Tag Archives: space program

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Declares Mars To Be A “Free Planet” Not Subject To Any Earth Laws Or International Treaties

The Independent reports: SpaceX will not recognise international law on Mars, according to the Terms of Service of its Starlink internet project. Elon Musk’s space company will instead reportedly adhere to a set of “self-governing principles” that will be defined at the time of Martian settlement. Musk revealed plans to create a self-sustaining city on Mars last week, though no …

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Ex-NASA Official Under Criminal Probe Over Boeing Bid

The Wall Street Journal reports: Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal probe into whether a senior NASA official improperly told a high-ranking Boeing executive about the status of a lunar-lander contract, spurring the company to revise its bid, according to people familiar with the investigation. The grand-jury investigation, which hasn’t been previously reported, is being led by the U.S. attorney’s …

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SpaceX Capsule Successfully Splashes Down In Gulf

CBS News reports: Crew Dragon astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken enjoyed wakeup messages from their young sons early Sunday before readying their ship for a fiery plunge back to Earth and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola to close out a 64-day test flight. Hurley and Behnken, launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on May 30, …

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LIVE VIDEO: NASA Launches Mission To Mars

The New York Times reports: The final launch of the summer of Mars missions is nearly underway. On Thursday, NASA hopes to send a robotic rover and a small experimental helicopter on a journey of six and a half months to the red planet. It follows two earlier launches by the United Arab Emirates and China. NASA was originally scheduled …

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China Launches Uncrewed Mission To Mars [VIDEO]

CBS News reports: A powerful Long March 5 rocket blasted off Thursday carrying a Chinese orbiter, lander and rover on a seven-month voyage to Mars, the second of three high-stakes missions to the red planet and one that, if successful, will put China on the front lines of interplanetary exploration. China did not announce the launch date or time in …

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SpaceX Capsule Successfully Docks At Space Station

CNN reports: Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley have officially arrived at the International Space Station. After a historic launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, the astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft synched up with the space station Sunday morning. The spacecraft made a careful approach, easing its way toward its destination over the course of 19 …

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Manned SpaceX Rocket Launches Successfully [VIDEO]

The New York Times reports: The United States opened a new era of human space travel on Saturday as a private company for the first time launched astronauts into orbit, nearly a decade after the government retired the storied space shuttle program in the aftermath of national tragedy. Two American astronauts lifted off at 3:22 p.m. from a familiar setting, …

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LIVE VIDEO: Second Try For Joint SpaceX-NASA Launch

Axios reports: At 3:22 p.m. ET today, SpaceX is expected to launch NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station for the first time. Why it matters: The liftoff — should it go off without a hitch — will be the first time a private company has launched people to orbit. It will also bring crewed …

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Prototype SpaceX Rocket Explodes On Launch Pad

TechCrunch reports: SpaceX had just conducted yet another static fire test of the Raptor engine in its Starship SN4 prototype launch vehicle on Friday when the test vehicle exploded on the test stand in Boca Chica, Texas. This was the fourth static fire test of this engine on this prototype, so it’s unclear what went wrong vs. other static fire …

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NASA-SpaceX Launch To Space Station: POSTPONED

Yahoo News reports: Nearly nine years after the last space shuttle flew, NASA and SpaceX are counting down to the next launch to put astronauts into orbit from Florida. The launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will mark the first-ever use of a privately owned spaceship for a crewed orbital launch, and a renaissance …

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Space Force Dedicates First Launch To COVID Victims

NBC News reports: The U.S. Space Force launched a secret mission space plane into the stars Sunday morning, dedicating the flight to front-line workers and victims during the coronavirus pandemic. A rocket was used to carry the X-37B, a remote-operated space plane that uses solar power, which will orbit the Earth while carrying experiments into space. The Cape Canaveral launch …

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Trump Executive Order Encourages Mining The Moon

The Guardian reports: The world may be racked by the coronavirus, but Donald Trump has less earthly concerns on his mind, too, after signing an executive order encouraging the US to mine the moon for minerals. The executive order makes clear that the US doesn’t view space as a “global commons”, opening the way for the mining of the moon …

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First British Astronaut Is Confident That “Aliens Exist”

The Hill reports: Helen Sharman, Britain’s first astronaut, said she believes in extraterrestrial life in an interview with The Guardian published Sunday. “Aliens exist, there’s no two ways about it,” Sharman told the newspaper. “There are so many billions of stars out there in the universe that there must be all sorts of different forms of life,” she said. “Will …

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China Denounces US Space Force As “Direct Threat

The Associated Press reports: Rising space power China on Monday attacked the newly created U.S. Space Force as a “direct threat to outer space peace and security.” Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that China is “deeply concerned about it and resolutely opposed to it.” “The relevant U.S. actions are a serious violation of the international consensus on the …

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Russian Robots To Track Asteroids From Moon Base

Agence France-Press reports: The Russian space agency Roscosmos is planning to install a nuclear-powered observatory on its future moon base to held spot deadly Earth-threatening asteroids. Establishing a permanent presence near the lunar south pole has been a priority for Roscosmos ever since NASA announced plans to return to the moon earlier this year. The base’s telescopes will work in …

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NASA Makes History With First All-Female Spacewalk

The Washington Post reports: NASA made history Friday morning when astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir stepped outside the International Space Station to replace a faulty battery charger. The all-female spacewalk — the first of its kind “in human history,” the agency said — began at 7:38 a.m. Eastern time as the two American astronauts set their suits to battery …

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Emails Show NASA’s Surprise At Near-Miss Asteroid

Buzzfeed News reports: In late July, a record-setting asteroid hurtled just 40,400 miles over Earth, the largest space rock to come so close in a century. But perhaps more alarming than the flyby itself is how much it caught NASA by surprise, according to internal agency documents obtained by BuzzFeed News. Spotted just 24 hours before a relatively narrow miss …

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Near Miss From Asteroid Surprises Scientists [VIDEO]

The Washington Post reports: Alan Duffy was confused. On Thursday, the astronomer’s phone was suddenly flooded with calls from reporters wanting to know about a large asteroid that had just whizzed past Earth, and he couldn’t figure out “why everyone was so alarmed.” “I thought everyone was getting worried about something we knew was coming,” Duffy, who is lead scientist …

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NASA Unveils Drone Mission To Saturn’s Moon Titan

The Verge reports: A new mission involving a drone-like lander will explore the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. The mission — called Dragonfly — received a coveted funding slot from NASA’s New Frontiers program, which funds ambitious missions to explore objects in our Solar System. The Dragonfly mission will send a dual-quadcopter the surface of Titan. It will look like …

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Netanyahu Vows Israel Will Put A Bible On The Moon

The Times Of Israel reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Thursday for a printed Bible to be carried to the moon by the next Israeli spacecraft to make the journey, and credited Judaism’s foundational text for the “daring” and “spirit” Israelis demonstrate in the attempt. Speaking at the International Bible Quiz for Youth, the prime minister vowed to send a …

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