Year: 2019

Elon Musk Says SpaceX Assembles Silvery Stainless Steel ‘Starship’ Prototype: Photos

SpaceX first ‘Starship’ hopper test rocket assembled at Boca Chica facility in South, Texas in Jan. 2019 with a space suited human standing below for scale. Credit: SpaceX/Elon Musk  Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –19 January 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Elon Musk says his new space aerospace firm SpaceX has assembled the first prototype of his ‘Starship’ test flight rocket

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Achieves Orbit Around Asteroid Bennu

On Dec. 31, 2018 NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft went into orbit around asteroid Bennu for the first time.  Bennu is the smallest body ever orbited by a spacecraft.   Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin Space Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –17 January 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  Just hours before the stroke of New Years midnight NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft fired its thrusters for

NASA’s InSight Lander Deploys First Science Instrument on Mars Surface

This set of images from the Instrument Deployment Camera shows NASA’s InSight lander placing its first instrument – the SEIS seismometer – onto the surface of Mars on Dec. 19, 2018, completing a major mission milestone. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –14 January 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  NASA’s InSight lander has deployed its first instrument onto the surface

SpaceX Dragon Cargo Ship Departs ISS, Returns to Earth

SpaceX CRS-16 Dragon cargo ship departs the International Space Station on Jan. 13, 2019 after release from Canadian robotic arm for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 14. Credit: David Saint-Jacques/NASA/CSA Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –14 January 2019 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL –  A commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo ship departed the International Space Station (ISS) Sunday evening and safely

SpaceX To Lay Off Ten Percent of Workforce Amidst Stunning Success and Scrutiny

Launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy on debut test flight from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 6, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –11 January 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – The hugely ambitious new space aerospace firm SpaceX plans to lay off about ten percent of its total workforce numbering some 6000

China Lands Rover On the Far Side of the Moon in Historic First

China’s Yutu 2 rover lands on the far side of the moon and drives off the Chang’e 4 landing platform on Jan 3, 2019. Credit: CNSA/CASC/CLEP Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –6 January 2019 JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERISTY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY, LAUREL, MD –  China because the first nation in history to land a robotic spacecraft on the far side of Earth’s

Legendary Rock Star Brian May of Queen Lends Luster to NASA New Horizons with Rocking Music Video and 3D Creations: Video/Photos

Video Caption: Brian May – New Horizons (Ultima Thule Mix) [Official Music Video]. Celebrating the whole 13-year Journey of New Horizons probe. This is Brian’s personal tribute to the on-going NASA New Horizons mission, which on New Years Day 2019 achieved the most distant spacecraft flyby in history at Ultima Thule.  Credit: Brian May Ken Kremer  —SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –6 January