SpaceX launching first-ever human polar orbit mission
NBC News' Priya Sridhar spoke with Gadi Schwartz on SpaceX's plans to launch the Fram2 with a crew of private explorers for a mission over the North and South Poles.
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The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
India to send first astronaut on mission to International Space Station
The first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station is due to blast off as part of an effort by the world's most populous nation to catch up with the US, Russia and China in human space flight missions. Shubhanshu Shukla, a 39-year-old air force fighter pilot, is one of a four-person mission launching on Tuesday from the US with the private company Axiom Space, which is using a SpaceX capsule. He will be the first Indian astronaut to reach orbit in more than four decades after Rakesh Sharma's 1984 flight aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft. 'I truly believe that even though, as an individual, I am travelling to space, this is the journey of 1.4 billion people,' Shukla was quoted as saying by the Hindu newspaper this year. Shukla said he hoped to 'ignite the curiosity of an entire generation in my country'. India's department of space has called the trip a 'defining chapter' in its ambitious space exploration programme. The International Space Station mission (ISS) 'stands as a symbol of a confident, forward-looking nation ready to reclaim its place in the global space race', the agency said before the launch. 'His journey is more than just a flight – it's a signal that India is stepping boldly into a new era of space exploration.' New Delhi has paid more than $60m for the mission, according to Indian media reports. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, has announced plans to send a person to the moon by 2040. The Indian Space Research Organisation, meanwhile, is planning to launch its own human spaceflight mission, called Gaganyaan, or 'sky craft' in Hindi, in 2027. Shukla is a contender to be part of that trip. Shukla trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia in 2020, before undertaking further training at the ISRO's centre in Bengaluru. He has said the journey aboard the Axiom Mission 4, and the expected 14 days on the ISS, will provide 'invaluable' lessons to bring back home. Shukla will be led by the mission commander, Peggy Whitson, a former Nasa astronaut and an Axiom employee, and joined by the European Space Agency astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, of Poland, and Tibor Kapu, of Hungary. They will conduct 60 scientific studies, including microgravity research, earth observation, and life, biological and material sciences experiments. India's space programme has grown considerably in size and momentum in the last decade, matching the achievements of established powers at a much cheaper price. In August 2023, it became the fourth nation to land an unmanned craft on the moon after Russia, the US and China. Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Dramatic move by Pentagon hint Trump could be siding with another billionaire amid Musk fallout
The Pentagon appears to be contemplating pivoting away from Elon Musk 's SpaceX following the almighty blowup between President Donald Trump and the world's richest man earlier this week. The fallout appears to be impacting the nation's space program as the Trump administration looks toward another billionaire to replace Musk in the race to Mars. Officials at NASA and the Pentagon quietly reached out to SpaceX's competitors, urging them to accelerate development of alternative rockets and spacecraft. Decisions appear to have been taken quickly after Musk made a defiant threat to pull SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, a lifeline to the International Space Station, after Trump first threatened to cancel SpaceX's lucrative government contracts. 'It turned really terrifying,' one NASA official admitted to the Washington Post after initially finding the feud 'entertaining.' Although Musk eventually walked back his threat, the damage was done. Officials from NASA and the Pentagon, already uneasy with their reliance on SpaceX, were rattled to the core. SpaceX has become indispensable as it transports astronauts and cargo to the ISS, launches sensitive military satellites, and operates Starlink, the world's largest satellite constellation. The flare-up served to remind officials of the risks of tying national interests to a mercurial billionaire. 