NASA
This afternoon NASA held a pre-launch briefing for tomorrow's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with Dragon spacecraft launch to the International Space Station on the COTS-2 demo flight.
Continue reading NASA SpaceX Falcon 9 Dragon Pre-Launch Briefing.
Export Control
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation lauds the passage of H.R. 4310 today, the National Defense Authorization Act, with Rep. Adam Smith's amendment providing authority to the President to remove some satellites and related components and technology from the U.S. Munitions List, but calls for further progress regarding spaceflight participant training and the appropriate regulatory position for manned space vehicles.
International Space Station
NASA is giving CASIS (The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space) $15 million a year and the keys to a large portion of a $100 billion International Space Station - one funded by taxpayers.
SpaceX
The Dragon spacecraft built by SpaceX will head to the International Space Station with about 1,200 pounds of cargo during its demonstration mission, including commemorative patches and pins, 162 meals and a collection of student experiments.
Commercial Crew
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will participate in a teleconference on Thursday, May 17, at 2 p.m. EDT with representatives of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation to brief journalists on the future of human commercial spaceflight.
XCOR
XCOR Aerospace today announced the grand prize winner of a trip aboard the Lynx Mark I suborbital launch vehicle. XCOR Chief Operating Officer Andrew Nelson made the announcement at the Spacecraft Technology Expo (STE) in Los Angeles, CA.
Ball Aerospace
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has submitted its mission concept study to NASA for demonstrating solar electric propulsion (SEP) technologies in space.
Arianespace
In the early evening at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana an Ariane 5 successfully launched two telecommunication satellites for Japan and Vietnam. It was the 48th consecutive success launch for the Ariane 5, the 300th and 301st satellites launched by Arianespace from French Guiana, and the 100th and 101st commercial satellites produced by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems.
TDRSS
The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite 4 (TDRS-4) recently completed almost 23 years of operations support and successfully completed end-of-mission de-orbit and decommissioning activities. TDRS-4's operational life span was well beyond its original 10-year design.
Kennedy Space Center
The Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has been a landmark to the technological advancements of sending men to the moon and astronauts into space for more than 45 years. But the VAB, as it is best known, is due for major renovations to continue processing launch vehicles and support the subsequent launching of a new generation of astronauts into orbit and deeper into space than ever before.
Recent Press Releases
Recent Status Reports
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Orbital Sciences
The first stage of Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket stands in launch position during pathfinder operations at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Orbital's Antares launch vehicle will be conducting missions for NASA under its Commercial Orbital Transportation Service Program and Cargo Resupply Services contract.
SpaceX
The Dragon spacecraft built by SpaceX will head to the International Space Station with about 1,200 pounds of cargo during its demonstration mission, including commemorative patches and pins, 162 meals and a collection of student experiments.
NASA
This afternoon NASA held a pre-launch briefing for tomorrow's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with Dragon spacecraft launch to the International Space Station on the COTS-2 demo flight.
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space
The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization managing research on the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory, has organized a group of world-class scientists to review experiments flown in space by NASA over the last 10 years. The goal is to identify findings or areas of further study that could lead to breakthrough technologies and products for people on earth.
News
The Senate Appropriations Committee has released details of its draft Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill that provides $525 million for NASA's Commercial Crew Program for the 2013 Fiscal Year, an increase from the $406 million provided in the final bill last year. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science draft bill provides $500 million for the program.
Federal Aviation Administration
SUMMARY: This notice solicits Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 grant proposals to continue the development of a Commercial Space Transportation infrastructure system that supports the National Space Policy and Congressional intent. Begun in 2010, the program supports the Commercial Space Transportation industry by identification, prioritization, and funding for Commercial Space Transportation infrastructure projects. This program has been previously referred to as the Commercial Space Transportation Grants Program.
Boeing
Boeing successfully completed the second parachute drop test of the company's Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft on May 2 at the Delamar Dry Lake Bed near Alamo, Nev. The test demonstrated the performance of the entire landing system.
United Launch Alliance
This afternoon at 2:42 p.m. EDT a United Launch Alliance Atlas V successfully launched the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-2) satellite for the Air Force. The satellite is the second of the next generation constellation of military communications satellites to be used by all branches of the service which will result in a 10 fold increase in capability.
Ball Aerospace
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has submitted its mission concept study to NASA for demonstrating solar electric propulsion (SEP) technologies in space.
NanoRacks
The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the non-profit organization managing the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory, today announced a deal with NanoRacks, LLC, to reserve space on the first commercial platform available for researchers outside the ISS in the extreme environments of space. In June, CASIS will issue a formal solicitation to the research community and private enterprise for their proposals to use this one-of-a-kind platform for anything from earth observation to materials, and biological sciences.
Surrey Satellite
Surrey Satellite Technology US LLC is soliciting ancillary payloads for its upcoming OTB mission that will be launched in Q1 2015, offering both government and commercial organizations a low risk, cost effective opportunity for the flight and operation of payloads, subsystems and equipments in low earth orbit.
NASA
The other day these three Technology Transfer Opportunities were posted on NASA's procurement page by NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) media specialist Sean Sullivan. Hmmm "media specialist". Doesn't sound technical to me. More like NASA Public Affairs.
ATK
It was 15 months that ATK announced with Astrium (an EADS Company) announced that they were working together and would compete in NASA's Commercial Crew Development-2 (CCDev-2) procurement. At that time they announced an initial test flight by the end of 2013, a second test flight in 2014, and operational capability in 2015. Today's announcement reinforces the previous plans with a few changes and offers some new information.