Category: Space
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TurkmenSat 1 launch delayed
The launch of the TurkmenSat 1 satellite has been delayed due to a problem with the launch vehicle. Originally scheduled for 21st the Falcon 9 static fire test was planned for today. Waiting for word from SpaceX on when the new test will be performed. SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell reported that it was due to helium pressure…
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Commercial Resupply Contracts 2
Last September NASA released a request for proposals (RFP) for a second record of contracts to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) through 2024. The proposals were due by November 14 with the awards expected in May this year. At the time of the RFP both Orbital Sciences (now Orbital ATK) and SpaceX were flying…
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NASA’s MMS mission launched
Following a smooth countdown this evening NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) satellites launched aboard a ULA Altas 5. The MMS mission consists of four spacecraft, that will be deployed into orbit later this evening following the second burn of the centaur, and will then begin to deploy there various instruments to allow them to measure the interaction…
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Soyuz TMA-14M lands
Following the undocking earlier today the three crew members on-board the Soyuz TMA-14M are now back on the earth. For some reason communication was lost with the vehicle during the initial part of the return, however the tracking site in Egypt confirmed that things were on track once it established communications. Communications were re-established once…
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Expedition 42 has ended
The crew of the Soyuz TMA-14M undocked from the International Space Station today bringing to an end the Expedition 42 mission on the station. Astronaut Barry Wilmore and Cosmonauts Elena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev spent 167 days aboard the station during which time they performed six EVA’s and saw the arrival of three cargo vehicles…
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SLS takes another step forward
Earlier today the largest Solid Rocket Booster ever was fired up at Orbital ATK’s test facility in Promontory, UTAH. Based on the Solid Rocket Boosters that carried the Space Shuttle into orbit for 30 years this booster has been upgraded to support NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS). While the Booster is based on the…
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NASA’s New Horizons within One AU of Pluto
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is now less than one AU from Pluto and moving closer by 873,000 miles per day. This week it made a slight course correction to ensure it is able to complete the scientific objectives as it flies past the planet in July. Launched in Jan 2006 the spacecraft has traveled past Jupiter on…
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NASA’s Dawn Arrives at Dwarf Planet Ceres
In the first of two NASA missions to arrive at a Dwarf Planet this year NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft, which previously visited the asteroid Vesta, successfully inserted itself into orbit. First launched in 2007, the spacecraft uses three Xenon Ion Thrusters for propulsion. After launch it traveled to the asteroid Vesta where is spent 14 months…
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Beyond ISS – Part One
Introduction In six or maybe ten years the International Space Station (ISS) will come to the end of its operational life. To ensure that we can continue the permanent occupation of space that has been going on since 31 October 2000 we need to define what happens beyond ISS. Given how long it takes to plan, fund…