Apollo 11 Rocket Projected onto Washington Monument

An image of the Apollo 11 rocket was projected onto the Washington Monument, Tuesday, July 16, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its launch into space. The Saturn V rocket left the Kennedy Space Station in Florida, July 16, 1969, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Four days later, Armstrong became the first man to step foot on the Moon's surface. Events are being held around the world to celebrate the anniversary, which coincided with a partial lunar eclipse.



The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum revealed plans for a “once-in-a-lifetime” dazzling light show on the National Mall commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. Click here to see an enlarged version of the photo.

From Tuesday, July 16 to Thursday, July 18 between 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m., an image of the 363-foot Saturn V rocket which launched Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin into orbit will be projected on the east side of the Washington Monument, facing the Capitol building.

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SpaceX Inmarsat 5 Launch

SpaceX Falcon 9 just launched its sixth Falcon 9 rocket of the year, sending a communications satellite into orbit for the company Inmarsat. But don’t expect one of the company’s signature landings after launch this time. Unlike most of its missions these days, SpaceX will not try to recover the Falcon 9 first stage.

That’s because the requirements of this mission would make it pretty hard to land the rocket after launch. The satellite that SpaceX is launching, called Inmarsat-5 F4, is larger than a double-decker bus and weighs nearly 13,500 pounds. That makes it perhaps the heaviest single probe that the Falcon 9 has ever lifted. Plus, the satellite is going into a particularly high orbit called Geostationary Transfer Orbit — a path 22,000 miles above the Earth’s surface. Both of these factors combined mean that the Falcon 9 will need to use a whole lot of propellant during launch to get the satellite where it needs to go. That means there will be very little propellant leftover to perform a landing.
However, today’s launch is still significant for SpaceX, since it marks the company’s first mission for Inmarsat. The satellite that’s going up tonight will join three additional I-5 probes already in orbit, making up the Global Xpress constellation for Inmarsat. This satellite group is responsible for providing high-speed, mobile broadband service to airliners, ships, and more.

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READ MORE:
SpaceX Falcon 9 in flawless Inmarsat-5 F4 launch | NASASpaceFlight
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/05/expendable-falcon-9-inmarsat-5-f4-launch/

Falcon 9 launch timeline with Inmarsat 5 F4 – Spaceflight Now
https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/05/14/falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-inmarsat-5-f4/

SFI LIVE: SpaceX launching Inmarsat-5 F4 communications satellite
http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/space-exploration-technologies/sfi-live-spacex-launching-inmarsat-5-f4-communications-satellite/

Rocket Launch: May 15, 2017 7:20 p.m. EDT | SpaceX Falcon 9
https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/events/events-calendar/2017/may/rocket-launch-spacex-falcon-9-inmarsat-5

Tonight, watch SpaceX launch one of its heaviest satellites yet
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/15/15640268/spacex-launch-watch-live-stream-falcon-9-rocket-inmarsat

Welcome to the r/SpaceX Inmarsat-5 Flight 4 Official Launch ... - Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/6b88hz/welcome_to_the_rspacex_inmarsat5_flight_4/

Inmarsat rides SpaceX Falcon into orbit - BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39929168

In Photos: SpaceX Launches Inmarsat-5 F4 Satellite - Space.com
http://www.space.com/36843-spacex-launches-inmarsat-5-f4-satellite-photos.html

Watch SpaceX's Inmarsat-5 Flight 4 satellite launch live right here
https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/15/watch-spacexs-inmarsat-5-flight-4-satellite-launch-live-right-here/

Liftoff!: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches with bus-sized satellite
http://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/spacex/2017/05/15/live-coverage-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-inmarsat-5-launch/101714238/

SpaceX Targeting Twilight Thunder for May 15 Inmarsat Blastoff
https://www.universetoday.com/135553/spacex-targeting-twilight-thunder-for-may-15-inmarsat-blastoff-watch-live/
LINKS:

Elon Musk - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

Tesla
https://www.tesla.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc

SpaceX
www.spacex.com/
https://twitter.com/spacex
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX

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Internet spots UFO in SpaceX explosion footage

Sometimes real life isn't exciting enough on its own and people feel the need to embellish it with aliens. Some UFO enthusiasts saw footage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket exploding during a test-firing last week and kicked things up to sci-fi status with the sighting of a mysterious flying object.

The best footage of the rocket explosion comes from nonprofit video production company US Launch Report, which captured the video with a zoom lens from a safe distance away. The video has been viewed on YouTube nearly 5 million times since it was published on September 1. UFO speculation runs rampant in the video's comments.

