First Female Cosmonaut in 17 Years to launch to ISS tomorrow.

Yelena Serova

Yelena Serova will be the first female cosmonaut in over 17 years to travel into space. Yelena Kondakova was the last female cosmonaut to make the trek, she flew aboard sts-84 in 1997. This will be Serova's first trip to space and will mark only the 4th female cosmonaut to do so. The Previous Female cosmonauts are Valentina Tereshkova and Svetlana Savitskaya . Yelena Serova will blast off tomorrow Sep. 26^th aboard TMA-14M along with Expedition 41 Soyuz Commander Aleksandr Samokutyayev and NASA astronaut Barry E. Wilmore. The crew will linkup with the 3 existing crew members aboard the ISS. 

Read More

SpaceX Live Launch Webcast

SpaceX is targeted to launch to the International Space Station next Monday at 4:58pm ET / 1:58pm PT. We’ll be webcasting the launch LIVE, starting at 4:20pm ET at www.spacex.com/webcast.

This represents the first time that a Falcon 9 will fly landing legs. Off-course they wont be used on this flight but they will be performing some sort of controlled re-entry of the first stage to minimize damage. These are the first crucial steps for +SpaceX in creating a fully reusable launch vehicle.

Dragon ready to fly.

F9-R horizontal in Space X hanger. landing legs clearly visible.

Dragon being mated to Falcon 9.

mating almost complete.

Falcon 9 Static Fire.

Read More

SpaceX Successfully Completes First Mission to Geostationary Transfer Orbit.

Upgraded Falcon 9 launch vehicle delivers SES-8 satellite to targeted orbit

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida – Today, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) successfully completed its first geostationary transfer mission, delivering the SES-8 satellite to its targeted 295 x 80,000 km orbit.  Falcon 9 executed a picture-perfect flight, meeting 100% of mission objectives.

Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at 5:41 PM Eastern Time.  Approximately 185 seconds into flight, Falcon 9’s second stage’s single Merlin vacuum engine ignited to begin a five minute, 20 second burn that delivered the SES-8 satellite into its parking orbit. Eighteen minutes after injection into the parking orbit, the second stage engine relit for just over one minute to carry the SES-8 satellite to its final geostationary transfer orbit.  The restart of the Falcon 9 second stage is a requirement for all geostationary transfer missions.

“The successful insertion of the SES-8 satellite confirms the upgraded Falcon 9 launch vehicle delivers to the industry’s highest performance standards,” said Elon Musk, CEO and Chief Designer of SpaceX.   “As always, SpaceX remains committed to delivering the safest, most reliable launch vehicles on the market today.  We appreciate SES’s early confidence in SpaceX and look forward to launching additional SES satellites in the years to come.”

Today’s mission marked SpaceX’s first commercial launch from its central Florida launch pad and the first commercial flight from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in over five years.  SpaceX has nearly 50 launches on manifest, of which over 60% are for commercial customers. 

This launch also marks the second of three certification flights needed to certify the Falcon 9 to fly missions for the U.S. Air Force under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. When Falcon 9 is certified, SpaceX will be eligible to compete for all National Security Space (NSS) missions.

High-resolution photos are available for download at www.spacex.com/media.

Read More

Juno Streaking Towards Earth.

NASA’s Jupiter bound Juno spacecraft is streaking towards earth for critical gravity assist today, September 9^th. This flyby is critical as Juno will use the earth’s gravity to boost its speed allowing it to get to Jupiter in 2016. While Juno executes this maneuver, it will have a front row seat, an amazing view of the earth/moon system. The spacecraft will capture unprecedented footage as it streaks towards the planet giving us a unique, never before seen perspective of our home world. 

