Month: March 2018

Weather Promising for Easter Monday SpaceX Launch of Recycled Falcon 9 and Dragon Resupply Ship to Space Station

Venting of oxygen propellant venting from SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage at pad 40 in the final minutes before Dec. 17, 2017 liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida to the ISS on NASA contracted CRS-13 resupply mission. The CRS-14 cargo mission is slated for launch on April 2, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com Ken Kremer  —   Space UpClose  —   30

NASA Postpones Webb Telescope Launch to 2020 for Testing to Resolve Technical Issues

Illustration of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reset for launch in 2020.  Credit: NASA Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   27 March 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  Top NASA officials announced today that launch of the  James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) –  the agencies highest priority and premiere space observatory – has been postponed to 2020 so that engineers can conduct

Congress Delivers Big Boost to NASA 2018 Budget with Whopping $20.7 Billion in Omnibus Appropriations Bill

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) blasts off from launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in this artist rendering showing a view of the liftoff of the Block 1 70-metric-ton (77-ton) crew vehicle configuration. Credit: NASA/MSFC Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   26 March 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – The US Congress delivered a big boost to NASA’s 2018 budget

Soyuz Docks at Space Station with Expedition 55 Russian-American Trio

Space station cameras sight the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft just meters away from docking to the Poisk module on March 23, 2018. Credit: NASA TV Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   23 Mar 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL-  Two days after blasting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a Russian Soyuz capsule ferrying the Expedition 55 veteran trio of spaceflyers from Russia

Curiosity Mars Rover Tests New Drilling Technique But More Testing Needed

NASA’s Curiosity rover raised robotic arm with drill pointed skyward while exploring Vera Rubin Ridge – backdropped by the base of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater. This navcam camera mosaic was stitched from raw images taken on Sol 1912, Dec. 22, 2017 and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   22 Mar 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL- 

NASA’s James Webb Observatory Begins Final Assembly and Testing at Northrup Grumman California Facility

The combined optical element and science instruments of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope were removed from their specially designed shipping container, called the Space Telescope Transporter for Air, Road and Sea (STTARS), in a high bay at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California, on March 8, 2018. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   18 Mar 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL,

‘Ultima Thule’ tapped as Nickname for New Horizons Spacecraft Next Flyby Target in 2019

Artist’s impression of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft encountering 2014 MU69, a Kuiper Belt object that orbits one billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) beyond Pluto, on Jan. 1, 2019. With public input, the team has selected the nickname “Ultima Thule” for the object, which will be the most primitive and most distant world ever explored by spacecraft.  Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI/Steve Gribben Ken

Revolutionary GOES-S Weather Observatory Reaches Geostationary Orbit, Renamed GOES-17

GOES-S view of Earth from its checkout location.  Credit: NOAA Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   14 Mar 2018 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL –  Less than 2 weeks after the dinnertime blastoff of the GOES-S weather observatory put on a stunningly delicious launch display from the Florida Space Coast on March 1, 2018, the revolutionary satellite that will track extreme weather