Ryan Caton

Aerospace/Transit/Tech/Motorsport nerd. Lead Video Editor, Broadcast Operator, Journalist, & Host @NASASpaceflight. Also appear on @TMRO’s Live Show. 🇬🇧

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

The Difference A Week Makes

I photographed the Moon in the week leading up to the 2026 Total Solar Eclipse, with Totality captured in León, Spain.

Available now as a print - link below.

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

I am so hyped for this upcoming Starship flight. Every time I just think about a ship catch adrenaline sears through my veins and my heartrate increases. I don't know how I'm gonna get through this flight man 😂

[NSF - NASASpaceflight.com @NASASpaceflight]

This Week In Spaceflight, with Elysia Segal (@elysiasegal)

https://t.co/sfeORl3aGh

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

100% the craziest NSF stream moment in the history of NSF. Only at MAX POWER 🤯

[Erik Fraser @efraser77]

@dwisecinema got a chance to fly in the @jetson_aero Jetson ONE at #MAXPOWER today! @NASASpaceflight has been on hand all weekend providing coverage of the event at Kennedy Space Center.

Watch continuing coverage at https://t.co/2OyMo9sdVR

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

BIG @NASA Moon Base Update

New Missions:
- CAPSTONE2 on a @QuantumSpace_US tug on a @SpaceX Falcon 9
- @Int_Machines Comms sats on an @GoToImpulse tug on a @SpaceX Falcon 9
- @NASAJPL Moonfall drones on a @FireflySpace Elytra tug on a @BlueOrigin New Glenn
- Comms sats on a @BlueOrigin Blue Ring on a New Glenn
- @GoToImpulse lander with TBA payload on their Helios tug on a @RelativitySpace Terran R
- Lunar @Starlink on a @SpaceX Starship

Commercial Lunar Payload Services 2.0 Contractors:
- @blueorigin
- @FireflySpace
- @Int_Machines
- @ispace_inc-U.S.
- @LMSpace
- @northropgrumman
- @SpaceX
- @voyagertech_ (formerly @astrobotic)

Also, PROMISE (pictured) will fly to the moon! It will land on a @BlueOrigin Blue Moon MK1, SN5.

This is/was an Earth-bound twin of Curiosity, the Mars rover, used to test things on the ground before sending commands to the red planet.

Minicast will allow lunar infrastructure to communicate with each other. The contractors for this are:
- @HB_Robotics
- @Redwire
- @YankTech

For example, rovers could communicate with solar towers to direct themselves for re-charging.

📷 @NASA

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

This MiG-29 makes some absolutely crazy noises.

The boss of NASA just casually pushing his personal fighter jet to the limit over the Shuttle Landing Facility 🤯

[Elisar Priel @ENNEPS]

@NASAAdmin Jared Isaacman's full flyover in his MiG-29 aircraft, flying over the Kennedy Space Center's former Shuttle Landing Facility as part of @NASA's Max Power event weekend.
@NASASpaceflight ongoing coverage: https://t.co/mJ6UYY7ULq

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

MAX POWER welcomes a guest: the @USAirForce @AFThunderbirds, joined by @NASAAdmin's four Northrop F-5 jets, mark the President's arrival to the Shuttle Landing Facility.

📽️ Space Coast Live/@NASASpaceflight

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

Next up in MAX POWER practice: a @NASA Northrop T-38 stretches its wings behind the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Meanwhile, two @NASA Airbus H135s and one @USAirForce Sikorsky UH-60 patrol the skies, potentially ahead of this evening's VIP visit.

📷 Space Coast Live/@NASASpaceflight

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

Next up in MAX POWER practice: a @NASA Northrop T-38 stretches its wings behind the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Meanwhile, two @NASA Airbus H135s and one @USAirForce Sikorsky UH-60 patrol the skies, potentially ahead of this evening's VIP visit.

📷 Space Coast Live/@NASASpaceflight

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

It's MAX POWER practice day at @NASAKennedy, and the @USAirForce @AFThunderbirds kicked things off, including this low pass over the LC-39 Press Site!

📽️ Space Coast Live/@NASASpaceflight

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

It's MAX POWER practice day at @NASAKennedy, and the @USAirForce @AFThunderbirds kicked things off, including this low pass over the LC-39 Press Site!

📽️ Space Coast Live/@NASASpaceflight

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

.@BlueOrigin has just announced two big upgrades to New Glenn: Glenn Stage 3 and Northstar.

GS3 will bump the payload capacity to the Moon to 20 tonnes, while Northstar will produce an advertised 324tf of thrust, providing a much needed improvement → https://t.co/ZKf5ytxYJu

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

I do find it interesting that Blue Origin is branding Northstar as its own bespoke engine, and not as part of the BE-4 family, or even the BE-# family.

Could've called it BE-4 Mk3, just like the landers are Mk1 and Mk2.

[NSF - NASASpaceflight.com @NASASpaceflight]

Blue Origin reveals the GS-3 third stage for New Glenn and the Northstar engine.

https://t.co/JUwXFpN9Wo

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

Busy morning at @NASAKennedy ahead of the MAX POWER event:

- NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's Northrop F-5s fly over the "UpSummit" event being held at the Shuttle Landing Facility
- A @USAirForce Boeing C-17 approaches the Shuttle Landing Facility
- Plus a @USAirForce Learjet C-21A approaches the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Skid Strip

🎥 Space Coast Live/@NASASpaceflight

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

BREAKING: @NASA announces its next X-plane...

...the X-70 Fractal.

Teased by Administrator Jared Isaacman last Friday live on @NASASpaceflight, this aircraft is expected to take flight for the agency before November 2028.

Stats:
- 4.5t take-off weight
- Mach 0.75 cruise speed
- 45,000ft altitude
- 1,500nm+ range

It features "rapidly reconfigurable flight-control technology", allowing NASA to "explore aircraft manoeuvrability in ways never before demonstrated in crewed flight."

The X-70 can carry up to 900kg of experimental payloads in internal and external positions. This enabled a "wide range of research and flight-testing opportunities."

📷 @NASA (generated with Artificial Intelligence, this is the only image shared so far)

[NSF - NASASpaceflight.com @NASASpaceflight]

Starship Update with Max Evans (@_MaxQ_)

➡️https://t.co/rs7qGbqpOX

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

@NASA @NASASpaceflight Appeared live on Space Coast Live https://t.co/6dZi5qzxjd

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

.@NASA's Airbus H135 helicopters are on patrol at the Kennedy Space Center this afternoon.

Doesn't appear to be directly related to MAX POWER at this time - they've both headed south and landed at the KSC industrial area.

📷 Space Coast Live/@NASASpaceflight

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

Swift is dead

November 2004 - November 2026

🫡

@NASA: "The U.S. Space Force confirmed that the Swift spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 7:39 a.m. EST Wednesday over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia, at approximately 3.4 degrees north latitude and 98.6 degrees east longitude. NASA expected most of the spacecraft to burn up as it traveled through the atmosphere, but some components may have survived re-entry."

📷 @NASAGoddard

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

@SciGuySpace 🤣🤣🤣

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

The @USAirForce @AFThunderbirds have arrived in style at the Kennedy Space Center ahead of this weekend's MAX POWER air show.

It is customary for the team to practice multiple times leading up to an event, so keep an eye out, because they'll probably be back!

📷 Space Coast Live/@NASASpaceflight

[Ryan Caton @dpoddolphinpro]

@_MaxQ_ It’s true