They all went on to have fascinating careers and flights, and it was a dream to chronicle their stories in The Six set to be published in September. Happy Sally Ride's flight anniversary day! https://t.co/rhWFZ4Oaml
NASA is developing a second mobile launcher (ML-2) to support larger variants of the Space Launch System. NASA estimates the ML-2 will cost $1.8 billion, over three times more than planned, despite efforts to improve project performance.
Read the full report: https://t.co/1C4fes7NkE
🚨 We’re actively monitoring and analyzing the breakup event in #LEO involving a Chinese rocket body, CZ-6A. Our radar data indicates this event occurred on 6 August at ~20:10 UTC at ~810 km.
It resulted in at least 700 debris fragments and potentially more than 900.
Reading between the lines:
Ship 30's Spin Prime completed the testing requirements post-engine swap out.
Booster 12 is ready to go and waiting for rollout.
B14.1 is the additional booster catch testing, with upcoming slap and clap tests.
Ship 31 is undergoing TPS replacement (like Ship 30). Could additional Flight 6 testing point to Booster 13 Static Fire before Booster 12 goes to the pad for integrated stack testing (WDR)?
Flight 5 likely in the September weeks now.
NASA continues to face significant cost increases and schedule delays as it develops the more powerful version of its Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket known as Block 1B. Read the full audit report: https://t.co/Q5o2UBjaNk
🚨 Slingshot Orbital Alert 🚨
Following China's launch of 18 G60 satellites on August 6th, Slingshot is tracking over 50 pieces of space debris that pose a significant hazard to LEO constellations below 800 km altitude.
Polaris Dawn up next! No earlier than August 26.
News media friends - check out the hundreds of photos from myself, and many from the awesome SpaceX team, documenting the crew's training and preparations ahead of launch: https://t.co/XuPWPYYnv6
Truly a wild Starliner press conference:
-- NASA finally went into detail about a SpaceX contingency plan for bringing Butch and Suni home
-- People within NASA do not agree on which path to take
-- They need to decide by mid-August on how to move forward
https://t.co/JrEamD5mv5
This forward module validation test is fun to see. Our four fins on New Glenn are about the size of a car—roughly 16 feet long at the base and sticking out 6.5 feet from the body of the rocket. They’re responsible for steering the rocket on ascent and descent. Most of the structure is aluminum, which is protected from reentry heating by a durable fabric thermal protection system we invented and refer to internally as ‘Comet.’ The aerodynamic forces pushing on the fin during flight are roughly equal to the weight of a 737 aircraft. #newglenn @blueorigin
Cygnus NG-21: At ISS crew wakeup today, Mike Barratt asked mission control if the onboard Cygnus capture timeline for Tuesday was still good or if a revision was expected. The MCC CAPCOM replied, "it's a good timeline for tomorrow." Barratt: "OK, superb, we're really looking forward to that." (1/2)
NASA and Boeing's careful parsing of their work on Starliner has walked the line of transparency, but if the agency did just lie to reporters about the July 14 study, as @SciGuySpace reports here, it will be a major blow to its credibility.
https://t.co/brXcWflGAk
Preliminary results from the July 27 #Starliner tests show all the tested thrusters are back to preflight levels based on thrust and chamber pressure.
For additional details about the test: https://t.co/HZLnNZ9gcE
SpaceX is in talks with U.S., Australian officials to land and recover Starship boosters off a coast in Australia, a possible first step toward a bigger SpaceX presence in the region as the two countries bolster their security ties, per three sources. https://t.co/Gxo6QiaJEl
Thanks to the pace we’ve been able to launch, we’re able to gather unprecedented levels of flight data and are poised to rapidly return to flight as soon as Saturday, July 27 → https://t.co/DvO0z1NbUm