SpaceX launch recap: Live updates from Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral
Launch recap: Scroll down to review live updates from the Tuesday, April 14, liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on the Starlink 10-24 mission.
Read the full story here.
Blue Origin, SpaceX eyeing Cape Canaveral rocket launches in coming days
Blue Origin crews are prepping to launch a huge New Glenn rocket the morning of Sunday, April 19 — potentially creating a sunrise spectacle for oceanfront residents of Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral.
The Jeff Bezos-founded space company announced the two-hour launch window will extend from 6:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
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Artemis II astronauts to host 1st news conference since moon mission
Less than a week after completing a historic trip around the moon, NASA’s Artemis II astronauts are due to make one of their first public appearances together.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen, will take questions from the media during an April 16 news conference, NASA announced. The event would come just a day shy of a week since the astronauts returned to Earth after a 10-day journey that saw them swinging by the moon without landing.
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Recapping Artemis II, looking ahead for what’s next: Space Beat
On this extended episode of Space Beat, host Rob Landers talks all things Artemis II with space team reporters Brooke Edwards, Eric Lagatta and Rick Neale. From pre-launch to liftoff and looping the moon to splashdown, our team talks about the 10-day mission, the excitement and the poignant moments looking at newly named moon craters.
Read the full story here.
From Florida launch to splashdown, 10 photos define Artemis II moon mission
For weeks, the breathtaking visuals captured during NASA’s Artemis II moon mission have captivated people around the world.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen returned to Earth recently after a 10-day journey that saw them swinging by the moon without landing.
Read the full story here.
‘Powerful together’ Artemis II astronauts reflect on moon journey
Just a week after returning from their ground-breaking 10-day journey around the moon, the Artemis II astronauts say they’ve been overwhelmed by how closely people on Earth followed their mission — and how much it meant to everyone.
And they’re still trying to fully grasp what their trip father into space than any other humans meant to them.
Read the full story here.
Blue Origin looks to expand New Glenn launches from Florida to California
Florida won’t always be the only state where Blue Origin launches its mammoth New Glenn rocket.
While billionaire Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company works toward getting New Glenn off the ground for the third time in Cape Canaveral, it’s also finalizing plans to one day roll the rocket out in California.
Read the full story here.
Ominous asteroid Apophis to make 2029 Earth flyby — on Friday the 13th
As of April 13, an infamous giant asteroid known as Apophis is now three years away from becoming the first space rock of its size to come near Earth in recorded human history.
Roughly the size of five NFL football fields, Apophis made a name for itself more than two decades ago when its discovery accompanied the terrifying revelation that it had a non-zero chance of hitting Earth in 2029. While that risk of impact has been confidently ruled out, the date of its future rendezvous with our planet on Friday the 13th is likely no salve to those who are superstitious.
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Help wanted: Space Force STARCOM seeks to fill 400+ jobs across nation
In the midst of “a massive hiring push” of more than 400 positions nationwide, STARCOM will conduct a civilian-job career fair Tuesday, April 21, at The Tides Club at Patrick Space Force Base.
STARCOM — or Space Training and Readiness Command — was activated as the Space Force’s third field command in August 2021. The command is moving from Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Patrick SFB, where a $28 million headquarters annex building opened in March.
Read the full story here.
NASA’s giant crawler moves launch tower to prep for Artemis III moon mission
With sloth-like speed, NASA’s mighty Crawler-Transporter 2 crept nearly imperceptibly into High Bay 3 at the Vehicle Assembly Building. Borne on its back: the 380-foot-tall mobile tower from the historic Artemis II moon-flyby launch.
The tremendous crawler completed its two-day commute from pad 39B to the VAB at 11:40 a.m. Friday, April 17, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Though the launch tower weighs more than 11 million pounds, the crawler’s 4.2-mile journey was nearly bullseye-accurate.
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NASA expands private astronaut missions to space station. Here’s why
The International Space Station is increasingly becoming a place where not only government astronauts affiliated with space agencies like NASA are welcome.
Private astronauts selected by commercial spaceflight companies are due to begin venturing to the orbital laboratory more and more often in the years ahead. Such ventures aren’t exactly new territory for NASA, which has already partnered with Texas-based Axiom Space on four previous private astronaut missions.
Read the full story here.
Blue Origin launch recap: Live updates from AST SpaceMobile mission in Florida
Launch recap: Scroll down to review live updates from the Sunday, April 19, liftoff of a Blue Origin New Glenn heavy-lift rocket from Cape Canaveral — and the unsuccessful deployment of AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite — on the NG-3 mission.
Read the full story here.
SpaceX rocket launch set for early Tuesday from Cape Canaveral with GPS III satellite
SpaceX plans to follow up on Blue Origin’s New Glenn with a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral for the Space Force.
The mission, launching a GPS III satellite, is scheduled to liftoff during a 15-minute window opening at 2:53 a.m. Tuesday, April 21. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Read the full story here.
Blue Origin rocket fails to properly deploy AST SpaceMobile BlueBird satellite
Blue Origin’s hulking New Glenn rocket rumbled off the pad and soared skyward from Cape Canaveral on Sunday, April 19, drawing cheers from spectators and notching a noteworthy first-stage booster landing on a drone ship hundreds of miles downrange.
But the NG-3 mission failed to deliver its payload. The rocket’s second, upper stage deployed AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 broadband satellite into a lower-than-planned orbit. And the satellite is doomed to reenter Earth’s atmosphere in a fiery demise.
Read the full story here.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Another easy way: Click here to sign up for our weekly 321 Launch space newsletter.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY, where he has covered news since 2004. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Space news: Blue Origin satellite-deployment failure, Artemis II crew reflects
Reporting by Rick Neale, Florida Today / Florida Today
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