Great Space

2022-04-08 23:45:26 SpaceX successfully launches first all-private crew en route to space station for Axiom Space
It’s the first in a series of four crew flights Axiom will do

This morning, SpaceX successfully launched a new crew of four astronauts to orbit on the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft — a group that includes three customers who have reportedly paid millions for their seats. The four private flyers, riding to space with a commercial aerospace company called Axiom Space, are now en route to the International Space Station after launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

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2022-04-06 18:33:07 Amazon’s Project Kuiper books up to 83 rockets to launch its internet-beaming satellites
The subsidiary is partnering with Arianespace, ULA, and Blue Origin

Project Kuiper — Amazon’s planned internet-from-space initiative — announced today that it has booked dozens of new launches on three different rockets to get its future satellites into orbit. The satellites will fly on powerful rockets currently being developed by European launch provider Arianespace, US-based United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space company.

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2022-04-04 18:11:58 SpaceX, NASA delay launch of private Ax-1 astronaut mission to April 8
Liftoff is now set for Friday, April 8, at 11:17 a.m. EDT (1517 GMT).

The Ax-1 mission will fly four civilians, including former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, for a 10-day mission to the International Space Station. It was set to launch on Wednesday (April 6) from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The Texas-based Axiom Space, which plans to operate its own space stations in the future, didn't give a reason for the delay, but it is likely due to NASA's own delay of a critical fueling test of its Artemis 1 moon rocket at the nearby Pad 39B. That test, originally set for Sunday, was delayed to today (April 4) due to ground equipment safety issues, creating a ripple effect of delays.

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2022-04-02 22:46:59 Axiom's 1st private astronaut crew is ready to fly to space

A crew of three paying passengers and one former NASA astronaut will launch to the International Space Station on Wednesday (April 6) at 12:05 p.m. EDT (1605 GMT). The flight marks Texas-based aerospace company Axiom Space's Ax-1 mission, set to launch the crew aboard a SpaceX Dragon atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The 10-day mission will see the crew spend eight days aboard the orbiting lab, living and working on the station.

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2022-04-01 19:38:51 Meet Earendel, the most distant star ever detected
The star, imaged by the Hubble telescope, shone just 900 million years after the Big Bang

The most distant star — or possibly pair of stars — that astronomers have ever seen was just revealed thanks to the Hubble telescope and a massive cluster of galaxies. Far from Earth, the universe bends around the vast bulk of a galaxy cluster, creating a gravitational lens in spacetime much like the curved lens in a magnifying glass. Like a magnifying glass, it revealed something small and hidden: a star system from the early universe.

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2022-03-29 22:12:50 Trio Set to Go Home Wednesday; First Private Astronaut Mission Nears

Three Expedition 66 Flight Engineers are returning to Earth in less than two days as four private astronauts prepare for their mission to the International Space Station. The crew activities haven’t stopped the ongoing space research as the orbital residents studied biology, botany, and physics on Monday.

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2022-03-27 18:22:22 It’s not the years…it’s the mileage

Scientists studying the origins of our galaxy can sometimes feel like they are cosmic archeologists, uncovering the building blocks of our galaxy’s earliest days. One way astronomers can get a better sense of the foundations of our solar system is by observing ancient stellar relics like white dwarf stars, the immensely dense remnants of once-massive stars.

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2022-03-26 23:45:45 On This Day in Space! March 26, 1958: US Army Launches Explorer 3 Satellite

On March 26, 1958, the United States launched its third satellite into space. Explorer 3 was almost identical to Explorer 1, the first satellite the U.S. ever launched.

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2022-03-24 13:02:41 NASA announces plans to develop second Moon lander, alongside SpaceX’s Starship

NASA announced plans to develop a second human lunar lander for its Artemis program, the agency’s major spaceflight initiative to send humans back to the Moon. To build the vehicle, the space agency is calling on commercial space companies to propose concepts for landers that can take people to and from the Moon’s orbit and the lunar surface, with the goal of having them ready by 2026 or 2027 at the earliest.

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2022-03-21 19:09:25 OneWeb turns to SpaceX for help after Russia refused to launch company’s satellites
Launching with a competitor in a time of need

Internet-from-space provider OneWeb says it will resume launching its satellites on the rockets of its competitor SpaceX, with the first launch expected sometime this year. The deal was struck after OneWeb’s original launch provider, Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos, refused to continue launching the company’s satellites unless OneWeb cowed to a list of significant demands.

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