The Antares rocket has been cleared for its first test launch tomorrow at 5 pm (Eastern).
The competition heats up: Because its FAA test flight permit will expire on May 23, SpaceShipTwo’s first powered flight has to occur by then and be supersonic.
What is unclear to me is how the expiration of this permit could affect future flights. Does Virgin Galactic have to get a new permit to continue test flights? What about the tourist flights that are supposed to follow?
The competition heats up: Russia’s Proton rocket successfully launched a Canadian communications satellite today.
This is the second successful Proton launch in a row, suggesting that the technical problems of the Briz-M upper stage have been overcome.
Putting its money where its mouth is: Russia under Vladimir Putin has announced a big financial boost from its government to its semi-private space industry.
Want to go to Mars? You better get in line. Dennis Tito’s project already has hundreds of volunteers.
I still have doubts whether this non-private company can pull this off by 2018, but only by 2018. Given a bit more time and research, the obstacles for sending two humans on a fly-by of Mars can easily be overcome.
Alan Boyle has some more information on SpaceShipTwo’s most recent test flight, and the rumors concerning the ship’s first powered flight.
A countdown dress rehearsal of the Antares rocket on Saturday was halted when a problem with a valve was discovered.
Engineers think they can replace the valve and still launch on Wednesday as scheduled.
The competition heats up: New rumors suggest that the first powered flight of SpaceShipTwo will occur April 22.
The competition heats up: Vladimir Putin noted today, the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s spaceflight, that the new Russian spaceport being built in Vostochny will be open for use by other countries.
Putin’s announcement is a bit vague, in that it is not clear whether he means the spaceport could be used by outside private companies or merely that American or European payloads will be launched from the site using Russian rockets. I suspect the latter. Regardless, Putin’s statement both to the Russian public and to the rest of the world illustrates his desire to sell the new spaceport, which in turn will bring Russia business.
Isn’t competition a wonderful thing?
The competition heats up: Boeing this week revealed a new line of small satellites, the smallest weighing less than 9 pounds, for both military and commercial operations.
This decision tells me that my worries about Boeing’s competitiveness are unfounded. Moreover, the increasing shift to building smaller satellites will once again lower costs and therefore increase the number of customers who can afford the product. The result will be a larger aerospace industry.
Speaking of the cracks on the first Orion capsule, here’s a story on the capsule’s state of construction.
The competition heats up: India is looking to privatize its commercial launch vehicles.
The words of NASA’s chief: “NASA is not going to the Moon with a human as a primary project probably in my lifetime.”
He’s right. Instead, others will do it. And the ones who do it from the United States, privately financed for profit, will do it quickly, efficiently, and often, three things NASA has not been able to do at all since the 1960s.
NASA has now indicated that the first manned launch using a commercial space carrier has slipped by a year.
The reasons are as yet unclear, though it is suspected that the main cause is the decision by the Obama administration to cut the funds of this program under sequestration. As Clark Lindsey notes, however, there is no reason that some of these private companies won’t go forward and fly other passengers on their spaceships, ahead of the NASA flights. Specifically, SpaceX and its Dragon capsule should easily be ready to go well ahead of 2017, and will likely be earning enough cash from its commercial launches to pay for development even if the NASA subsidies get delayed.
The first launch of Antares has now been scheduled for April 17.
The competition heats up: Antares is on the launchpad, being readied for its first launch in about 10 days.
The competition heats up: More successful glide tests today for SpaceShipTwo, now with its engine attached.
They are testing the flight characteristics of the spaceship with the additional engine weight. Once satisfied, they will then move on to powered flights.
The competition heats up: Legislatures in New Mexico and Texas move forward with bills clarifying future spaceport legalities.
The competition heats up: The roll out of Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket to the launchpad will occur on Saturday, with the test first launch scheduled between April 17-19.
Surprise, surprise! States dominated by conservatives are more likely to have lower unemployment, while liberally dominated states are more likely to have higher unemployment.
Want to own and drive a car able to go faster than 265 miles per hour? You can!
I’m both glad and not surprised that some heavy hitters are beginning to say this. As I noted last year, as the commercial space program begins to show success the politics will increasingly favor it over the very expensive and not very productive NASA-built Space Launch System.
Be prepared for SLS to steadily lose political support in the coming years.
The competition heats up: India has successfully tested a homebuilt engine to be used in its more powerful geosynchronous launch rocket, set for launch in July. More here.
Previous launches of the GSLV rocket used a Russian-built engine on a second stage. They also ended in failure, not because of the Russian equipment but because of other problems.
Three astronauts were successfully launched today from Russia and are expected to dock with ISS later tonight.
They are the first crew to use the fast route to ISS, only six hours, rather than the more traditional two day rendezvous path.
The competition heats up: Elon Musk confirms that on future Falcon 9 launches they will do tests of a powered return of the first stage.
For the upcoming flight, after stage separation the first stage booster will do a burn to slow it down and then a second burn just before it reaches the water. In subsequent flights they will continue these over-water tests. He repeatedly emphasized that he expects several failures before they learn how to do it right. If all goes well with the over-water tests, they will fly back to launch site and land propulsively. He expects this could happen by mid-2014.
These tests are an extension of the Grasshopper tests, only this time they will take place during an actual launch.
The competition heats up: A Proton rocket has successfully launched a Mexican communications satellite today.
ILS, the company that launches the commercial Proton rocket, needed this success badly, considering the recent problems they have had with the Proton’s Briz-M upper stage.
The competition heats up: Virgin Galactic reports that the recent tests of the engine for SpaceShipTwo have been a complete success.
It appears that they are getting very close to putting the engine on the spaceship for the first powered flights. Things should get very exciting when they do.
How big will the Stratolaunch first stage aircraft be? Big. Very big.
An expedition financed by Jeff Bezos has recovered two Apollo-era Saturn 5 F-1 engines from the ocean bottom.
