Space Tag

SpaceX Starship SN15 Sticks the Landing After High-Altitude Test Flight

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 06, 2021 21 Comments

There has been much good news recently related to the American space program. First, I reviewed the successful tests run on Mars by the Perseverance rover's Ingenuity helicopter and oxygen-generation unit (MOXIE).

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NASA Tells Elon Musk’s SpaceX to Stop Work on Lunar Landing After Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origins Protested Contract

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 03, 2021 27 Comments

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has suspended its contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX for the landing system to take astronauts to and from the lunar surface.

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NASA Extends Ingenuity Helicopter Missions After Four Successful Flights on Mars

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 03, 2021 8 Comments

When America's latest Mars mission landed in February, I noted the rover Perseverance came with two important units: The Ingenuity helicopter and the MOXIE oxygen generation system.

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China, Russia Sign Agreement to Build Joint Base on Moon

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 11, 2021 12 Comments

Communist China and the Russian Federation have agreed to build a joint station on the moon. According to the bilateral agreement publicized on Wednesday, they want to create a "complex" of facilities on the moon's surface and its orbit. 

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NASA’s Perseverance Rover Successfully Lands on Mars

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 19, 2021 25 Comments

NASA’s newest robotic explorer, Perseverance, landed successfully on Mars, concluding a nearly 300-million-mile journey and initiating a new research era on the Red Planet.

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UAE and Chinese Mars Missions Enter Orbit Around Mars

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 12, 2021 14 Comments

This week, a United Arab Emirates spacecraft, the Mars orbiter Hope, successfully entered the orbit around Earth's nearest planetary neighbor.

The probe is the first since NASA's Insight lander in November 2018 to reach the planet. The successful arrival at Mars makes the UAE the fifth nation to reach Mars, following the United States, Russia, China and India.

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U.S. Space Force members will officially be known as “Guardians”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 19, 2020 14 Comments

About a year ago, we reported that President Donald Trump had officially launched the "U.S. Space Force," which would bring the nation's military space capabilities under one organization. We have covered the "non-troversy" over the logo and the uniform as well.

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China plants its flag on moon during recent lunar mission

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 06, 2020 13 Comments

More than 50 years after the American flag was planted on the moon, China's flag has been unfurled on the lunar surface.

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First “Christmas Star” in Nearly 800 Years Will be Visible Later This Month

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 04, 2020 8 Comments

This is pretty awesome.

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SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule Docks at International Space Station With Crew of Four

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 18, 2020 7 Comments

In May of this year, a SpaceX Dragon Crew capsule took two astronauts to the International Space Station. Now, in another first, a capsule has delivered a crew of four astronauts to the ISS.

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Seven Nations Join U.S. in Signing “Artemis Accords” for Moon Missions

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 20, 2020 12 Comments

This week, seven nations and the United States have signed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA)  new framework to govern lunar exploration missions.

By signing the agreement, the eight nations commit to peaceful activities on the moon and in travel to the moon.

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NASA emails reveal a very near-miss from a “city-killer” asteroid

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 29, 2019 33 Comments

Climate change prodigy Greta Thunberg spent the better portion of a week recounting her fears of mass extinction to the U.S. Congress and the United Nations.

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President Trump launches US Space Command

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 30, 2019 13 Comments

President Donald Trump officially launched the re-establishment of the U.S. Space Command, after a 17-year hiatus, as his administration focuses on concerns about the vulnerability of U.S. satellites.

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President Trump wants Mars, not Moon, to be NASA’s priority destination

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 09, 2019 34 Comments

President Donald Trump launched another salvo of chaos and drama into social media Friday. The president tweeted that NASA should look beyond the moon to Mars, after his strategy for exploring space came under criticism from a former astronaut.

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Beresheet, world’s first private lunar mission, fails in attempt to land successfully

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 11, 2019 31 Comments

We have closely followed the launch of the world’s first private mission to the moon, Israel’s Bereseet. It entered the Moon's orbit a few days ago and attempted to land today at approximately 3:30 pm Eastern. Sadly, the attempt failed.

“We have a failure of the spacecraft,” said Opher Doron, the general manager of Israel Aerospace Industries’ space division, which collaborated on building the spacecraft. The mood at the control center was somber but still celebratory.

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First Ever Picture of Black Hole Revealed

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 10, 2019 25 Comments

For so long we have wondered what a black hole looks like with only images from scientists on how a black hole may appear. On Wednesday morning, astronomers released the first ever picture of a black hole in space.

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Trump Administration targets 2024 for next moon mission

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 07, 2019 22 Comments

After returning the priorities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration back to aeronautics and space, the Trump Administration is targeting 2024 as the year that the U.S. will launch its next mission to the moon.

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Israel’s Beresheet Lunar Lander Enters into Orbit around Moon

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 04, 2019 23 Comments

The last time we in on world’s first private mission to the moon, Israel's Bereseet lunar mission had successfully launched and was well on its way to its destination. Today the spacecraft entered into orbit around the Moon, ahead of next week's landing on the Earth's natural satellite.

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