The flying object is real. If you slow the video down, you can see a dark object flying across the screen starting at the right-hand side and moving toward the rocket where it sits on the platform. Then, the Falcon 9 explodes. Strictly speaking, the mystery object is indeed a UFO. It's unidentified. It's flying. It's an object.

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The Dwarf Planet Ceres May Have A Cryovolcano

Ceres is currently being orbited by the Dawn spacecraft, and according to some new studies from the Dawn team, a 13,000-foot mountain called Ahuna Mons might not even be a mountain, but a cryovolcano.

This assumption is made because of the surface temperature on Ceres that hovers around -40 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that the water can freeze to be as hard as a rock, and that could form enormous frozen mountains.

But, according to some researchers, Ahuna Mons’ temperature is even lower that one of a giant ice mountain, that’s why they think that it’s actually a giant ice volcano. To top that off, it was recently formed. Since the scientist couldn’t find any signs of tectonic activity that could form the mountains, they think it probably erupted out of the surface of the planet.

This image provided by NASA, shows an inactive volcano on the surface of Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists said the volcano on the dwarf planet Ceres is about half as tall as Mount Everest. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA via AP)

Volcanos made of solid rock can sometimes spew molten magma, and cryovolcanoes spit out liquid water instead. So how was Ahuna Mons formed? Well, scientists believe that Ahuna Mons formed when the molten material pushed up against the surface, squeezing itself enough to make a raised dome, but, it wasn’t enough to burst it.

Source: Press Examiner

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OSIRIS-REx cleared for Thursday launch

NASA managers have given their approval for the launch Sept. 8 of an Atlas 5 carrying a spacecraft that will travel to a nearby asteroid, collect samples and return them to Earth.

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, mission passed a launch readiness review Sept. 6, the last major review prior to its launch from Cape Canaveral at 7:05 p.m. Eastern Sept. 8. A weather forecast projects an 80 percent chance of acceptable weather for launch.

NASA and United Launch Alliance officials said at a pre-launch briefing here Sept. 6 that there were no issues they were dealing with prior to the scheduled launch. They also emphasized that last week’s Falcon 9 explosion at Space Launch Complex 40, less than two kilometers from the building where the Atlas 5 and OSIRIS-REx are being prepared for launch, would not affect the mission.

Tim Dunn, the NASA launch director for the mission, said NASA’s Launch Services Program completed a “crossover assessment” review over the weekend to determine if there might be shared hardware or other links between the Falcon 9 and the Atlas 5. “There is no elevated risk to OSIRIS-REx launching on an Atlas 5,” he said.

Scott Messer, program manager for NASA missions at ULA, said workers did an extensive search of the pad at Space Launch Complex 41 and the assembly building that contains the rocket and spacecraft, and found no damage or debris there linked to the Falcon 9 explosion. “At this point, we haven’t identified any risks, and we’re on track for launch on the 8th,” he said.

OSIRIS-REx, the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers line of medium-sized planetary science missions, will travel to the near Earth asteroid Bennu, arriving in August 2018. The spacecraft will study the asteroid with cameras and other instruments for nearly two years.

The key moment for the mission will come in mid-2020, when the spacecraft attempts to collect samples of the asteroid’s regolith, the layer of pulverized rock on its surface. The spacecraft will slowly approach Bennu, extending a sampling tool called the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) at the end of a robotic arm. TAGSAM will briefly make contact with the surface, firing puffs of nitrogen gas that will move regolith into the collection tool.

TAGSAM will spend only a few seconds on the surface of the asteroid before moving away. “We’ll do a safe, slow, smooth high-five to collect that sample,” said Christina Richey, OSIRIS-REx deputy program scientist at NASA Headquarters. The goal is to collect at least 60 grams of asteroid samples, but project officials said they believe they can collect several times that amount based on laboratory tests of TAGSAM.

After placing the sample in a return canister based on the one used on the Stardust comet sampling mission, OSIRIS-REx will leave Bennu in March 2021, returning to Earth in September 2023. The main spacecraft will fly past Earth while the sample return canister parachutes to a landing in Utah.

Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, the principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx, said at the briefing he was looking forward to the launch. “I’m absolutely not nervous because we have a phenomenal team and they know what they’re doing,” he said. “I am anxious, because I’ve been working on this program for 12 years now, and I really want to fly this spacecraft.”

Source: Space News

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SpaceX may turn to other launch pads when rocket flights resume

SpaceX says launch pad 39A, last used by the space shuttle program in 2011
, should be ready for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches in November.
 Credit: NASA

Ground crews could face months of cleanup and repairs to SpaceX’s primary launch pad at Cape Canaveral after a rocket explosion wrecked the facility last week, but officials said that other pads in Florida and California could support Falcon 9 flights when the booster is ready to blast off again.

