Lifeboat Foundation

The Pentagon’s Transportation Command and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are teaming up to examine using rockets to ship cargo through space. The plan raises the prospect of sending urgently needed supplies to U.S. troops anywhere on Earth, within minutes. While the idea is technically feasible, there are several factors, including cost and preparation time, that could make it unworkable.

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NASA said Saturday that the launch of four astronauts on SpaceX’s first operational Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station has been delayed from Oct. 31 until “no sooner than early-to-mid November,” allowing time for SpaceX to resolve an issue with Falcon 9 rocket engines that halted a recent launch attempt with a GPS navigation satellite.

The engine concern appeared during an Oct. 2 launch attempt of a Falcon 9 rocket with a GPS satellite at Cape Canaveral, prompting computers controlling the final seconds of the countdown to abort the mission just two seconds prior to liftoff.

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, tweeted after the abort that the countdown was stopped after an “unexpected pressure rise in the turbomachinery gas generator,” referring to equipment used on the rocket’s Merlin main engines. The gas generators on the Merlin 1D engines drives the engines’ turbopumps.

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NASA aims to travel to the moon again—and beyond. Here’s a look at the 21st-century race to send humans into space.

Continue reading “The future of spaceflight—from orbital vacations to humans on Mars” »

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Physically and mentally, women have the right stuff for expeditions into deep space. So why send male astronauts at all?

The US military is teaming up with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build a rocket capable of delivering weapons around the world at 7,500 mph.

What would the flag of Mars look like? SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has an idea.

Starman got less than 5 million miles from the Red Planet.

The spacesuit-clad mannequin Starman and his Tesla Roadster just drove by Mars for the first time.

Earlier this month, China announced the third set of astronauts that will travel up to Tiangong-3, the country’s upcoming space station.

The new roster includes seven pilots, seven researchers, and four payload experts.

Photos credit: DailySpace00.