Tag: COTS

  • Orbital Sciences Orb-3 rocket explodes after liftoff #Orb3

    Following a scrub yesterday due to a boat breaking the range safety keep out area the Orbital Sciences Orb-3 mission made another attempt today. Following a very some and uneventful countdown the Antares rocket carrying the ‘Deke Slayton’ Cygnus lifted off on time at 6:22pm EDT, unfortunately approximately 6 seconds later a catastrophic failure occurred causing…

  • Weekly Space Blog 11/16

    Beyond Earth: Removing the Barriers to Deep Space Exploration round table This week NASA’s Bill Gerstenmaier moderated a panel discussion to consider the challenges facing the U.S. space exploration program. Panelists include: • Julie Van Kleeck, Vice President, Space Programs, Aerojet Rocketdyne • Charlie Precourt, Vice President & General Manager, ATK Space Launch Division •…

  • Liftoff of Falcon 9 with Dragon

    This morning SpaceX successfully launched their latest Falcon 9 witth Dragon towards the international space station.  Following an aborted launch on Saturday that was traced back to a faulty value on engine 5 SpaceX successfully fixed, validated and prepared for launch this morning. After the 9 minute ride to orbit which was performed flawlessly by…

  • 3 Weeks and Counting to SpaceX Launch

    In just over three weeks SpaceX is scheduled to launch their second and hopefully last COTS demo mission.  Today we are going to take a look in detail at the Dragon spacecraft and what a successful mission will mean for SpaceX and the US space industry in general. Dragon Designed and built by SpaceX the…

  • Commercial Space – Part Six

    Today we continue our look at Commercial Space with Boeing and there contribution to the CCDev/CCDev2 programs. Boeing Working with Bigelow the CST-100 will provide crew and cargo missions to the International Space Station.   The CST-100 was first announced by Robert Bigelow in June 2010, just last month NASA announced that Boeing had signed an…

  • Commercial Space – Part Five

    Today we look at Blue Origin and there contribution to the CCDev/CCDev2 programs. Blue Origin Blue Origin are working on the New Shepherd sub-orbital craft to provide customer’s trip to the edge of space, allow a period of time of weightlessness before returning to the launch site.  Unlike Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo this will be a…

  • Commercial Space – Part Four

    Now we move onto the NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCDev/CCDev2) providers. Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) SNC are currently working on the Dream Chaser spacecraft, designed to lift off on top a man-rated launcher with Delta-V as the current preferred booster.  The craft is designed to transport up to seven astronauts as well as cargo.  Exact…

  • Commercial Space – Part Two

    Today we continue our look at the Commercial Space Industry and what Orbital Sciences Corporation has to offer. Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital is not a new comer to the Space Launch business having been started in 1982 and completed 62 space launch missions since.  They currently offer the air launched Pegasus rocket, the ground launched…

  • Commercial Space – Part One cont.

    This morning during the press conference for the Soyuz docking Bill Gerstenmaier NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations confirmed that SpaceX had provided them with the final Dragon Spacecraft software which will be used for orbital operations.  NASA are now reviewing the software and Bill estimated that they should be able to set an actual…

  • Commercial Space – Part One

    Yesterday I mentioned the SpaceX Falcon Heavy as my preferred launch vehicle for the Mars Rover mission.  I have been watching with increased interested the development of the commercial launch business as companies like SpaceX, Orbital and others progress towards supplying the Space Station and offering launch capabilities to the broader industry. SpaceX At the…