SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, August 18 at 10:31 a.m. EDT for launch of its eleventh Starlink mission, which will include 58 Starlink satellites and three of Planet’s SkySats. Falcon 9 will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Falcon 9’s first stage previously supported the Telstar 18 VANTAGE mission in September 2018, the Iridium-8 mission in January 2019, and three separate Starlink missions in May 2019, January 2020, and June 2020. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You ..read more

NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Oct. 23 for the first operational flight with astronauts of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as a part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission will be the first of regular rotational missions to the space station following completion of NASA certification. The mission will carry Crew Dragon commander Michael Hopkins, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Shannon Walker, all of NASA, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialist Soichi Nog ..read more

Launch TimeTue Aug 18, 2020 14:31 UTC SpaceX will launch a batch of Starlink satellites for their high-speed low earth orbit internet constellation from SLC-40, Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, USA SkySat are commercial Earth observation satellites by Skybox Imaging, licensed to collect high resolution panchromatic and multispectral images of the earth. The satellites operate in a polar inclined... Source ..read more

SpaceX is standing down from today’s launch in order to allow additional time for pre-launch checkouts in advance of its tenth Starlink mission. Falcon 9 and its payloads, 57 Starlink satellites and 2 satellites from BlackSky, a Spaceflight customer, remain healthy. SpaceX teams are evaluating the next earliest launch opportunity and will announce a new target date once confirmed on the Range. Source ..read more

Engineers working on NASA’s Perseverance rover mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida have begun the process of placing the Mars-bound rover and other spacecraft components into the configuration they’ll be in as they ride on top of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The launch period for the mission opens on July 17 — just 70 days from now. Called “vehicle stacking... Source ..read more

A new high-pressure ventilator developed by NASA engineers and tailored to treat coronavirus (COVID-19) patients today was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use under the FDA’s March 24 ventilator Emergency Use Authorization. Called VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), the device was developed by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in... Source ..read more

BREAKING: On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil! With our @SpaceX partners, @Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken will launch to the @Space_Station on the #CrewDragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Let's #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/RINb3mfRWI— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) April 17, 2020 NASA and SpaceX have set May 27 as the target... Source ..read more

The legendary “moe rabbit”-Yutu 2 lunar rover woke up again. On March 18th 2020, after 14 days of extremely cold moon nights, Yutu 2 awakened itself again to “re-work”, ushering in the 16th day of the moon exploration tour. So far, Yutu 2 has survived on the back of the moon for more than 400 days, with a total mileage of 405.44 meters. “It has been more than 400 days? Source ..read more

Future exploration of the Moon and beyond will require tools of all shapes and sizes – from sweeping orbiters to the tiniest of rovers. In addition to current planned scientific rovers like the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, NASA could one day send even smaller rovers to help scout the Moon’s surface. These tiny robots would provide mission flexibility and collect key... Source ..read more

Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX is preparing to launch another batch of 60 satellites for the Starlink Internet network. The launch may happen as early as April 16, 2020. The mission will launch at around 5:31 p.m. EDT Thursday, April 16, from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Early warning notices to mariners have been released suggesting the launch is scheduled next Thursday... Source ..read more