Year: 2018

‘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

Robert Lightfoot – NASA’s Longest Serving Acting Administrator to retire

Robert M. Lightfoot Jr., NASA Acting Administrator speaks at National Space Council   Space Summit at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb 21, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA’s Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot, a highly regarded propulsion and spaceflight engineer, announced his retirement from the space agency effective the end of April in a letter to

Send Your Name to Touch the Sun on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Launching Summer 2018

Illustration of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approaching the Sun.  Credits: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   9 Mar 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA is inviting the public from all across the world to send their names to touch the sun on the agencies groundbreaking Parker Solar Probe mission launching in summer 2018. NASA’s

SpaceX Launches its Biggest Geostationary Satellite on Landmark 50th Falcon 9 Rocket at Midnight: Photo/Video Gallery

The 50th  SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40) on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL with the Hispasat 30W-6 telecomsat for spanish operator Hispasat at 12:33 a.m. EST on March 6, 2018.  The 6 ton satellite was delivered to geostationary transfer orbit. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   7 Mar 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL AIR

SpaceX Marks 50th Falcon 9 Mission with Fabulous Midnight Blastoff of Hispasat Telecomsat: Photos

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaks to orbit after launching from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40) on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL at 12:33 a.m. EST on March 6, 2018, carrying the Hispasat 30W-6 telecomsat for spanish operator Hispasat.  Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   6 Mar 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL – SpaceX marked the

SpaceX Falcon 9 Poised for Midnight Blastoff of Hispasat Telecomsat March 6: Watch Live

A SpaceX Falcon 9 is poised for liftoff from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40) on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL with the Hispasat 30W-6 telecomsat for Spain shortly after midnight on March 6, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   5 Mar 2018 CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is poised for

Stunning Blastoff of Next-Gen GOES-S Geostationary Weather Observatory for NASA/NOAA on ULA Atlas V: Gallery

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES-S at 5:02 p.m. EST on March 1, 2018.  GOES-S is the second satellite in a series of next-generation weather satellites. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The nations newest

Revolutionary NASA/NOAA GOES-S Geostationary Weather Satellite for Western US Awesome Sunset Launch

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the NOAA/NASA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES-S, at 5:02 p.m. EST on March 1, 2018. GOES-S is the second satellite in a series of next-generation weather satellites. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com Ken Kremer  —   SpaceUpClose.com  —   1 Mar 2018