Managers are assessing damage to SpaceX’s primary launch pad at Cape Canaveral in the aftermath of an explosion Thursday that destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and the Amos 6 commercial communications satellite.

Images of the Falcon 9 launch pad, known as Complex 40, show the top of facility’s strongback structure sustained significant damage. The explosion of the Falcon 9 rocket Thursday twisted the latticework metal at the top of the strongback, which feeds propellants into the launcher’s upper stage and connects electrical umbilical cables to the rocket’s satellite payload.

SpaceX has not disclosed further details on the condition of the launch pad, but the company said it will share more on the status of the launch complex in the future.

“The pad clearly incurred damage, but the scope has yet to be fully determined,” SpaceX said in a statement Friday.

SpaceX’s next launch after the flight with Amos 6 was supposed to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with 10 communications craft for Iridium’s next-generation voice and data relay constellation. All 10 of the satellites, designed by Thales Alenia Space and built by Orbital ATK in Arizona, were already delivered to Vandenberg before last week’s mishap in Florida.

Crews at Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 4-East, the Falcon 9 launch pad on the West Coast, were in the “final stages of an operational upgrade,” SpaceX said. Company officials said earlier this year the launch pad, last used for a Falcon 9 flight in January, was to be outfitted to support missions using SpaceX’s higher-performing “full-thrust” Falcon 9 booster, which burns super-chilled densified propellants.

Launches from Vandenberg are only suitable for satellites heading into orbits flying over the poles, and the bulk of SpaceX’s manifest is loaded with missions going to the International Space Station or into orbits over the equator, requiring liftoff from Cape Canaveral.

While the Iridium mission — the first of seven SpaceX launches for the “Iridium Next” fleet — is next in line on the Falcon 9 manifest, it is unclear whether that flight will mark the resumption of SpaceX launch operations. In the aftermath of a Falcon 9 launch failure last year, SpaceX and its customers agreed to shuffle the order of the manifest for the return-to-flight launch.

An Iridium spokesperson said Tuesday that the company is “waiting to receive more information on this event from SpaceX and how it could impact their overall launch manifest.”

The 10 satellites are connected to their SpaceX-built dispenser and ready for filling with toxic hydrazine fuel for in-space maneuvers. That is one of the final steps for a satellite before its launch, and spacecraft are usually not fueled until a target launch date is confirmed a few weeks away.

“We’re confident in SpaceX and that they will find and resolve any issues causing this incident, and we will be ready to go once that occurs,” Iridium said.

SpaceX said it has established an accident investigation team to comb through telemetry data and physical evidence to determine what caused Thursday’s blast, which the company said originated near the Falcon 9’s upper stage liquid oxygen tank.

File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch
Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base,
California. Credit: Stephen Clark

“To identify the root cause of the anomaly, SpaceX began its investigation immediately after the loss, consistent with accident investigation plans prepared for such a contingency,” the company said in a statement. “These plans include the preservation of all possible evidence and the assembly of an Accident Investigation Team, with oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration and participation by NASA, the United States Air Force and other industry experts.”

SpaceX said engineers are reviewing approximately 3,000 channels of telemetry and video data covering a time period of just 35-55 milliseconds.

Before last week’s explosion, SpaceX had three launches planned at Vandenberg before the end of the year. After the upcoming Iridium launch, which was set for Sept. 19, another Falcon 9 launch from California’s Central Coast was to follow as soon as late October with Taiwan’s Formosat 5 Earth observation satellite and a commercial Sherpa space tug developed by Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries with around 90 CubeSats and microsatellites.

The second of seven Iridium Next launches under contract to SpaceX was due to occur in late December.

If the cleanup and repairs at Complex 40 prove lengthy, SpaceX could move its operations base in Florida to launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, the decommissioned space shuttle pad the company leased for Falcon launches in 2014.

Launch pad 39A is located about three miles north of Complex 40, and SpaceX said construction to modify the shuttle pad for Falcon launches is nearing completion. Pad 39A should be ready for launch operations in November, officials said.

The hangar built along the former shuttle-era crawlerway at the southern perimeter of pad 39A can hold five Falcon rocket cores at a time, enough to support the simultaneous preparation of five Falcon 9 missions, or one triple-body Falcon Heavy and two Falcon 9s.

“Both pads are capable of supporting Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches,” SpaceX said of pad 39A and the Vandenberg facility. “We are confident the two launch pads can support our return to flight and fulfill our upcoming manifest needs.”

SpaceX plans to build a fourth launch facility at Boca Chica Beach in South Texas, but construction workers found soil at the seaside location needed reinforcement. Crews imported dirt to build up the foundation of the launch pad, and plan to allow the mound to settle before adding concrete to kick off full-scale construction of the commercially-operated complex.

