Great Space

2021-09-26 23:44:00 On This Day in Space! Sept. 26, 1983: Soyuz crew narrowly escapes rocket explosion

On Sept. 26, 1983, a Russian Soyuz rocket exploded on the launchpad. Two cosmonauts Vladimir Titov and Gennady Strekalov were inside their Soyuz T-10-1 spacecraft atop the rocket, and they barely made it out alive.
Titov and Strekalov's mission was intended to launch the cosmonauts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the Salyut 7 space station. But about 90 seconds before their rocket was supposed to launch, a fire erupted on the launchpad.
Thankfully, the emergency escape system ejected their space capsule from the top of the rocket just two seconds before the fire caused the explosion. So far this has been the only time that a launch escape system had to be used.

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2021-09-24 11:23:49 Seeing the Earth's Glow From Space

The atmospheric glow blankets the Earth's horizon beneath the stars, as shown in a photo taken while the International Space Station orbited 261 miles above the Pacific Ocean southeast of Japan.

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2021-09-22 17:20:03 At pivotal points in human spaceflight, NASA undergoes major reorganization

The body of NASA tasked with managing human spaceflight is being split into two distinct directorates, the agency’s chief announced on Tuesday, embarking on a major reorganization that past officials have tried and failed to execute for years. The move comes as private companies like SpaceX demonstrate leaner methods of putting people in space and as NASA pushes ahead with ambitious plans to build settlements on the surface of the Moon in the next decade.

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2021-09-19 12:40:39 SpaceX’s Inspiration4 crew returns to Earth, capping first fully private mission in orbit

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2021-09-18 18:30:02 View of an orbital sunset from Dragon's cupola

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2021-09-16 12:52:07 SpaceX launches its first private crewed mission to space

SpaceX launched four private citizens to space on Wednesday, kicking off the first-ever crewed mission to orbit without any professional astronauts on board. Dubbed Inspiration4, the mission marks the latest private foray into space as companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX compete to normalize space travel for paying tourists, not just government astronauts.

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2021-09-15 15:03:27 Falcon 9 and Dragon on pad 39A in Florida. Five-hour launch window for Inspiration4x opens at 8:02 p.m. EDT on September 15

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2021-09-12 21:48:19 Falcon 9 and Dragon vertical on historic Launch Complex 39A ahead of launching SpaceX's Inspiration4.

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2021-09-10 17:25:56 SpaceX's Inspiration4 all-civilian spaceflight: When to watch and what to know

The 24-hour launch window opens Tuesday (Sept. 14) at 8 p.m. EDT.

The mission, called Inspiration4, includes four private citizens who will fly on a Crew Dragon spacecraft for an Earth-orbiting mission.

Billionaire Jared Issacman, founder of Shift4 Payments, purchased the flight as part of an effort to raise millions for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He is joined by Haley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor and Chris Sembroski.

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2021-09-09 20:19:10 NASA sets new date for James Webb Space Telescope launch

The observatory is set to launch on December 18th

The James Webb Space Telescope, humanity’s next big space-bound eye on the cosmos, has a new launch date of December 18th, NASA announced on Wednesday. It’s the latest among dozens of other delays for a telescope that was originally planned to go to space as early as 2007.

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