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SpaceX launch will be a key test
February 5, 2012
The launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, now scheduled for April, is billed as a demonstration mission to show the world a private company can safely deliver cargo to the space station.
“It’s very important,” agreed Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, top Republican on the Senate science committee, which oversees NASA. “Every step that’s taken toward fulfilling the role (private companies) have been given by the administration is important.”
The company, headquartered in Hawthorne, Ca., reported successfully test-firing its new SuperDraco engine essential to the escape system necessary for the mission to the space station.
SpaceX, which has a $1.6 billion contract to fly cargo to the space station, isn’t the only company in the mix.
Orbital Sciences Corp., which has the only other commercial crew contract ($1.9 billion, eight flights), plans a test launch of its Antares (formerly Taurus II) rocket fairly soon, to be followed by a demonstration flight of its Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the station.
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| SpaceX launch will be a key test |
The launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, now scheduled for April, is billed as a demonstration mission to show the world a private company can safely deliver cargo to the space station. “It’s very important,” agreed Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, top Republican on the Senate science committee, which [...]
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| Phobos-Grunt falls in Pacific Ocean January 16, 2012 |
The Russian spacecraft Phobos-Grunt fell into the Pacific Ocean some 1,250 kilometers west of Wellington, Chile yesterday after circling in Earth orbit for two months. The spacecraft was designed to retrieve soil samples from Phobos, the largest satellite of Mars, but its engines failed and became stuck in an orbit around Earth before returning. The [...]
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| Mars Opportunity rover passes distance milestone July 1, 2011 |
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has passed the 30-kilometer (18.64-mile) milestone in its travels over the Martian surface. Opportunity has been on Mars since 2004. It was during a small recent drive of 146.8 meters (482 feet) that the rover passed the distance milestone. According to NASA, the distance traveled by Opportunity is 50 times [...]
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| Space Shuttle Endeavour enters history books after nineteen years following penultimate landing of program |
Space Shuttle Endeavour landed for the final time at 2:34 a.m. EDT (0534 UTC) at Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. Wednesday, marking the end of its nineteen-year operational career. The mission, STS-134, is the penultimate of the NASA Space Shuttle program; Atlantis is scheduled to fly the final mission in July. The commander of the mission, [...]
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| Using Shuttles for Flights to the Moon? March 9, 2011 |
Andrei Butakov, from St. Petersburg, suggests using American shuttles, which stop flying from 2012, in space without returning to the Earth. He suggests that shuttles can be used for flying to the Moon, for delivering goods from the ISS to Earth’s natural satellite, and etc. NASA’s Mark Bowman (Deputy Director, Human Space Flight Program – [...]
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