SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Live Thread (05/19/2012) 04:55 EDT) First Commercial Rocket into Space!
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Best of luck to SpaceX.
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 01:30:25 AM
From Astronaut-Hero To Space-Trucker: The Human Spin on Space Commercialization
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The cast of “Alien,” in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi blockbuster, may actually be more akin to future space-farers than our citizen heroes from NASA’s Apollo era. After all, the film presents a view of space travel that is based as much on economics as wanderlust and this is arguably as it should be. How can anyone forget the hangdog eyes of Harry Dean Stanton, who so clearly is out that far in space solely for the cash? The crew of the Nostromo, the film’s ore-carrying cargo vessel under threat from a ravenous extraterrestrial, inherently understands that sometimes great profit only...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 01:30:25 AM
Private Space Taxi Builders Ponder Future Beyond NASA
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The private spaceflight company SpaceX is poised to launch a robotic capsule toward the International Space Station Saturday (May 19) on a test flight that, if successful, could be a watershed moment for the commercial space industry. But while SpaceX has a NASA contract to provide cargo deliveries to the space station, the company and other private spaceship developers are looking to a future beyond NASA funding. The Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX is one of several aerospace firms who are competing for NASA funding under the third and final phase of NASA's commercial crew development program. Proposals for this stage of...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 01:30:25 AM
SpaceX's 1st Private Capsule Launch to Space Station: How It Will Work
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On May 19, if all goes well, the private spaceflight company SpaceX will launch the first commercial spaceship ever to visit the International Space Station. But the mission will be like no other U.S. flight to the orbiting laboratory. SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule is due to deliver food, supplies and science experiments to the outpost as a test mission for NASA. The space agency awarded the company a $1.6 billion contract for eight robotic resupply flights to fill the delivery needs left over by the space shuttle fleet's retirement last year.
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 01:30:25 AM
The Constellation Empire Strikes Back (Congressional space pork)
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Constellation, the Bush administration’s plan to return to the moon, was canceled a couple years ago. But not all of Constellation was canceled. The Orion crew module, designed to go to lunar orbit and back, survives, with plans to test fly on a Delta IV rocket in a couple years, and Congress, eager to preserve the Space Shuttle jobs base, demanded that NASA reinstitute a new heavy-lift launch vehicle to replace the canceled Ares V with the Space Launch System. So at this point, despite the cancellation, Constellation continues to waste money, except for the Ares I, the new crew...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 01:30:25 AM
NASA Modifies Launch Service Contract To Add Falcon 9 Rocket
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has announced a modification of its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., to add an additional configuration of the Falcon 9 rocket to its fleet. The SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 launch service will be available to the agency's Launch Services Program to use for future missions in accordance with the on-ramp provision of NLS II.
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 01:30:25 AM
Private Sector Edges Deeper in Space
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It sounds like a routine event for NASA: At 4:55 a.m. on Saturday, a rocket is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and carry cargo — but no people — to the International Space Station. But if all goes as planned, that morning will mark something transformative for the space industry: a victory for capitalism in what has been for decades a government-run enterprise. The capsule, built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation — SpaceX, for short — would be the first commercial spacecraft to make it to the space station, and many observers view its launching as the...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 01:30:25 AM
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin shares a few details about outer space plans
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Blue Origin, the secretive Kent company developing a new space launch system, briefly lifted the curtain on its plans earlier this month ... and then snapped that curtain back down. In an interview published in Aviation Week and Space Technology, Brett Alexander, Blue Origin director of business development and strategy, gave some new details about the company’s plans.
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 01:30:25 AM
With shuttle's end, space firms seek new direction
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Updated 4/29/2012By Stephen Singer The Associated PressHARTFORD, Conn. Less than a year after NASA ended its shuttle program, players in America's space business are casting around for new direction.United Technologies Corp. is the most recent company to announce it will sharply scale back its role in space exploration. It's selling Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a manufacturer of rocket engines and liquid-propulsion systems...[snip] Greg Hayes, chief financial officer at United Technologies, rapped U.S. space policy when he announced the decision in mid-March to sell Rocketdyne."Growth will be limited at Rocketdyne," Hayes told investor analysts. "It's still a very good business. It's...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 01:30:25 AM
As SpaceX awaits launch of cargo capsule, crew capsule gets test sit
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NASA has signed off on the astronaut layout of SpaceX’s planned seven-passenger crew capsule after some NASA engineers and astronauts cozied into one in the SpaceX showroom and pronounced it fit. Officially, NASA declared that SpaceX’s plans passed another milestone, the seventh of 10, by demonstrating that the layout will allow astronauts to maneuver effectively in the vehicle. Several veteran space shuttle astronauts and NASA engineers conducted the evaluation during a pair of two-day-long reviews.
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 01:30:25 AM
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