Category: NASA
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And now we wait #PlutoFlyby
New Horizons has completed its closest approach to Pluto with a historic flyby at 7:50am EDT today, however we will not hear back from the spacecraft for another 12 hours as it will now turn around and continue observations as it moves away from the system, this time with our Sun in the background. The…
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T-1 days until #PlutoFlyby
By this time tomorrow NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will be zooming past the Dwarf Plant Pluto capturing details of the planet from just 12,500 km (7,800 mi) away closer than any spacecraft has ever been. The spacecraft is now deep in the encounter mode of operation, this means that if anything goes wrong it will…
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T-7 days and counting to New Horizons Pluto Flyby
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is just 7 days away from its closest approach to Pluto, and this week we are going to look at the amazing images that have already been returned. As the spacecraft gets closer and closer we are going to learn much more about the Planet and its moons. Before we take…
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New Horizons Suffers Safe-Mode event
Just 10 days before New Horizons closest approach to Pluto it suffered a Safe-Mode event on Saturday causing a lost of communications when the spacecraft handled the event and switched to its backup computer system. Thankfully the backup system took over and re-established communications and begun sending data back to Mission Control to allow them…
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T-14 days and counting to New Horizons Pluto Flyby
A journey that started 3451 days ago aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V is rapidly closing in on its primary destination Pluto. The New Horizons spacecraft will be the first to visit the Pluto system and will bring the distant planet and its five moons to life. In 14 days it will reach its…
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Now comes SpaceX’s true test
This morning SpaceX suffered the first failure of their Falcon 9 rocket as it explode two minutes into the CRS-7 mission. Initial data from Elon Musk indicates that an over-pressure event happened on the second stage. There was an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank. Data suggests counterintuitive cause. — Elon Musk…
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SpaceX loses CRS-7 mission to ISS
This morning SpaceX launched their latest mission to the International Space Station, unfortunately during the first stage flight the rocket exploded causing lost of Falcon, Dragon and the cargo it was carrying Among the cargo that Dragon was carrying was the first of two International Docking Adapters for the station which will be used…
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NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Gutted by Congress
The President’s 2016 request for $1.2b towards the continued development of the Commercial Crew program by Boeing and SpaceX has been reduced to $900 million by Congress. At present there is only one way to get crew to the International Space Station aboard Russia’s Soyuz rocket. To allow its astronauts to fly to the station…
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NASA awards first Commercial Crew Flight Contract
This week NASA announced that it had awarded Boeing the first Commercial Crew flight contract under the CCtCap program. However it is important to realize that while the contract has been awarded, as NASA started in the press release. Determination of which company will fly its mission to the station first will be made at…
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PMM relocated on ISS
This morning the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 moved the Permanent Multipurpose Module from the Unity module to the Tranquility module. The module which was previously flown as a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) aboard the Space Shuttle was left at the station in February 2011 to provide additional storage space. The was moved to continue the…