'When you realize that he's willing to shut everything down just on an impulse … that kind of behavior and the dependence on him is dangerous,' a former space agency official said. NASA insiders said Musk's threat 'crossed a line,' invoking memories of the 2018 episode when Musk smoked marijuana during a podcast interview, which prompted NASA to launch a safety investigation into SpaceX. The clash was also inflamed by the White House's decision to abruptly withdraw Jared Isaacman's nomination as NASA Administrator. Isaacman, closely aligned with Musk, had twice flown to space aboard SpaceX vehicles. In the aftermath, government officials reached out to Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, RocketLab, and Stoke Space, querying when their rockets might be ready to shoulder critical missions. Fatih Ozmen, CEO of Sierra Space, which is developing the Dream Chaser spaceplane, confirmed that NASA was 'working closely' with his company stating, 'NASA mentioned to us that they want diversity and do not want to rely on a single provider.' For some insiders, it wasn't hard to connect the dots: Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, has long been a rival to Musk. Now, with the Biden-era antagonism between Trump and Bezos thawing, some see a political recalibration. Bezos' Blue Origin has lagged behind SpaceX for years, but its New Glenn rocket is finally gaining traction, albeit slowly. The Pentagon's recent 'lanes' strategy to diversify launch providers now looks prescient, with officials seeking to avoid 'overreliance on any single provider or solution.' A source familiar with the Defense Department's strategy said the White House sees an opening to back Bezos as a counterweight to Musk's volatility. 'They want someone who's predictable,' the person said to The Post. Even Congress appeared to be spooked by the behavior. A key committee demanded updates on Boeing's long-delayed Starliner capsule, which has struggled to match the reliability of Musk's Dragon. NASA, under pressure, said Friday that Starliner's next mission could come 'early 2026,' though it remains unclear whether it will fly astronauts or cargo only. Indeed, just how reliant NASA were on SpaceX was illustrated last year when American astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were left on the International Space Station by Boeing's troubled Starliner capsule. Wilmore and Williams had set off for an eight-day Starliner test flight that swelled into a nine-month stay in space Boeing, which has taken $2 billion in charges on its Starliner development, faces a looming decision by NASA to refly the spacecraft uncrewed before it carries humans again. Boeing spent $410 million to fly a similar uncrewed mission in 2022 after a 2019 testing failure. Reflying Starliner uncrewed 'seems like the logical thing to do,' Williams said, drawing comparisons with Elon Musk's SpaceX and Russian capsules that flew uncrewed missions before putting humans aboard. She and NASA are pushing for that outcome, Williams added. 'I think that's the correct path,' said Williams, who is 'hoping Boeing and NASA will decide on that same course of action' soon. Results from Starliner testing planned throughout the summer are expected to determine whether the spacecraft can fly humans on its next flight, NASA officials have said. Todd Harrison, a defense analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, likened Musk's social media post to 'an embargo of the space station.' 'Musk was saying he is going to cut NASA off from its own laboratory in space,' he added. Harrison also recalled Musk's refusal to activate Starlink Internet for a Ukrainian military strike in 2022, a decision that raised alarms about national defense being at the mercy of a single CEO. 'The nation's missile defenses could be held hostage to the twittering whims of Elon Musk,' Harrison warned. Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, who worked at SpaceX, voiced the fears of many in the astronaut corps: 'When your hopes and dreams are tied up in this, you can't help but think, "Oh my goodness, am I going to fly in space?"' Meanwhile, Trump, who once championed Musk as a visionary, appears to be cooling. His allies note that the president has no tolerance for perceived disloyalty and Musk's defiance has not gone unnoticed. Some aides believe Trump's sharp pivot is personal as much as political. RocketLab's CEO Peter Beck had previously warned how Musk's acquisition of Twitter, now rebranded as X, and his flirtation with politics could backfire. 'It certainly makes people uncomfortable. At the end of the day, if you're delivering important national security missions, the buck stops with the CEO,' Beck said. Pentagon officials remain wary, not least because few companies have rockets certified for critical national security missions. Blue Origin's New Glenn has flown once, and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan only twice. RocketLab's Neutron has yet to launch at all. SpaceX's Falcon 9 still dominates, launching with near clockwork precision. But now, Trump's administration appears ready to gamble on fostering competition, even if it means leaning more heavily on Bezos. 'Sierra Space stands ready,' Ozmen declared. Others in the sector are similarly jockeying for position, sensing that Musk's once-unshakable grip may be loosening.
