SpaceX sagt Testflug von Riesenrakete Starship ab
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The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Sean Duffy is doing his a great job at NASA, but it might not be enough
The naming of Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy as interim NASA administrator was as much of a surprise as was President Trump's withdrawal of his nomination of Jared Isaacman to the same post. So, how is Duffy doing, trying to bring the space agency out from its summer of discontent? Duffy has been spending a lot of his time boosting the Artemis program, designed to return astronauts to the moon and eventually send them to Mars. On the social media platform X, he posted that he 'spoke with the smart leaders of our mission directorates' and the consensus was 'America MUST dominate space and our critical moon mission, #ARTEMIS, must be as known & supported by America just as Apollo was!' He finished saying he was 'fired up and ready to launch.' Duffy repeated his advocacy of the Artemis program on the Fox News show Hannity. He noted that Artemis would proceed in three phases: a return to the moon, establishing a lunar base or outpost and crewed expeditions to Mars. Considering how well the Artemis program polls, Duffy is pursuing a sound political strategy. The trick is that the steps he laid out have to happen on a sensible schedule. Fortunately, Artemis II, the crewed trip around the moon, is slated to occur early in 2026. On the other hand, science journalist Robert Zimmerman gave Duffy the back of his hand for stating on Hannity that Artemis III, the next moon landing, is still a go for 2027. Considering the problems the SpaceX Starship has been having, few people believe that date is valid. However, SpaceX's Gwynne Shotwell has assured Duffy that it is. We'll see. According to Politico, Duffy has called for a 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor to be deployed on the moon by 2030, to provide power for a lunar base. He has also called for the acceleration of commercial space stations that would replace the International Space Station when it ends its operational life. The new plan promises to be very disruptive. Duffy also had a meeting at the Kennedy Space Center with his Russian counterpart. Reuter's Joey Roulette said the meeting discussed ''cooperation on lunar programs' and 'joint exploration of deep space' as well as ISS cooperation,' according to Roscosmos. International Space Station cooperation is a natural topic of conversation between the head of NASA and the head of Roscosmos. The United States and Russia have been partners on the space station since early in the Clinton administration. The partnership exists in its own little universe, separate from the tensions between the two countries brought about by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ars Technica reports that Bakanov brought up the possibility of using Russian hardware to deorbit the ISS in 2030. Clearly, he was attempting to take advantage of the feud between Trump and Elon Musk, whose SpaceX currently has the contract. Roscosmos would get a much-needed infusion of cash if it replaced SpaceX. However, the mention of cooperation on lunar programs and the joint exploration of deep space catches the eye. Russia has turned down participation in the Artemis program, preferring to be a partner on China's planned International Lunar Research Station. Russian participation in Artemis was likely dangled as an enticement for Putin to make peace in Ukraine on terms short of conquering the entire country. It would also serve as a way to separate Russia from China, something that has been a center of American foreign policy since the Nixon administration. Finally, Duffy has to deal with the NASA spending war that has developed between the Congress and the White House. A group of Democratic senators sent him a letter expressing their concerns not only about the planned cuts for the next fiscal year but plans to rescind some allocated money for the current fiscal year. They are also concerned about a planned buyout program that would cut 4,000 NASA civil servants. The Senate and House are concerned about NASA's plans to implement the spending plans in the 'big, beautiful bill.' They are demanding answers by Sept. 1. Duffy will need the diplomatic skills of a Henry Kissinger to reconcile the positions of the two branches over NASA funding. As able as he is, the situation cries out for a permanent NASA administrator, someone with the respect of both President Trump and the Congress. Otherwise, the chaos will just continue, hampering the space agency's ability to fulfill its mandate to explore space, for the betterment of the United States and all humankind. Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration entitled ' Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon? ' as well as ' The Moon, Mars and Beyond ' and, most recently, ' is America Going Back to the Moon ' He blogs at
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
SpaceX's Crew-10 astronauts return to Earth after nearly 5 months in space (video)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. SpaceX's Crew-10 astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday (Aug. 9) after living on the International Space Station for nearly five months. The mission's Crew Dragon capsule, named Endurance, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast at 11:33 a.m. EDT (1533 GMT; 8:33 a.m. local California time). "From the entire Crew-10, thank you," radioed Anne McClain, NASA astronaut and Dragon commander, soon after splashdown. "It was truly the ride of a lifetime." As its name suggests, Crew-10 was the 10th operational astronaut mission that SpaceX has flown to and from the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA, via the agency's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). The crewmembers were McClain and Nichole Ayers of NASA, Takuya Onishi of JAXA (the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos, Russia's space agency. McClain commanded Crew-10, Ayers was the pilot and Onishi and Peskov were mission specialists. The flight launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on March 14 and arrived at the orbiting lab two days later. Crew-10's four astronauts soon set to conducting science work, which consumed much of their time over the ensuing months. "During their stay in space, the crew studied space-caused mental and physical changes in astronauts, blood flow from the brain to the heart, future lunar navigation techniques and more," NASA officials wrote in a blog post on Monday (Aug. 4). The wheels for Crew-10's departure began turning last Saturday (Aug. 2), when SpaceX's four-person Crew-11 mission arrived at the ISS. The Crew-10 astronauts spent a few days advising their replacements, then set their minds to gearing up for the return to Earth — and reflecting on their orbital experience. "We got to accomplish a lot of really amazing operational things," Ayers said during a farewell ceremony on Tuesday (Aug. 5). "We got to see some amazing views, and we have had some really big belly laughs and a wonderful time together," she added. "I think that [we're] leaving with a heart full of gratitude, and [we're] excited to see where the International Space Station goes after we get home." Related Stories: — Meet the astronauts of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission — International Space Station: Everything you need to know about the orbital laboratory — SpaceX's Crew-11 astronauts arrive at the International Space Station (video) The hatches between Endurance and the ISS closed on Friday (Aug. 8) at 4:20 p.m. EDT (2020 GMT), and the capsule undocked about two hours later, at 6:15 p.m. EDT (2205 GMT). Endurance then began maneuvering its way back to Earth, setting up its splashdown today. It was the first Pacific Ocean return for a SpaceX CCP mission; all previous such flights have come down off the Florida coast. SpaceX recently shifted to West Coast reentries for all of its Dragon missions, both crewed and uncrewed, to minimize the chance that falling space debris could damage property or injure people. Crew-10 wasn't the first SpaceX astronaut mission of any type to land in the Pacific, however; the private Fram2 and Axiom 4 flights did so earlier this year. Crew-10 was the first spaceflight for Ayers and Peskov and the second for McClain and Onishi. Onishi served as commander of the ISS' current Expedition 73 from April until this past Tuesday, when he handed the reins over to cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov. Editor's note: This story was updated at noon ET on Aug. 9 with news of successful splashdown. Solve the daily Crossword
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
WATCH LIVE: Amazon blasts off as Bezos builds secret space internet army to take on Starlink
SpaceX's Project Kuiper is a constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access.
