Interesting vehicle.

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New Zealand and U.S.-based aerospace company Rocket Lab announced that during its next Electron launch, a commercial rideshare mission currently scheduled for later this month, the company will attempt a mid-air helicopter capture of the Electron launch vehicle for the first time. This will further the company’s program to make Electron the first reusable orbital small launch vehicle.

Rocket Lab’s 26th Electron launch, the “There and Back Again” mission, has a 14-day launch window scheduled to commence on April 19, 2022. Electron will lift off from Pad A at Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula and will carry 34 payloads from different commercial operators to Earth’s low orbit.

When the Electron’s first stage returns from space after launch, a customized Sikorsky S-92 twin-engine helicopter will be ready to catch it. Around an hour before lift-off, Rocket Lab’s Sikorsky S-92 helicopter will move into position in the capture zone, approximately 150 nautical miles (278 km) off New Zealand’s coast.

Futurefood.

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It may not look appetising on the River Torrens, but duckweed could be vital for space travel.

SpaceX’s first upgraded 33-engine Super Heavy booster appears to have passed a crucial test with surprising ease, boding well for a smooth qualification process.

Attempting that test so early on did not appear to be SpaceX’s initial plan. Instead, shortly before Super Heavy Booster 4’s third and likely final removal from Starbase’s ‘orbital launch mount’ (OLM) on March 24th, SpaceX transported a massive structural test stand from a Starbase storage yard to the orbital launch site (OLS), where technicians have focused on modifying nearby ground systems to support apparent structural testing of Super Heavy Booster 7. As of March 31st, all available evidence suggested that SpaceX was preparing that stand to verify Booster 7’s mechanical strength and simulate the major stresses it might experience before investing a significant amount of time and resources in qualification testing.

However, SpaceX appeared to change its plans at the last minute.

Fri, Jul 1 at 12 PM.

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Brownsville.

Venera-8 made a photo of Venus’ surface possible.

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Launched in March 1972, Venera-8 was part of the Soviet Union’s exploration of Venus — in less than an hour it revealed critical details of this seemingly inaccessible planet.

AN EXPERIMENT that could pave the way for the growth of artificial steaks in space to feed future astronauts is to launch next week on the first mission to carry an all-private crew up to the International Space Station (ISS).