Touchdown occurred at about 22:49 UTC on 21 February, and the spacecraft is healthy.
Category: space travel – Page 433
NASA — National Aeronautics and Space Administration is targeting June 12 as the launch date for Orion’s Ascent Abort-2 test, a critical milestone for human missions to the Moon!
The test will show Orion’s Launch Abort System can carry a crew to safety in case of an emergency during launch.
Elon Musk: Moving to Mars would cost about $200,000
The CEO once said a self-sustaining Mars colony won’t work if it’s wildly expensive for each person to make the voyage.
VASIMR plasma engine: Earth to Mars in 39 days?
Circa 2017
“We’re likely to find hydrogen pretty much anywhere we go in the Solar System,” he said.
A spacecraft using conventional chemical rockets would take eight months to get to Mars during opposition. However, the VASIMR engine would make the journey in as little as 39 days.
Chang Diaz explained: “Remember, you are accelerating the first half of the journey – the other half you’re slowing, so you will reach Mars but not pass it. The top speed with respect to the Sun would be about 32 miles per second [or 51.5 km/s]. But that requires a nuclear power source to heat the plasma to the proper temperature.”
Israel to launch first privately funded moon mission
While it is not a government-led initiative, the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) corporation joined as a partner. If the mission is successful, Israel will become the fourth country, after Russia, the US and China, to reach the moon.
Attempt to become fourth country to send spacecraft to lunar surface blasts off this week.
NASA, SpaceX Demo-1 Briefings, Events and Broadcasts
NASA and commercial crew provider SpaceX are targeting 2:48 a.m. EST Saturday, March 2, for the launch of the Demo-1 uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station. The uncrewed test flights will be the first time a commercially-built and operated American rocket and spacecraft designed for humans will launch to the space station.
Live coverage will begin on NASA Television and the agency’s website Friday, Feb. 22 with prelaunch events.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. About 10 minutes after launch, Crew Dragon will reach its preliminary orbit. It is scheduled to dock to station Sunday, March 3 at 5:55 a.m. ESThe Crew Dragon spacecraft will carry about 400 pounds of crew supplies and equipment to the space station and return some critical research samples to Earth.