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The two NASA astronauts who returned to Earth after a mission in space were on an unexpectedly long mission
SpaceX Dragon capsule that flew astronauts Jeffrey Williams and Butch Wilmore home from the International Space Station (ISS) had two empty seats for their return. The capsule landed on Florida coast with the astronauts, who’re part of NASA’s private crew programme, in it. They’ve spent more than nine months in ISS before splashing down off…
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The Starliner astronauts don’t feel let down by Boeing
NASA astronauts, who were left stranded on International Space Station due to technical issues with their spacecraft, said that being stuck in space is just part of the job. “We’re excited to fly in two different spacecraft; I mean…we’re testers, that’s what we do,” they added. They also said they are looking forward to being…
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The Boeing Starliners is back home to an uncertain future
Boeing’s Starliner has successfully completed its first test flight with NASA astronauts on board, becoming the first commercial passenger spacecraft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. Boeing and NASA are planning to launch Starliner on an operational mission in August 2025. Earlier, Boeing had said that Starliner’s test flight would last about eight…
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Boeing’s Starliner is ready to launch a NASA crew
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which is carrying two NASA astronauts, will be launched on Monday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The crewed flight test is a “critical stepping stone to reaching that broader goal”, NASA’s Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. Boeing has been working on the Starliner for 10 years with NASA after…
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How to see the launch of the Boeing Starliner
Boeing and NASA will launch the first-ever test flight of its Starliner rocket on May 6. The Starliner will carry two NASA astronauts, Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, to the International Space Station (ISS) for a week. Boeing won a nearly $4 billion contract from NASA in 2008 to carry astronauts to and from ISS…
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The first US moon landing happened more than 50 years ago
US space agency NASA’s Odysseus spacecraft has successfully landed on the Moon, becoming the second private mission to do so. The six-legged, phone-booth-sized spacecraft landed near the Moon’s south pole, around 300 kilometres from the lunar south pole. Odysseus is the second launch, after Astrobotic’s attempt, in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme.
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NASA will be studying plankton and aerosols from space
NASA has launched its Earth’s first-ever space mission ‘PACE’, designed to understand particles in Earth’s atmosphere and ocean that affect climate change. It will try to collect samples of particles from around the world. “PACE will help us learn like neverbefore, how particles in our atmosphere and our oceans can identify key factors impacting…warming,” US…
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Will the private US Moon mission open a new era for science?
NASA has launched the first of at least ten commercial lunar missions under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme. Astrobotic was paid $108 million for the uncrewed Peregrine Mission One launch, which will carry the five NASA payloads. The mission aims to detect water ice and measure radiation levels on the Moon’s surface.
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What will be the next step for the mega-rocket?
Elon Musk-led SpaceX has successfully launched its Starship rocket to space, the first test flight of which failed to carry NASA’s Crew Dragon astronauts. The rocket exploded after it separated from the spacecraft. During the April test flight, six of the 33 engines had failed. Earlier, NASA had given SpaceX contracts worth $4 billion to…
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Take a peek at what NASA brought back from the asteroid
NASA has released pictures of the black rocks and dust brought back from an asteroid by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in September. OSIRIS-REx mission had sent a spacecraft to asteroid Bennu, 100 million miles away, in 2020 and returned it to Earth in September. “We’ve already thrilled with the results,” Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator for…
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NASA’s report is about money, not aliens
NASA’s independent study team has found that NASA’s collection of “unidentified anomalous phenomena” data is “s sparse, unsystematic, and lacks any vetting protocols”. The team said that NASA could offer guidance to other government agencies on best ways to collect such data. It also said that NASA has an established record of openness and public…
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NASA didn’t find aliens but if you see anything weird, that’s great
NASA has said that it can use smartphone apps to collect civilian data about UFOs. The report by an independent study team describes how NASA should assess new reports of “unidentified anomalies” (UAP), a term that the federal agencies use in place of unexplained flying objects. NASA also announced that it has created a new…
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The mammoth rocket ‘Starship’ is ready to launch
