For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM TITUSVILLE, FL – SpaceX engineers finally completed a successful lunchtime static fire test of the Falcon 9 first stage engines on Friday, April 17 for the upcoming seventh Starlink launch of broadband internet satellites now targeting Thursday from the Florida Space Coast – amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has forced closures of public places, schools
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – In a long awaited announced nearly a decade in the making NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine today set May 27 as the target date for the Return of American Human Spaceflight launches with two NASA astronauts set to fly to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX commercial Dragon spacecraft on the Demo-2
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – The American-Russian crew of Expedition 62 returned safely to an Earth vastly changed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic early this morning Friday, April 17 after departing the International Space Station in their Soyuz spacecraft last night Thursday, April 16 for a safe soft landing just hours later in Kazakhstan. The trio of
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – The Expedition 62 crew is set to depart the International Space Station today, Thursday, April 16 and touchdown tomorrow a few hours later in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 17. The crew comprises NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and essica Meir as well as Oleg Skripochka of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Departure is
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA has chosen SpaceX to provide commercial cargo deliveries to the Artemis programs lunar orbiting mini space station known as Gateway in support of the agencies human lunar landing missions starting as soon as 2024 – using a modified version of the commercial cargo Dragon spacecraft already under contract and utilized for
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Apollo 13, NASA’ 3rd planned manned lunar landing mission launched 50 years ago on Apollo 11, 1970 suffered a catastrophic explosion enroute to the Moon and has since become known as “a successful failure” because the three man crew of NASA astronauts was able to safely return in spite of the explosion
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – The ESA/JAXA BepiColomo spacecraft just captured an eerie combination sequence of selfie and Earth images moving in the background as the robotic vessel was conducting a gravity assisted flyby of our home planet amidst the COVID-19 crisis gripping the planet to set the probe on the path to its ultimate destination –
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – With greatly reduced fanfare and no family members present in response to the continuing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic a new Russian-American trio of spacefarers successfully launched to orbit aboard an upgraded Soyuz rocket this morning Thursday, April 9 and docked at the International Space Station (ISS) just six hours later. The new spaceflyer
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Following the problem plagued maiden launch of Boeing’s Starliner astronaut crew capsule in December, the company announced they will fly a second uncrewed test flight to verify the space taxi is safe and reliable enough to be entrusted to launch NASA astronauts in the future to the International Space Station (ISS). Boeing
NASA Astronaut Andrew Morgan monitored the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship’s release from the Canadarm2 robotic arm on April 7, 2020. Credit: @AstroDrewMorgan For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Following a thunderous launch and one month stay at the International Space Station (ISS) the final first generation SpaceX cargo Dragon spacecraft departed the outpost Tuesday and returned to Earth