Lifeboat Foundation

NASA calls it the “Double Asteroid Redirection Test,” or DART for short, and the mission involves NASA launching a spacecraft that will rocket towards the Didymos binary asteroid and collide with it. NASA wants to test if the impact of the spacecraft colliding with the asteroid will be enough to alter its course. It should be noted that the asteroid doesn’t currently pose any threat to Earth and that NASA is purely conducting this mission for research purposes.

According to NASA’s latest update on DART, the spacecraft recently received solar arrays that will be a core component to getting the spacecraft all the way to the Didmos asteroid system. The spacecraft will travel for ten months to reach the asteroid system and will launch aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket this November. When the spacecraft collides with the asteroid, it will be traveling at around 15,000 mph, and NASA will have Earth-based telescopes aimed at the asteroid for clear observation.

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that it has successfully demonstrated the operation of a rocket engine technology for the first time in space. This experiment proved the efficiency of a rotating detonation engine (RDE) which converted the shock waves generated when a mixture of fuel and oxygen reacts explosively into thrust.

Inspiration4 is preparing for liftoff.

The all-civilian mission is not only the first of its kind in history. It also marks a milestone for Musk’s company, which hopes to one day help humans live across the galaxy.

This is a huge, fairly sci-fi goal, but the trailblazing Inspiration4 crew could help the general public believe in it. And a Netflix documentary certainly doesn’t hurt.

SPACE STATION CREW MEMBER DISCUSSES LIFE IN SPACE WITH MEN’S HEALTH MAGAZINE

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 65 Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough of NASA discussed life and research aboard the space station during an in-flight interview August 18 with Men’s Health Magazine. Kimbrough launched in April on a SpaceX Crew Dragon as part of a planned six-month mission.

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Today we’ll talk Starship and Super Heavy timeline! How long until SpaceX lights the candle again? Heatshield, tank farm, prototype testing. What’s left to do, and can we make an educated guess as to how many more weeks? Yes, we can! Let’s find out!

Continue reading “SpaceX Starship & Super Heavy Orbital Timeline Update!” »

NASA has confirmed that SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 launch is now scheduled to occur no earlier than 3:37 am EDT (07:37 UTC) on Saturday, August 28th.

Known as CRS-23, the cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is noteworthy for two major reasons. Most importantly, CRS-23 will mark SpaceX’s first-ever reuse of an upgraded Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft. Simultaneously, that reuse milestone will coincide with another when SpaceX smashes its internal record for orbital spacecraft turnaround later this month.

Second, much to the surprise of virtually everyone watching from the sidelines, SpaceX’s last launch occurred on June 30th – in the first half of 2021. One step removed from the mission’s technical specifics, CRS-23 will, in other words, also be SpaceX’s first launch in almost two months – a gap not seen in two years.

The 23rd SpaceX

Commonly known as SpaceX, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is a private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company that was founded by Elon Musk in 2002. Headquartered in Hawthorne, California, the company designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.

Protests and meme campaigns weren’t enough, so now Jeff Bezos’ company is turning to lawsuits.

Following an unsuccessful GAO protest and meme campaigns, Jeff Bezos’s space company is suing NASA over a lunar lander contract for the Human Landing System.

SpaceX wants to put an advertising billboard in space. The company will have to follow legal frameworks for doing so, experts explain.