The first launch from the South Texas base, a few miles north of the Mexican border, is expected no earlier than late 2018, SpaceX said in May.

Source: Spaceflight Now

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Report warns of additional commercial crew delays

Technical problems could delay the beginning of regular flights by SpaceX's
Crew Dragon (left) and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner until at least late 2018.
Credit: SpaceX artist's concept and Boeing

The two companies developing commercial crew transportation systems for NASA are experiencing problems that will likely push back the beginning of regular flights until at least late 2018, an agency report warned.

The report by the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG), released Sept. 1, also concluded that those delays may force NASA to purchase additional seats on Russian Soyuz flights to and from the International Space Station, the cost of which has grown significantly over the last decade.

The report argued that while previous delays in the overall commercial crew development program could be blamed on funding shortfalls, more recent delays have their roots in technical problems both Boeing and SpaceX are experiencing in the development of the respective vehicles, the CST-100 Starliner and Crew Dragon.

“While past funding shortfalls have contributed to the delay, technical challenges are now driving schedule slippages,” the report stated. “Notwithstanding the contractors’ optimism, based on the information we gathered during our audit, we believe it unlikely that either Boeing or SpaceX will achieve certified, crewed flight to the ISS until late 2018.”

As of June, Boeing had completed 15 of 34 milestones in its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract with NASA, valued at $1.067 billion, according to the report. The company has experienced problems, though, with the CST-100’s development, including mass growth and aeroacoustical loads on its Atlas 5 rocket during launch. Earlier this year, Boeing delayed an uncrewed test flight of the spacecraft to December 2017 and a crewed test flight — likely to carry one NASA astronaut and one Boeing test pilot — until February 2018.

SpaceX, according to the report, has completed eight of 21 milestones under its CCtCap contract and received $469 million. Its issues with Crew Dragon stem in large part from a design change from a spacecraft that would land on dry land to one that will splash down. “This resulted in significant challenges, including complications with vendor components and the effectiveness of the integrated landing system designed to ensure parachutes work and the capsule does not take on excessive water after landing in the ocean,” the report stated.

The report added that SpaceX, which was planning uncrewed and crewed test flights in mid-2017, was encountering issues with several other vehicle subsystems, including the spacecraft’s parachutes and the tunnel allowing the crew to move between the Dragon and the ISS. SpaceX also hadn’t completed all the milestones associated with a critical design review. “Accordingly, we anticipate additional schedule slippage and do not expect certified flights by SpaceX earlier than late 2018,” the report stated.

That assessment came before the Sept. 1 pad accident at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral that destroyed a Falcon 9 and its satellite payload and damaged pad infrastructure. While commercial crew missions will launch from Launch Complex 39A here, the investigation into the failure could delay upcoming launches, including commercial crew test flights.

SpaceX argued in the report that a prior Falcon 9 launch failure in June 2015 did not have a major effect on its commercial crew work. “Although SpaceX officials told us that the [2015] mishap has not delayed its crew development efforts because it had built sufficient margin into the schedule,” the OIG report stated, “they also noted the lack of margin remaining to accommodate any additional unexpected issues that may arise.”

A delay to late 2018, and the possibility of additional delays, could require NASA to purchase additional Soyuz flight services, which currently run through 2018. The report noted that the price of Soyuz seats charged to NASA by Roscosmos has increased by 384 percent since NASA first acquired seats in 2006, to nearly $82 million for six seats in 2018.

The NASA Advisory Council, meeting in Cleveland in July, expressed similar concerns about needing to buy additional Soyuz seats, adding that NASA would likely need to make a decision soon.

“Due to the long lead time to procure Soyuz seats, a decision must be made really very shortly — before the end of 2016 — to guarantee access to the ISS in 2019,” said Wayne Hale, interim chairman of the council’s human exploration and operations committee, at the July 28 meeting, “or we may be forced to reduce or possibly eliminate its crew complement.”

NASA had planned to hold a commercial crew update here Sept. 6 in advance of the Sept. 8 launch of the agency’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission. Media arriving at the center for the event were told the event was canceled, without explanation.

Source: Space News

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India’s GSLV booster set to launch INSAT-3DR weather satellite

The fully integrated GSLV-F05 carrying INSAT-3DR approaches
the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Photo Credit: ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up to launch its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). It will carry into orbit an advanced weather satellite named INSAT-3DR. Liftoff will take place at 4:10 p.m. local time (6:40 a.m. EDT, 10:40 GMT) Sept. 8, from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India.