Elon Musk-led SpaceX on Wednesday successfully launched its Starship rocket, which is expected to be launched in 2020 with its first mission to the moon and back. The rocket has 33 engines and six Raptor engines. It will carry a satellite to the Moon and back, which will be connected to the internet via NASA’s…
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The mammoth rocket ‘Starship’ will be launched by the company
Elon Musk-led SpaceX is preparing to test a stainless-steel rocket called ‘Starship’ that will carry its internet satellites to space. Starship could be used to launch large numbers of the company’s internet-providing satellites. NASA has contracted SpaceX to use Starship for the space agency’s Artemis III Moon landing later this decade, but Starship’s contract with…
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NASA has launched its new air quality monitor into space
NASA has launched the Tropospheric Emission Monitoring (TEMPO) mission, which is the first of its kind in North America, to monitor air quality and pollution. It will let NASA make hourly daytime observations of nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, and more across North America, including the continental United States, Caribbean islands, and most of Canada and…
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NASA tapped these astronauts for a historic moon flyby mission
NASA on Monday announced its astronauts who will fly on the first-ever mission to the Moon in five decades. Reid Wiseman, a 47-year-old decorated naval aviator and test pilot who was firstselected to be a NASA astronaut in 2009, is at the top of the list, according to CNN. The Artemis II mission is set…
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What time is it on the moon?
NASA is collaborating with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems’ projects. They’re working to create a dedicated global satellite navigation system (GNSS) for the Moon similar to how GPS and other satellite navigation networks provide precise location tracking on Earth. However, space agencies haven’t decided whether…
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A group of amateur astronomer captured a NASA crash
NASA’s DART mission last year deliberately smashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in a test of planetary defence. Last year, images were taken as DART approached Dimorphos, an asteroid covered in boulders. “It means that we can quickly design a mission to deflect an asteroid if there’s a threat, and we know that this has…
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International astronauts will be launched to the space station
NASA’s Josh Cassada will be flying to the International Space Station (ISS) along with Koichi Wakata of Japan’s space agency, called JAXA, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, who joined this mission as part of US-Russian ride-sharing agreement. The ISS will be taken over by astronauts from SpaceX Crew-5 when they arrive in October 2022.
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After a last-minute problem, the space company heads for another attempt to launch astronauts
SpaceX and NASA on Wednesday launched six astronauts, including a former NASA astronaut, into space to the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew Dragon capsule will be detached from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket after launch. The crew will join the seven astronauts already aboard the International Space Station after reaching it.
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International astronauts are going to the space station
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who was the first woman to travel to space, will be joined by fellow astronauts Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata of Japan’s space agency JAXA, and Anna Kikina, a Roscomos cosmonaut, in NASA’s upcoming Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station. This will be NASA’s third Crew-6 mission to the space station.
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Russia is planning to take stranded space station crew members home
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos has decided to delay the launch of a spacecraft meant to replace one that was not safe enough to transport astronauts. Roscosmos was aiming to launch the MS-23 replacement capsule this month and return cosmonauts Alexey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio home. The planned rescue mission was…
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Is it possible that the solar panels in space could be used to produce clean energy?
Space agencies and nations think that space-based solar power might contribute to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. However, “we have to prove this is going to actually be a net gain for the planet”, NASA Administrator Mark Jones said. The US has proposed designing an in-orbit demonstration of space-based solar power in 2030 and…
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There was a failure of healthcare and parasites on parade.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which flew to the Moon and returned on Thursday, has flown on more than 100 missions since it entered human orbit in 2011. NASA is planning to send it back to the Moon for the first time ever in 2021 after its successful test flight earlier this year. It’s scheduled to return…
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NASA has a new version of the 1995 Hubble image of a star nursery.
NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope (J Webb) on Tuesday. The telescopes will be used to detect exoplanets, which are found in the close vicinity of Earth and have not been examined by space telescopes before. They’ll also look for dust and gas clouds that block the light coming from exoplanets. “It’s the world’s…