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Trump-Musk row fuels 'biggest crisis ever' at Nasa
The row between Donald Trump and Elon Musk over a major spending bill has exacerbated uncertainty over the future of Nasa's budget, which is facing deep cuts. The space agency has published its budget request to Congress, which would see funding for science projects cut by nearly a science missions, which are in development or in space already, are in line to be stood president has threatened to withdraw federal contracts with Musk's company, Space X. Nasa relies on the firm's Falcon 9 rocket fleet to resupply the International Space Station with crew and supplies. The space agency also expects to use its Starship rocket to send astronauts to the Moon and eventually to Mars once it has been Simeon Barber, a space scientist at the Open University said that the uncertainty was having a "chilling impact" on the human space programme."The astonishing exchanges, snap decisions and U turns we've witnessed in the last week undermine the very foundations that we build our ambitions on."Space science and exploration relies upon long term planning and cooperation between government, companies and academic institutions." Aside from the feud between the President and Mr Musk, there is also concern about deep cuts requested by the White House to Nasa's budget. All sectors have been earmarked for savings, apart from an effort to send astronauts to Mars, which has received a $100m (£736,000) to Casey Dreier, chief of space policy for the Pasadena-based Planetary Society, which promotes space exploration, the potential cuts represent "the biggest crisis ever to face the US space programme". Nasa has said that its request to reduce its overall budget by nearly a quarter "aligns (its) science and technology portfolios to missions essential for the exploration of the Moon and Mars".Dr Adam Baker, a space analyst at Cranfield University told BBC News that if these proposals are approved by Congress, it would fundamentally shift the agency's focus."President Trump is repurposing Nasa for two things: to land astronauts on the Moon before the Chinese and to have astronauts plant a US flag on Mars. Everything else is secondary." Those who back the proposals say the White House's budget has given Nasa a clear purpose, for the first time since the days of the Apollo Moon landings of the 1960s and 70s, when the aim was to beat the Soviet Union to the Moon. Nasa's critics say that since then the space agency has become a bloated, unfocussed bureaucracy which routinely goes massively over budget in its space missions and wastes taxpayer's money. One of the most egregious examples of this is Nasa's new rocket for its plans to return American astronauts to the Moon, the Space Launch System (SLS). Its development has been delayed, and costs have spiralled such that it costs $4.1bn (£3.3bn) for each and every launch. By contrast, SpaceX's equivalent rocket system, Starship, is estimated to cost around $100m (£80m) per launch because it is designed to be reusable. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin space company promises similar savings for its proposed New Glenn no one's surprise, SLS will be phased out under the White House proposals, in the hope that Starship and New Glenn can take its place. But the past three development launches of Starship have been unsuccessful, and Blue Origin has only recently begun to test its Moon rocket."The worry is that Nasa may be jumping out of the frying pan, into the fire," says Dr Barber."The development of these alternatives to SLS is being bankrolled by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. "If they lose their appetite for this endeavor and SpaceX or Blue Origin say they need more money to develop their systems, Congress will have to give it to them," says Dr Barber. Of greater concern, says Dr Barber, is the potential loss of 40 missions to explore other planets and to monitor the impact of climate change on Earth from space, many of which involve collaborations with international partners."I think it is very sad that what has taken so long to build can be knocked down with a wrecking ball so quickly with no plan to rebuild it afterwards."The projects facing the axe include dozens of planetary missions already in space for which most of the development and launch costs have already been paid for, with relatively small savings proposed on their operating costs. Also under threat are two collaborations with the European Space Agency: An ambitious plan to bring martian rocks collected by Nasa's Perseverance Rover back to Earth and a mission to send Europe's Rosalind Franklin Rover to the red planet to search for signs of past Sir Martin Sweeting, head of the UK space firm Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, and co-author of a Royal Society report on the future of space says that while the development was "unwelcome", there may be an upside for Europe as it takes greater responsibility for its own space exploration programme."Maybe we have been too reliant on Nasa the big player to carry a lot of the emphasis in space," he told BBC News."It is an opportunity to think about how Europe wants to get a better balance in its space activities."But there is much more downside for Europe in the short term. As well as the return of Mars samples and its Rover, ESA risks reduced access to the International Space Station if it is wound down, and the budget cuts cancel Nasa's extensive contributions to its successor, the Lunar Gateway, a multinational space station planned for orbit around the Moon. In its recently published strategy ESA stated it "will be seeking to build a more autonomous space capability, and to continue being a reliable, strong and desirable partner with space agencies from around the globe," with the implication that it would do so with or without facing cuts are numerous current and proposed Earth Observation programmes according to Dr Baker."These Earth observation programmes are our canary in the coal mine," he told BBC News."Our ability to predict the impact of climate change and mitigate against it could be drastically reduced. If we turn off this early warning system it is a frightening prospect".The budget proposals have yet to be approved by Congress. The planetary Society's Casey Dreier has told BBC News that many Republicans have told lobbyists privately that they are prepared to vote against the Mr Dreier worries that there is a strong possibility that political gridlock might mean that no budget will be agreed. It is likely that the reduced White House budget would be put in place as an interim measure, which could then not easily be reversed, because once space missions are turned off it is hard, if not impossible, to start them up again.
