Image credit: Blue Origin A 47-page opinion from Judge Richard A. Hertling describes why Blue Origin’s lawsuit against NASA’s Moon lander award to SpaceX was dismissed. A public version of Hertling’s November 4 ruling was released by the Court of Federal Claims last week. The November 18 opinion details the court’s frustration with the Blue Origin lawsuit and laments the company’s speculative defense of their actions. “Blue Origin is in the position of every disappointed bidder: Oh. That’s what the agency wanted and liked best? If we had known, we would have instead submitted a proposal that r ..read more

Left to right: Christopher Sembroski, Jared Isaacman, Elon Musk, Dr. Sian Proctor, and Hayley Arceneaux | Image credit: Inspiration4/John Kraus With the launch of Inspiration4 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, four average Americans have become the first non-professional astronaut crew in history. The Crew Dragon Risslience carrying Christopher Sembroski, a data engineer and Air Force veteran; Dr. Sian Proctor, a geology professor; Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant and cancer survivor; and Jared Isaacman, the billionaire backer behind the mission launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket fro ..read more

NASA has awarded $146 million in Artemis lunar lander contracts to Blue Origin, Dynetics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX | Image credit: Blue Origin NASA has selected five companies, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, to mature lunar lander concepts. Announced September 14, the five contracts were awarded to Blue Origin, Dynetics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX. The value of the contracts varies widely from as little as $9.4 million awarded to SpaceX to $40.8 million awarded to Dynetics. Each of the five companies is tasked with developing and maturing lunar lander ..read more

The four-member crew of Inspiration4 went through a full rehearsal of launch day on September 12 | Image credit: SpaceX SpaceX has performed a full dress rehearsal with the four members of the Inspiration4 crew ahead of their launch this week. The September 12 dress rehearsal was conducted at the Kennedy Space Center‘s Pad 39A. Inspiration4 crew Jared Isaacman, Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux, and Christopher Sembroski went through every step they’ll follow on launch day up to and including strapping into their seats. With the completion of the dress rehearsal, the crew is now ready for launch ..read more

SpaceX will launch NASA’s GOES-U weather satellite aboard a Falcon Heavy from the Kennedy Space Center in 2024 | Image credit: SpaceX NASA has selected the SpaceX Falcon Heavy to launch its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U (GOES-U) mission. Under the $152.5 million contract announced September 10, SpaceX will launch a Falcon Heavy carrying the GOES-U weather satellite in April 2024 from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The more than 5,000-kilogram GOES-U satellite is the fourth and final of the GOES-R series of weather satellites operated by the National Ocean ..read more

The upgraded Cargo Dragon spacecraft used for the SpaceX CRS-23 mission was previously used to support CRS-21 which splashed down in January 2021 | Image credit: SpaceX SpaceX launched its 23rd International Space Station resupply mission August 29 carrying 2,207 kilograms of experiments, cargo, and crew supplies. The CRS-23 mission was launched aboard a flight-proven Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 07:14 UTC. The launch had been pushed a day after bad weather precluded a launch on August 28. Designed to be used on as many as five missions, the upgraded Cargo Dr ..read more

Blue Origin have stepped up their protest of the awarding of a NASA lunar lander contract to SpaceX by suing the agency | Image credit: Daniel Oberhaus In the latest update to a disagreement over NASA awarding a lucrative lunar lander contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Blue Origin has chosen to sue the agency. Filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on Monday, August 16, the sealed protest seeks to overturn the awarding of a $2.89 billion NASA lunar lander contract awarded to SpaceX in April. “We firmly believe that the issues identified in this procurement and its outcomes must be addressed to ..read more

Boeing’s decision to detack Starliner could preclude the possibility that OFT-2 will be launch before 2022 | Image credit: 2022 The launch of the second uncrewed demonstration mission of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle will be delayed by months. The delay is necessary in order to fix a problem with the spacecraft’s propulsion system. Boeing announced August 13 that company would be destack the Starliner spacecraft from its Atlas V launch vehicle and return it to the company’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility for “deeper-level troubleshooting.” The Starliner spac ..read more

The Boeing Starliner spacecraft is currently undergoing repairs to unstuck 13 valves in its propulsion system | Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett Boeing announced August 9 that it had repaired functionality to seven of 13 values in Starliner’s propulsion system that did not open as designed during prelaunch system checks. In a short announcement on the aerospace giant’s Starliner Updates blog, Boeing revealed that 13 valves in the propulsion system of a Starliner spacecraft had been stuck shut as the vehicle was prepared for launch. Although largely speculated, the exact number had been kept from the ..read more

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