The mission, designated GSLV-F05, will send the INSAT-3DR satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) after a 17-minute flight. The spacecraft will use its own propulsion system to reach a geosynchronous orbit (GEO) at an altitude of about 22,370 miles (36,000 kilometers) to be stationed at 74 degrees East longitude.

The launch of GSLV-F05 was initially planned for Aug. 28. However it was postponed due to a technical issue found in a satellite component after a series of tests. The spacecraft was shipped to the launch site from the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bengaluru back on Aug. 5.

“After obtaining clearance from Mission Readiness Review (MRR) Committee and Launch Authorization Board (LAB), GSLV-F05/INSAT-3DR will be launched on Sept. 8 at 4.10 p.m. from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota,” a senior ISRO official told Deccan Herald.

Weighing about 2.2 metric tons, INSAT-3DR has dimensions of 7.9 by 5.25 by 4.9 feet (2.4 by 1.6 by 1.5 meters). It is an advanced meteorological satellite based on ISRO’s I-2K bus. The satellite consists of light-weight structural elements like Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) and features one solar array, capable of generating up to 1,700 watts of power. The spacecraft is designed to be operational for up to 10 years.

INSAT-3DR will provide meteorological services to India using a 6-channel imager and a 19-channel atmospheric sounder. It will also deliver rescue services thanks to its Data Relay Transponder (DRT) instrument and the Search and Rescue Transponder.


The multi-spectral imager onboard the spacecraft is capable of acquiring images of Earth in six wavelength bands significant for meteorological observations. It will produce images of the planet every 26 minutes, providing various parameters like outgoing long-wave radiation, quantitative precipitation estimation, sea surface temperature, snow cover, and cloud motion winds.

INSAT-3DR seen with the two halves of payload faring of the GSLV-F05 rocket.
Photo Credit: ISRO

The atmospheric sounder will gather information about the vertical profiles of temperature, humidity and integrated ozone. The instrument has 18 narrow spectral channels in shortwave infrared, middle infrared and long wave infrared regions and one channel in the visible region.

The DRT will be employed for receiving meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic data from remote uninhabited locations over the coverage area. The data is relayed back for downlinking in extended C-Band.

The Search and Rescue Transponder will pick up and relay alert signals originating from the distress beacons of maritime, aviation and land based users to the mission control center in Bangalore.

INSAT-3DR is the second satellite in the series. The first spacecraft, INSAT-3D, was launched into space July 25, 2013, atop an Ariane 5 booster from Kourou, French Guiana. Once in orbit, INSAT-3DR will join the operational search and rescue service provided by INSAT 3D to various users, including the Indian Coast Guard, Airport Authority of India, Shipping, and Defense Services.

The GSLV that will be used in Thursday’s mission is an expendable launch system developed to enable India to launch its satellites without dependence on foreign launch service providers. It uses major components that have already been proven by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launchers in the form of the S125/S139 solid rocket booster and the liquid-fueled Vikas engine. The overall length of the launcher is 161 feet (49 meters) with a liftoff mass of 415 metric tons.

The GSLV Mk II variant will be used for GSLV-F05. This version of the rocket uses an Indian cryogenic engine – the CE-7.5 – and it is capable of launching 2.5 metric tons into GTO. Previous GSLV vehicles (GSLV Mk I) have used Russian cryogenic engines.

For the upcoming flight, the GSLV launch vehicle is configured with all of its three stages including the Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS). The CUS is more efficient and provides more thrust when compared to solid and earth-storable liquid propellant rocket stages.

“It will be the second flight using the indigenously developed cryogenic engine after it was successfully used for the first time to launch GSLV-D5 in 2014,” said K Sivan, the Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

The main and two smaller steering engines together provide the CUS a nominal thrust of about 16,535 pounds (73.55 kilonewtons) in a vacuum. During the flight, the CUS fires for a nominal duration of approximately 720 seconds.

The cryogenic stage is a complex system due to its use of propellants at extremely low temperatures and the associated thermal and structural challenges involved with sending it skyward. Oxygen liquefies at minus 297 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 183 degrees Celsius) and hydrogen at minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 253 degrees Celsius). The propellants, at these low temperatures, are pumped using turbopumps running at around 40,000 rpm.

GSLV-F06 will be the tenth flight of the GSLV booster. The maiden launch of the GSLV (GSLV-D1) was conducted April 18, 2001. That flight carried GSAT-1, however the satellite failed to reach the correct orbit. Attempts to save the spacecraft by using its onboard propulsion system to maneuver it into the proper orbit were also unsuccessful as it ran out of fuel several thousand miles below geosynchronous orbit.

