Category: General News

ULA Delays Atlas V Launch of NRO Spysat To Resolve Technical Issues After Rollout: Photos

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL –  United Launch Alliance (ULA) called off their planned Election Day launch of a clandestine surveillance satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to resolve technical issues impacting and potentially damaging the payload’s environmental control system umbilicals that likely arose from powerfully high winds buffeting the rocket and launch pad

OSIRIS-REx Stows and Seals Asteroid Bennu Sample Inside Earth Return Capsule

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA’s daring OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has successfully stowed and sealed the overflowing huge sample estimated at perhaps a kilogram (1 pound) or more of asteroid Bennu inside the probes Sample Return Capsule (SRC) for the return trip to Earth. “On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the mission team sent commands to the spacecraft, instructing it

NASA’s SOFIA Observatory Discovers Water Molecules on Sunlit Surface of Moon Aiding Artemis

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Scientists utilizing NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) airborne telescope observatory have made the first ever unambiguous discovery of water molecules on the sunlit surface of Earth’s Moon – centered at Clavius crater  in the Moon’s southern hemisphere.  These results could potentially aid  NASA’s Project Artemis plans for human lunar landings. This

OSIRIS-REx Starts Asteroid Sample Stowage Into Return Capsule

  For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA’s bold OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has started the complex process to carefully stow the huge stash of asteroidal samples collected from asteroid Bennu last week on Oct. 20 in the sampling head into the sample return capsule for the return trip to Earth. NASA reported that the OSIRIS-REx mission team commanded the

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Touches and Samples Asteroid Bennu

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – After a journey of over 200 million miles (321 million km) from Earth NASA’s daring OSIRIS-REx mission touched and sampleg Asteroid Bennu for six seconds with its pogo stick like TAGSAM robotic arm exactly as planned with incredible precision on Oct. 20 and successfully collected NASA’s first ever samples of asteroidal dust

SpaceX Launches New Batch Starlink Satellites Darting Through Clouds, 2nd This Week from Space Coast: Photos

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –   After a scrub for technical reasons resulting from the Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday, SpaceX at last launched the vehicle at lunchtime today, Saturday, Oct. 24 carrying another batch of 60 Starlink broadband internet satellite darting through thick clouds on its way to low Earth orbit (LEO) from the Florida Space Coast.

Soyuz Trio with NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy Return Safely to Earth

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –   A Soyuz trio including veteran NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy returned safely to Earth after living and working in Earth’s orbit for 196 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS) making a soft touchdown in Kazakhstan late Wednesday. The Russian American trio of spaceflyers comprising Expedition 63 cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin of

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Briefly Lands on Asteroid Bennu for Sample Collection Attempt

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – After a four year  journey NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft successfully unfurled its robotic arm and briefly landed on and touched Asteroid Bennu as planned to attempt NASA’s first ever sample collection of asteroidal dust and pebbles from the surface for delivery to Earth in 2023. It then rapidly