Tag: NASA
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ISS One Year Mission begins
The first one year mission on the International Space Station begun this afternoon with the launch of the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Following a smooth countdown the three crew members Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Korniyenko of the Russia Federal Space Agency and Scott Kelly of NASA lifted off at 3:42 p.m. EDT. Once…
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The Little Rover that Could continues to impress
Eleven years ago the Mars Opportunity Rover landed on the surface of the planet for a planned 90 sol (Mars day) mission, nearly 4000 sols later the rover is still operating. This week it achieved a another significant milestone becoming the first rover to complete the equivalent of a marathon driving across the surface of…
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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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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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Is NASA out of the Space Business?
It is now 2015 and in July it would have been four years since an American Spacecraft launched a crew into space. I have heard many people say that NASA is no longer in the space business because of this. In this article we will explore not only the missions that are currently operating in…