Thursday’s liftoff will be the fifth orbital mission for India in 2016. The country’s next launch is currently scheduled for Sept. 26, when a PSLV rocket will take to the skies, lofting six Indian spacecraft and two Earth-observing satellites for the U.S. company BlackSky Global.

Source: Spaceflight Insider

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Space Center Houston Removing Mock Shuttle Nose

Space Center Houston is removing its nearly 25-year-old mock space shuttle
Adventure to make way for a new exhibit about the future of Mars exploration.

For almost 25 years, visitors entering Space Center Houston have been greeted by the sight of a space shuttle emerging from between two doors.

That orbiter's mission is now coming to an end. The "Adventure" is being removed. (See photos of Space Shuttle Adventure at Space Center Houston.)

The shuttle mockup, or at least the orbiter's nose-section protruding from a façade designed to look like NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida, gave the public in Texas a chance to see the sheer size of the spacecraft's crew cabin, inside and out. But, with the real orbiters retired and with the recent addition to Space Center Houston of a full-length replica orbiter, the Adventure is giving way to the future of space exploration.

"There are a lot of really good things going on and we want to do so much, but we have filled the building and we are out of space. We need more space," said Paul Spana, the exhibits manager at Space Center Houston, which serves as the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center. "One of the stories that we want to talk about is the future."

A new exhibit devoted to NASA's plans for a "Journey to Mars" is set for the space where Adventure is displayed.

"Mars is a good thing to talk about," said Spana. "If we don't go to Mars in the next 20 to 30 years, we're eventually going to go to Mars at some point. We want to talk about that, even if it is a long-range goal."

But that means Adventure has to leave.

"Though most people here who grew up with the shuttle are sad to see it go away — because it has been here for such a long time — by taking Adventure down, it will give us more space to talk about something new, which is the future and, in this case, Mars," Spana said.

Beginning on Tuesday (Sept. 6), the work will begin to disassemble Adventure and remove its walkthrough middeck and flight deck displays.

"We are going to take it down, for the most part, as it came in," described Spana, recalling the Adventure's delivery and installation in 1992. "We're going to break it down into smaller pieces. It was pre-built in Florida and shipped here in big pieces, ready to be assembled like a giant 3D puzzle."

Adventure, however, may leave in more parts than it originally came.

Space Center Houston’s mock space shuttle Adventure features a walkthrough
interior crew cabin, including the forward flight deck pictured here,
 reproducing the commander and pilot stations.

"One disadvantage we have now is that some of the larger pieces won't be able to get out the door because Adventure came in before the doors were installed. So, we may have to cut it up into smaller pieces to get it out," said Spana.

At least one other museum has expressed interest in relocating Adventure, though it may depend on its condition after disassembly. Spana hopes that the shuttle can be preserved.

At the least, some of Adventure's parts will move into Independence, the full-scale orbiter mockup displayed atop NASA 905, NASA's historic Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, outside of Space Center Houston. The $12 million Independence Plaza opened in January.

"There are a few areas inside Independence that I wish had more detail," Spana said. "A good example of that is the [food] galley."

"The galley that is in Independence now has really no detail to it at all. The galley that is inside Adventure is pretty nice. I just did not want to take it out of there. But with Adventure coming down, this will give us the opportunity to take the galley out and move it outside," he explained.

A temporary barrier will be going up so that Adventure can be removed while the center remains open to the public. The work is expected to take about a week.

"We want to get it out as soon as possible because we are going to need a lot of time to prepare the space for our new exhibit," said Spana.

Source: CollectSpace

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Record-Setting Astronaut Lands with Two Cosmonauts from Space Station

Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Three International Space Station residents parachuted to a safe landing Wednesday in a picturesque morning scenery in the steppe of Kazakhstan where their Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft touched down after circling the Earth 2,752 times.

Still strapped into the confined space of the Soyuz Entry Module, crewmates Alexey Ovchinin, Oleg Skripochka and Jeff Williams enjoyed a breath of fresh air for the first time in 172 days when recovery crews opened up the hatch to the spacecraft. The Russian-American crew was greeted by a beautiful late summer morning with clear skies and warm temperatures in south central Kazakhstan where the crew’s five-and-a-half month journey to space found its successful conclusion in a bulls-eye landing aboard the Russian workhorse spacecraft.

The Soyuz trio boarded their spacecraft at 18:42 UTC on Tuesday when they sealed themselves off from the Space Station and the three remaining crew members to enter the multi-hour setup for their return. Soyuz TMA-20M – the last in the TMA-M series to fly – made an on-time undocking at 21:51 UTC and fired its engines twice to begin opening of a sufficient gap to ISS for the large deorbit maneuver.

