Well, flight #3 of SpaceX's Starship did launch yesterday and did achieve orbital altitude & speed. Everything appeared to work perfectly this time. That, by itself, was a major achievement.
I will be watching as SpaceX Starship launches from Florida. The expectations for tomorrow’s launch are to propel the upper stage Starship into a near orbital position and speed, but not to go fully orbital.
Odysseus Lunar Lander: Part Four … Scott's update and mission summary is a good wrap up of the mission …. so far.
Odysseus Lunar Lander: Part Three… Scott Manley filed this report just after Intuitive Machines announced that the Olysessus had landed successfully on the Moon…
Odysseus Lunar Lander: Part Two…. Well, sadly, the speculation that Odysseus tipped over while landing appears to be correct…
Part One of a TWAB series on the Odysseus Mission!
A Chinese company already in the satellite launch business called “iSpace, Inc.” has recently flown a new rocket with many of the design details as a SpaceX Falcon-9 booster. It took off, hovered at low altitude and then landed smoothly on four legs right where it took off from. Impressive!
Earlier I had mentioned that I was waiting for my favorite space blogger, Scot Manley, to tell us what happened to the Japanese Lunar lander. Here it all is. In tremendous detail
There were dozens of video cameras running during the launch of SpaceX’s Starship. These have provided rich engineering data that allows an explanation of why the rocket failed to achieve orbit and had to be destroyed.
No new information here …. Just a better telescopic camera. The Twitter message shows the rocket flying responsibly along …. even with a few engines out.
By now we have all watched SpaceX launch their giant Starship …. Cheered when it cleared the launch tower …worried when it began to wobble …. and sighed when it had to be destroyed. The ship was clearly not flying its planned trajectory and engines were winking out.
Watch Marcus House’s summary of SpaceX activity and plans, concentrating on preparations for the SpaceX StarShip to make its first flight.
People ask: “How good is NASA’s new Webb Space Telescope? Most of the time, the answer given by astronomers and scientists is too complicated…
Every 12 to 18 months, people start to notice those two bright stars next to the Moon. How come they never saw them before?
Check out the Orion capsule when it is farther from Earth than any other manned spacecraft. Quite a Sci-Fi view! NASA’s highlights video from the first 13 days and another showing the return-powered flyby burn, in which the spacecraft will harness the Moon’s gravity and accelerate back toward Earth is surely worth a watch. Seeing the Moon and Earth together is a Sci Fi experience.
The Artemis program was initiated to essentially re-create the capability demonstrated fifty years ago by NASA in the abandoned Apollo mission…
Excellent choice by NASA … the Artemis Zero Gravity Indicator aboard the Orion capsule!
Behold the Artemis launch and on-orbit maneuvers. What a thrill to see NASA back in business with a successful launch of their giant new booster…
This photographer combined photos of the Moon from just before the first encounter with the shadow of the Earth until the last.
Amazing images from the Hubble Telescope reside on this great website that serves up a fresh image every day for your viewing pleasure!
A scientist has created a short video (one and a half minutes) that allows you to slide from a totally Hubble image to a totally Webb image. You can watch a fuzzy dot turn into a very distant spiral galaxy…
Here is a fine summary report on the spacecraft DART smashing into an asteroid.
Of course, there is always the possibility of a glancing blow … or missing the asteroid altogether. That’s why we do science.
This astonishing video lecture and call for new investors suggests a plausible way to fabricate really big habitats in space. It is like a Ted Talk on steroids.
Ever since I have been a “rocket scientist,” the satellite industry have been trying to find a way to avoid the extremely energy inefficient first stage booster…
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft closed in on that dwarf planet at a prodigious speed and is doing a drive-by-science-mission today.
Our approach, on the face of it, was just too hard to believe. One had to have faith in the development and success of several new technical systems that should work, but have never been built…
A confession: When I saw that jazzy, nearly turquoise rock that Perseverance recently photographed. It didn’t fit into my view of Mars at all .... totally the wrong color .... so I got overly excited.
When the main booster was on its way back to Cape Canaveral from the totally successful Dragon Space Station resupply mission, everything looked normal until…
