Great Space

2021-12-19 20:39:48 Five Former SpaceX Employees Speak Out About Harassment At The Company
Workers claim HR did not take their complaints seriously

A group of former SpaceX employees are coming forward about their experience working at the commercial rocket company, claiming that there is a culture of sexual harassment in the workplace and that managers and the human resources department handled complaints poorly.

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2021-12-18 23:00:22 Hubble Views a Galaxy With an Explosive Past

In this image, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures a side-on view of NGC 3568, a barred spiral galaxy roughly 57 million light-years from the Milky Way in the constellation Centaurus. In 2014 the light from a supernova explosion in NGC 3568 reached Earth – a sudden flare of light caused by the titanic explosion accompanying the death of a massive star. While most astronomical discoveries are the work of teams of professional astronomers, this supernova was discovered by amateur astronomers who are part of the Backyard Observatory Supernova Search in New Zealand. Dedicated amateur astronomers often make intriguing discoveries – particularly of fleeting astronomical phenomena such as supernovae and comets.

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2021-12-15 21:00:21 NASA Enters the Solar Atmosphere for the First Time, Bringing New Discoveries

For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there.

The new milestone marks one major step for Parker Solar Probe and one giant leap for solar science. Just as landing on the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the very stuff the Sun is made of will help scientists uncover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the solar system.

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2021-12-13 22:28:31 Surviving more than 3,300 Martian days (or sols) since its landing, NASA's Curiosity rover has been trekking across Gale Crater since 2011 on its quest for signs of long-ago life on the Red Planet.⁣
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In the meanwhile, it's snapped some great pictures, too! This 360-degree selfie is a combination of 81 individual photos taken using the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) at the end of Curiosity's robotic arm. This selfie was taken near Greenheugh Pediment, which Curiosity previously climbed in 2020; Curiosity is headed towards Maria Gordon Notch, the U-shaped opening behind the rover to the left.⁣

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2021-12-11 19:56:40 Blue Origin launches Michael Strahan, Laura Shepard Churchley and others to space and back
It was the third crewed flight for the company and the first group of six to fly together

This morning, space tourism venture Blue Shepard successfully launched its third crew of passengers to space and back on the company’s New Shepard rocket, the first time a group of six people has flown together on the vehicle. The crew included GMA host Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of Alan Shepard — the first American in space and the namesake for the New Shepard rocket.

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2021-12-10 18:19:07 NASA Launches New Mission to Explore Universe’s Most Dramatic Objects

A joint effort with the Italian Space Agency, the IXPE observatory is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from the most extreme and mysterious objects in the universe – supernova remnants, supermassive black holes, and dozens of other high-energy objects.

“IXPE represents another extraordinary first,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Together with our partners in Italy and around the world, we’ve added a new space observatory to our fleet that will shape our understanding of the universe for years to come. Each NASA spacecraft is carefully chosen to target brand new observations enabling new science, and IXPE is going to show us the violent universe around us – such as exploding stars and the black holes at the center of galaxies – in ways we’ve never been able to see it.”

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2021-12-08 20:43:44 Japanese billionaire launches to the International Space Station while waiting for SpaceX Moon ride
Yusaku Maezawa flew with his manager and a Russian cosmonaut

Three new spacefarers launched to the International Space Station this morning, a crew consisting of a Russian cosmonaut and two Japanese space tourists. One of the tourists on board was Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire who announced his intention a few years back to fly around the Moon on SpaceX’s future Starship rocket one day.

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2021-12-05 17:41:43 NASA funds three companies to develop commercial space stations
The initiative will help maintain NASA’s presence in low-Earth orbit

NASA announced the selection of three US companies that will receive government funding to further develop private space stations on Thursday. From a set of 11 proposals, NASA selected Blue Origin, Nanoracks LLC, and Northrop Grumman to receive over $400 million in federal funds through three separate Space Act Agreements.

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2021-12-03 21:47:08 On Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021, some people in the Southern Hemisphere will have the chance to experience a total or partial eclipse of the Sun.

During a total solar eclipse, the Sun, Moon, and Earth line up so that the Sun is blocked when viewed from within the Moon's shadow on Earth.

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2021-12-01 23:35:30 Elon Musk says Raptor engine production is a ‘disaster’ that puts SpaceX at risk of bankruptcy

On Black Friday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sent an anxious email to his company’s employees, urging them to work over the weekend on SpaceX’s Raptor engine line and describing the production situation as a “crisis.” In the email, a copy of which was obtained by The Verge, Musk argued that the company faces a “genuine risk of bankruptcy” if production doesn’t increase to support a high flight rate of the company’s new Starship rocket next year.

The Raptor is SpaceX’s massive methane engine that will be used to propel the company’s next-generation launch system, called Starship.

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