Soyuz circled the Earth one and a half times before firing its braking rocket at 0:21 UTC, slowing down just enough to drop itself out of orbit and head toward a blazing re-entry. Separating from the disposable Entry & Service Modules, the small Entry Module with the crew inside emerged from orbital night for the ride of a lifetime. Pulling up to five Gs during the speedy return, Soyuz deployed its parachutes and entered a calm descent over the Kazakh steppe.

Arrival of Soyuz TMA-20M – Photo: Roscosmos

Soyuz touched down on target and on time at 1:13 UTC, cushioning its impact by firing Soft Landing Engines that kicked up a cloud of dust due to persistently dry conditions in the Kazakh steppe. All three crewmen appeared to be in very good physical condition after their return, quick with a few jokes and seemingly eager to share how they experienced their turbulent ride to Earth.

The crew’s journey started back on March 18 with a nighttime liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the on-ramp to space for crews traveling to the Space Station. A nine-minute ride to orbit atop their Soyuz FG rocket set the crew up for a high-speed chase of ISS, completing a fully automated docking six hours after liftoff to join the Expedition 47 crew aboard the Station.

The combined crew hit the ground running, tackling a busy schedule of dozens of experiments active at any given time in the various laboratory modules of ISS taking advantage of the unique environment of Low Earth Orbit. Acting as test subjects for many experiments, the crew members regularly participated in sample collection and different medical observations as well as tests of their vision and cognitive abilities.

In April, the Dragon SpX-8 spacecraft arrived, marking Dragon’s return to flight after nearly a year of absence and also marking the delivery of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module – the first expandable module to be attached to the Space Station for a two-year test run of the technology in an operational environment. BEAM was installed in mid-April and inflated at the end of May, allowing the crew to check out its interior, showing the brand new and innovative module with a selfie of all crew members inside BEAM.

Crew Selfie Inside BEAM. Photo: NASA

The Cygnus OA-6 spacecraft departed ISS in mid June after the longest stay to date by a commercial cargo craft. Its departure was followed only a few days later by the return of Soyuz TMA-19M and crew members Malenchenko, Peake and Kopra ahead of an extended period of three-crew operations on ISS during which Williams, Ovchinin and Skripochka were all hands on deck to manage regular ISS maintenance tasks while continuing science operations.

Progress MS, the very first in the MS series to fly to ISS featuring a number of systems improvements, completed an undocking-re-docking exercise under remote control in late June, also eliminating concerns for the first crewed MS vehicle.

Soyuz MS-01, the first in the improved line of Soyuz spacecraft, completed a two-day rendezvous with ISS in early July, bringing Commander Anatoli Ivanishin and Flight Engineers Takuya Onishi and Kate Rubins to ISS. Less than a week later, Progress MS-02 pulled into port at ISS to deliver cargo for the Russian segment of ISS while the SpaceX Dragon SpX-9 craft was captured for a stay on the U.S. Segment.

Towards the end of his fourth flight into space, Jeff Williams passed Scott Kelly in the total career time spent in space, setting a new U.S. Spaceflight Record. Williams flew to ISS for the first time in 2000 and is one of only a few Astronauts to see ISS in its infancy as well as its fully operational configuration as an out-of-this-world laboratory.

Williams added to his spacewalking record in two EVAs performed recently with Kate Rubins to install the first International Docking Adapter on ISS to establish an operational docking port for future commercial crew missions. Their second EVA saw the retraction of a spare thermal radiator and the deployment of a pair of HD cameras on the Station’s truss to deliver high-resolution imagery for external surveys and Earth observations.

Williams working out on the Station’s Truss during last Thursday’s EVA
Photo: Roscosmos

Bidding farewell to their crewmates and their home in space, the Soyuz trio floated aboard their spacecraft and hatches on both sides were closed to begin a two-hour process of checking for leaks and readying their Soyuz for departure, also donning their Sokol Launch and Entry Suits – the crew’s last line of defence in case of a depressurization on the way down.

Alexey Ovchinin, flanked to his left by veteran Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and his right by U.S. record holder Jeff Williams, sealed themselves off in the small Entry Module and commanded Soyuz to onboard power before enabling the automatic undocking sequence. Hooks started driving open at 21:50 UTC and loaded springs pushed the spacecraft away 90 seconds later, marking the start of the crew’s homecoming.

Soyuz drifted away from the orbital complex for three minutes ahead of firing its DPO thrusters, first for eight seconds to accelerate its departure and then for half a minute to be set on a course away from the Station. The crew then settled down inside the ‘cozy’ Entry Module for the next lap around the planet before beginning the multi-step process of preparing Soyuz for its fiery return to Earth.

The Station’s newly installed HD cameras demonstrated their abilities during the undocking of Ovchinin, Skripochka and Williams, tracking their Soyuz for  over half an hour.

