Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on Wednesday launched a search for eight people to join him as the first private passenger on a trip around the moon with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. He had originally planned to invite artists for the weeklong voyage slated for 2023. Reuters reports: The rejigged project will “give more people from around the globe the chance to join…
Tag: Crew
Crew of mock lunar ‘biosphere’ grew food and made oxygen for 200 days
The inhabitants of China’s Lunar Palace biosphere lived on recycled oxygen and water, and grew their own food for a record-setting 200 days without outside intervention Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2268836-crew-of-mock-lunar-biosphere-grew-food-and-made-oxygen-for-200-days/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
FBI Confirms Report of ‘Long, Cylindrical’ UFO ‘Moving Really Fast’ Over New Mex
An anonymous reader shares a PopularMechanics report: An American Airlines flight crew encountered an unidentified flying object over New Mexico on February 21. American Airlines has confirmed the strange incident, during which a “long, cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile” zipped over the Airbus A320, according to a pilot’s transmission obtained by The War Zone. American Airlines Flight…
Watch ISS spacewalk February 28
On Sunday, February 28, 3 astronauts will perform the first in a pair of International Space Station spacewalks to ready the station for solar array upgrades. How to watch live. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/watch-iss-spacewalk-feb-mar-2021…
After a Boeing 777 Rained Failed-Engine Debris on Neighborhood Below, More Planes Grounded
After a twin-engine, wide-bodied Boeing 777 took off from a Denver airport — carrying 231 passengers and 10 crew members — its right engine failed. It began dropping debris on several neighborhoods below, CNBC reports. America’s Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement saying it was “aware of reports of debris in the vicinity of the airplane’s flight path,” CNBC adds, noting…
The Rich Got Richer: GameStop’s Trading Frenzy Benefited Wall Street’s Elite
While GameStop’s surge has been heralded as a victory for underdogs, “Growing evidence casts doubt on the idea that the episode mostly benefited small-time investors…” reports the Washington Post. (Alternate URLs here and here “And, in at least some cases, novice investors lost their shirts.” Giant mutual funds that own the largest stakes in GameStop saw the biggest gains in value….
SpaceX’s Crew-1 astronauts break 47-year US space record
SpaceX’s Crew-1 astronauts have now spent more time in space than the crew of any other mission launched from U.S. soil. Source: https://www.livescience.com/spacex-crew-break-space-record.html
Every challenge astronauts will face on a flight to Mars
In 1972, the space race officially ended as NASA sent one last crew of astronauts to the surface of the moon (Apollo 17). This was the brass ring that both the US and the Soviets were reaching for, the “moonshot” that would determine who had supremacy in space. In the current age of renewed space exploration, the next great leap will…
SpaceX Announces First-Ever All-Civilian Space Flight Crew
Jared Isaacman, an entrepreneur behind a payment processing startup, is funding a multimillion trip to space aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which could be the first-ever orbital flight crewed entirely by non-astronauts. CNN reports: Isaacman, 37, said he will command the mission, which is slated for late-2021 and will see the spacecraft make a “multi-day” trip into Earth’s orbit, according…
Are the US Military’s GPS Tests Threatening Airline Safety?
Long-time Slashdot reader cusco quotes a new report from IEEE Spectrum: In August 2018, a passenger aircraft in Idaho, flying in smoky conditions, reportedly suffered GPS interference from military tests and was saved from crashing into a mountain only by the last-minute intervention of an air traffic controller. “Loss of life can happen because air traffic control and a flight crew…