When Juno arrives at Jupiter on July 4^th, 2016 its prime mission will be discovering Jupiter’s origins, how the planet was formed and how that relates to the other plants of the solar system. The mission will last one year entailing 33 orbits around the gas giant each lasting 11 days bringing the spacecraft to within 3000 miles above the Jupiter’s cloud deck. Juno will also take unprecedented measurements of the planet’s extraordinary magnetic field, map the interior structure, atmosphere and try to determine whether or not Jupiter has a rocky core, or is it just a big ball of gas.

Juno was launched on August 5^th, 2011 atop an ATLAS V Rocket. Juno is a fairly massive spacecraft so the 551 configuration (the most powerful configuration) of the ATLAS V was used. Even with the added power of the 551 a flyby of earth was still needed to get that extra speed boost to continue on to Jupiter. A direct trajectory to Jupiter would have required a larger more expensive rocket, more fuel and a larger spacecraft.

Source: NASA

While Juno probably won’t be visible to the naked eye, it should be possible to see the spacecraft with the aid of binoculars. For those who won’t be able to spot the flyby, Slooh will be tracking Juno live. You can watch it all live below.

Source: Slooh

Read More

Space X Falcon 9 v1.1 fires its engines for the first time.

Falcon 9v1.1 Roll out.

SpaceX has conducted their first hot fire test of the Falcon 9v1.1 a.k.a Falcon 9 Reusable (F9-R). During a hot fire or static fire test all crucial systems are enabled and the rocket is fully fueled and fully prepared for launch, sort of a dress rehearsal if you will. Engines are fired and throttled to full power for a few seconds before an abort command is issued to shut them down. All this while the rocket remains firmly bolted to the pad. By doing this, engineers can collect performance data on all the rockets vital systems to determine whether or not the rocket is ready for its mission. This is all in preparation for the launch of the CASSIOPE satellite, the first passenger to ride the F9-R to orbit. The launch which was scheduled for September 15^th has slipped unfortunately and SpaceX has yet to confirm a new launch date.

Business end of the F9-R

The F9-R sports a stretched first stage that will eventually become the core stage of the Falcon Heavy and as the name suggests, is the first steps towards creating a fully reusable rocket. Future incarnations of the F9-R will sport landing legs and will have the ability to return safely to earth after each launch. SpaceX is already hard at work on this endeavor. The first stage is powered by 9 upgraded merlin 1D engines arranged in an octagonal pattern (octaweb) with a single centrally mounted engine. The Merlin 1D engines are a significant step above the older Merlin 1C. Not only are they more powerful providing 147,000 lbf when compared to 94,000 lbf of the 1C, the Merlin 1D also has the highest thrust to weight ratio ever achieved by a rocket engine. The manufacturing process has also been optimized meaning lower manufacturing costs in the long run. The first flight of F9-R will also see the introduction of a payload fairing. A payload fairing is simply a shell made of composite materials that protect payloads whether it be a satellite or a space probe during the accent through the densest part of the earth’s atmosphere after which the fairing is jettisoned so that the payload can be released into orbit. Since all previous launches took the Dragon capsule to orbit, no fairing was needed. A fairing however will be crucial as it is needed to protect the delicate instruments on the CASSIOPE satellite during the climb to orbit.

SpaceX has a lot riding on the F9-R as this may be potentially the most challenging launch in the company’s history. The F9-R incorporates the most technological changes since the introduction of the block 1 Falcon 9 back in 2010. When you have so many new modifications all debuting at the same time, the risk of failure is significantly higher! However the Falcon 9 has proven itself to be a very reliable booster thus far, even surviving an engine failure at launch during the CRS-1 ISS resupply mission. Falcon 9 is designed to make it to orbit even after losing two of its 9 Merlin engines, thankfully it hasn’t had to make use of that feature. Let’s hope it never has to.

Read More

Voyager 1 Now In Interstellar Space!