Having re-oriented to a tail-first attitude, Soyuz ignited its SKD main propulsion system at 0:21:25 UTC to hit the brakes and place the spacecraft onto a sub-orbital arc intersecting Earth’s atmosphere at a precisely calculated location. Firing for four minutes and 41 seconds, the 300-Kilogram force main engine slowed the seven-metric-ton spacecraft down by 128 meters per second which is just enough to drop it out of orbit.

Free falling toward the atmosphere, Soyuz again accelerated to a speed of 7.6 Kilometers per second while the crew closed their helmets to be ready for the separation of the modules. A series of bangs shook the spacecraft when pyrotechnics fired in very close succession to separate the Entry Module from the Service and Orbital Modules that were headed for destruction at re-entry. Module separation – confirmed by a ground station in Egypt – occurred 140 Kilometers over the Red Sea while Soyuz was still flying through darkness.

With its heat shield facing forward, the 2.2 by 2.17-meter Entry Module emerged from orbital night just as it hit Earth’s atmosphere, descending through 100 Kilometers in altitude over northern Iraq. Slamming into the dense layers of the atmosphere, Soyuz relied on its ablative heat shield to slowly burn away and create a boundary between the extremely hot layer of compressed air in front of the capsule traveling at hypersonic speed.

Re-Entry seen from the Space Station – The small dot is the Entry Module
with the crew pulling out in front of the disintegrating Service and
Orbital Modules - Photo: NASA/Kate Rubins

Temperatures on the heat shield reached 1,600°C and the windows started glowing bright yellow while the Soyuz was immersed in plasma, creating a lengthy drop out in communications between the crew and Mission Control. Rapidly decelerating, Soyuz and its crew pulled a maximum of 4.2Gs and the spacecraft actively modified its trajectory to arrive at a pre-determined parachute deployment position.

Passing through 10.7 Kilometers, Soyuz blew its parachute cover and mortars ejected two Pilot Chutes that, upon inflation, pulled out the Drogue Chute – a sequence occurring while Soyuz traveled 0.7 times the speed of sound. For the crew, parachute deployment is one of the most violent events because Soyuz gyrates under the chute for about half a minute before its descent stabilizes.

Clear skies at the landing site allowed the recovery team to track the incoming Soyuz for a large portion of the descent under its chute. The Main Chute deployed around 7.5 Kilometers in altitude and Soyuz initiated its landing program – dropping the heat shield, venting its propellant tanks and equalizing the cabin pressure before lifting the three crew seats up for shock-absorbing purposes upon landing.

Soyuz used its gamma-ray altimeter to judge when touchdown was imminent to blast the solid-fueled

Soft Landing Engines in order to cushion its impact. Landing occurred at 1:13:58 UTC, 7:13 a.m. local time in the Kazakh steppe to cap a flight of 172 days and 3 hours.

Ending their adventure with a noticeable landing, the crew remained in their seats while a 300-strong recovery team approached the landed Soyuz. Ground-based vehicles began rushing toward the Soyuz while it was still descending under its parachute and helicopters entered a racetrack pattern to land in quick succession next to the vehicle.

Recovery specialists were extremely quick in getting to the Soyuz and established voice communications with the crew before moving in to open the hatch of the spacecraft that had come to rest on its side. All three crew members were extracted from the capsule in good physical condition, appearing in good spirits as they were sat in reclining chairs next to their spacecraft and could enjoy fresh morning air for the first time in nearly half a year.

Jeff Williams, now with four flights under his belt, has spent 534 days off the planet, ranking 14th on the all-time list with only Cosmonauts ahead of him. His career spans two decades and he can look back on missions aboard the Space Shuttle, ISS and the Russian Soyuz as well as five spacewalks totaling nearly 32 hours.

Oleg Skripochka comes back from his second long-duration stay on the International Space Station, now with a new total of 331.5 days logged in space. Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin logged 172 days in space on his first flight.

The three crew members will part ways after a welcoming ceremony in Karaganda, north east of the landing site. The two Cosmonauts will take a plane back to Moscow where they will under post-flight activities while Jeff Williams will have a longer trip, boarding a NASA plane to fly back to Houston, making several stops along the way before arriving at Ellington Field late on Wednesday.

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome, preparations are already underway for the launch of the next Soyuz crew of commander Sergei Ryzhikov and Flight Engineers Andrei Borisenko and NASA’s Shane Kimbrough. With liftoff set for September 23, their mission will begin with a two-day rendezvous for testing of the new Soyuz MS systems before that variant too will be cleared for the much faster four-orbit rendezvous.

Source: Spaceflight101

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