A satellite image from January 2019 shows launch pad 39A at Cape Canaveral, Florida. From there – on July 16, 1969 – a Saturn V rocket carrying the crew of Apollo 11 launched humanity’s historic voyage to the moon. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/apollo-11-launchpad-satellite-image…
Tag: Kennedy Space Center
Former astronaut helps break flight record over poles
A former astronaut is back at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center after helping to shatter a pair of records for a round-the-world airplane flight over the North and South poles. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-07-astronaut-flight-poles.html…
LightSail 2 Sends Back 1st Signals From Its Solar-Surfing Test Flight
The space advocacy organization The Planetary Society recently confirmed that its LightSail 2 spacecraft has sent its first signals home from space. From a report: The roughly 11-lb. (5 kilograms) cubesat is designed to prove that solar sailing is a feasible way of keeping satellites moving. Fuel is a costly and heavy commodity, and if LightSail 2 can prove that the…
SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon Heavy Rocket With Two Flight-Proven Booster Cores
SpaceX succeeded in launching its third mission with the Falcon Heavy high-capacity rocket it first launched successfully last year. “The rocket’s STP-2 mission took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida towards the end of a four-hour launch window that opened at 11:30 PM EDT on Monday, with liftoff taking place at 2:30 AM EDT on Tuesday after the launch was…
Watch night launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy June 24
Liftoff is targeted at 11:30 p.m. EDT, with a 4-hour launch window. SpaceX is calling the launch its most difficult ever, because the rocket must release 24 satellites into three different orbits. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/watch-night-launch-spacex-falcon-heavy-june24-2019…
Twin NASA satellites to study signal disruption from space
NASA’s twin E-TBEx CubeSats—short for Enhanced Tandem Beacon Experiment—are scheduled to launch in June 2019 aboard the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program-2 launch. The launch includes a total of 24 satellites from government and research institutions. They will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-06-twin-nasa-satellites-disruption-space.html…
NASA’s SET mission to study satellite protection is ready for launch
NASA’s Space Environment Testbeds, or SET, will launch in June 2019 on its mission to study how to better protect satellites in space. SET will get a ride to space on a U.S. Air Force Research Lab spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-06-nasa-mission-satellite-ready.html…
Lightsail 2 set to launch in June
“We are go for launch!” said Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye. Funded by space enthusiasts, LightSail 2 aims to accomplish the 1st-ever, controlled solar sail flight in Earth orbit next month. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/lightsail-2-1st-controlled-solar-sail-flight…
Today in science: 1st American in space
Alan Shepard became the 1st American in space on May 5, 1961. His suborbital flight took place just 3 weeks after the Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth once. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/alan-shepard-first-american-in-space-may-5-1961…