Its official! Vaoyager 1 is now in interstellar space! The most distant object that man has ever sent into space has finally crossed over into a region where the sun no longer has any influence!  Actually, scientists believe that voyager 1 may have crossed this boundary some time last year. Voyager was launched back in 1977 atop a Titan 3E Rocket as part of NASA’s “grand tour”, an ambitious plan that would see the twin voyager probes visiting the outer planets of the solar system. This venture would only be possible by taking advantage of the alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in the late 1970s. Scientists jumped at the opportunity as this unique alignment would not recur for another 175 years. Although Voyager 2 was launched a week before Voyager 1, Voyager 1 was able to overtake her sister craft and get to both Jupiter and Saturn sooner using a shorter trajectory.

 

Both Voyager 1 and 2 completed their prime missions studying the outer gas giants in 1980 and have been darting towards the edge of the solar system collecting a wealth of data ever since. Voyager 1 is currently traveling at a speed of 38,120mph relative to the sun at a distance of 125 AU. Sounds pretty fast huh? The thing is even at that speed it would still take voyager thousands of years (73,775 years to be exact) to get to the nearest star Proxima Centauri ! Voyager will continue to send back data until 2025 when all its remaining instruments will be shut down.

Approximate location of Voyager 1 as of 2013

Launch of Voyager 1

Read More

Watch Ariane 5 Launch live

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA
Launch date: August 29, 2013

Launch window: 2030-2120 GMT (4:30-5:20 p.m. EDT)

Payload: Eutelsat 25B & GSAT 7
Site: ELA-3, Guiana Space Center, Kourou French GuianaThe 

ESA are only minutes away from launching a heavy lift Ariane 5 Rocket from French Guiana.

You can watch the launch live here courtesy of spaceflightnow.com

Read More

Leaky Space suit tested: Found to still have leaks.

ISS astronauts Luca Parmitano and Chriss Cassidy ran some more diagnostic tests today on the faulty space suit that Luca was wearing during his second Spacewalk. Turns out the suit still leaks as the crew was able to recreate the problem by powering up the suit. The cause of the problem is still under investigation as both engineers on the ground and the astronauts aboard the ISS try to figure out the source of the issue. The ISS crew will disassemble the suit so that key components can be returned to earth for further analysis. 

Source: NASA

Read More

Luca Parmitano's spacesuit

ESA Astronaut Luca Parmitano gives us the rundown on his space suit or Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). He also explains the different safety procedures that are used in order to stay safe while working outside the safe confines of the station. Luca who is currently on a long duration mission on the International Space Station became the first Italian astronaut to walk in space on July 9^th 2013. His second spacewalk was aborted when the helmet of his spacesuit started filling with water from the suits cooling system. In the second video Luca explains what it was like during the events of the second EVA.

Source: ESA

Read More

Space X Grasshopper 100M Lateral divert test

On August 13th, the Falcon 9 test rig (code name Grasshopper) completed a divert test, flying to a 250m altitude with a 100m lateral maneuver before returning to the center of the pad. The test demonstrated the vehicle's ability to perform more aggressive steering maneuvers than have been attempted in previous flights.

Grasshopper is taller than a ten story building, which makes the control problem particularly challenging. Diverts like this are an important part of the trajectory in order to land the rocket precisely back at the launch site after reentering from space at hypersonic velocity. 

So what does all this mean for spaceflight? Grasshopper is a prototype, the first step to a truly reusable launch system. Current boosters are expendable, after every launch each stage of the rocket jettisoned and allowed to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere. Whatever survives re-entry is destroyed on impact with the ocean (land in the case of Russian rockets) in other words; a new rocket has to be manufactured for every launch. The space shuttle was the only reusable spacecraft ever put into service and even then it was not 100% reusable as the external fuel tank is never recovered. With every successful test of grasshopper space X gets closer and closer to achieving the goal of a reusable launch system.

Source:SpaceX

Read More

A look inside a Soyuz launch

Ever wondered what it takes to send humans to the international space station(ISS)? This video should shed some light. It explains the launch sequence of the Russian Soyuz rocket. With the Space shuttle now retired, the Soyuz is now the only spacecraft capable of launching humans to the ISS.


Video Source:ESA

Read More