NASA continues to work with its international partners to establish a safe, peaceful and prosperous future in space. Working with both new and existing partners adds new energy and capabilities to ensure that the entire world can benefit from our journey of exploration and discovery.
Sierra Space Shooting Star™ Cargo Module Initiates Rigorous Testing at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility (Press Release - November 30)
Testing at the NASA facility in Ohio will ensure that the spacecraft can withstand the rigor of launch and the harsh environment of space
LOUISVILLE, Colo. – Sierra Space, a leading pureplay commercial space company building the first end-to-end business and technology platform in space, announced today the commencement of a comprehensive testing campaign for the Shooting Star™ cargo module at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. This pivotal phase of testing aims to validate the spacecraft’s resilience to the demands of launch and the challenging conditions of space as Shooting Star is readied for its inaugural mission to the International Space Station.
Sierra Space remains committed to ensuring the utmost reliability of its cutting-edge technologies. The Sierra Space Shooting Star cargo module, designed in tandem with the revolutionary Dream Chaser® spaceplane, is set to redefine cargo capabilities, power and propulsion systems in space.
“This transformative Sierra Space technology will define the next era of space commercialization,” said Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice. “As we embark on this journey to build a platform in space to benefit life on Earth, our commitment to innovation, reliability and sustainability remains unwavering and is exemplified in our Shooting Star cargo module.”
Key Features of the Shooting Star Cargo Module:
-- Operates seamlessly with the Dream Chaser® spaceplane
-- Internal cargo capacity of 7,000 pounds, complemented by three external mounting points
-- Scheduled NASA resupply missions for the International Space Station beginning in 2024
-- Compatibility with a diverse range of current and future launch vehicles
Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) Cargo Services for NASA:
The Shooting Star cargo module is slated to transport critical science, food and cargo to the International Space Station under a NASA Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) contract. Accessible via the aft hatch, crews can seamlessly navigate through the module to the Dream Chaser, creating an efficient process for cargo placement and astronaut operations.
Disposal Services:
In an environmentally conscious approach, the Shooting Star offers cargo disposal services, ensuring the safe incineration of the module in Earth’s atmosphere post-separation from the Dream Chaser. This sustainable practice aligns with Sierra Space Corporation’s commitment to responsible space commercialization.
NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility:
NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility is part of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Located on 6,400 acres in Sandusky, Ohio, it is home to some of the world’s largest and most capable space simulation test facilities, where ground tests are conducted for the U.S. and international space and aeronautics communities.
Following the Shooting Star, the first Sierra Space Dream Chaser spaceplane has also arrived at the Neil Armstrong Test Facility. The two vehicles will be stacked in launch configuration and undergo rigorous environmental testing starting in the Mechanical Vibration Facility, subjecting them to the extreme conditions of launch vibrations on the world’s most-powerful spacecraft shaker table.
