Latest news with #JessieAnderson
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mow your lawn or City of Rockford could fine you this much
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Mowing season is well underway, which means many Rockford residents already have cut their lawns a few times. Officials say most residents stay on top of mowing. Others, however, do not. That is why officials are reminding the public about the city's lawn ordinance, which specifies just how tall Rockfordians are allowed to let their grass grow. 'In the city of Rockford, your lawn can only be 8 inches long,' said Jessie Anderson, senior neighborhood stabilization officer with the city. 'If you have a property with no structure that's over one acre, then it's 10 inches.' Those who aren't in compliance with the ordinance will receive a written notice first, giving them five business days to mow. If they don't reply after that, a city contractor will come out and mow, which can come with a hefty price tag for homeowners. 'We have a $135 admin fee,' Anderson said. 'And then it varies on the size of the lot or length. It can be anywhere from $30 to $100 on top of the admin fee.' There are exceptions to the 8- and 10-inch rules. Those choosing to participate in 'No Mow May,' an initiative to protect pollinators like bees by allowing grass to grow longer during May, are temporarily exempt. 'You just have to have a sign saying you are being a part of [No Mow May],' Anderson said. Residents are also permitted to use their yards to grow prairie grass, wild flowers and other plants that grow taller than 8 and 10 inches as long as they submit a plan to the city. 'As long as there's no weeds in it, it's acceptable,' Anderson said. Beyond aesthetics, the ordinance aims to keep pests such as mice and snakes out of residential areas. Those who are fined by the city have 30 days to pay. If payment isn't received after 30 days, officials will take further steps. 'If you have an active water bill, we'll just put in on your water bill,' Anderson said. 'If it's a vacant lot, we can put a lien on the property.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SpaceX Starship avoids explosive fate of last 2 launches, but still suffers demise midflight
ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX managed to send its developmental Starship back into space surpassing the explosive fates that befell its last two attempts, while also for the first time flying with a reused Super Heavy booster. But not everything went well with the upper stage, which lost control during its suborbital trip halfway around the Earth. The massive combined rocket and spacecraft began its the ninth suborbital test flight well, lifting off from the company's Texas site Starbase at 7:37 p.m. Eastern time. 'It's one hell of sight from here,' said SpaceX commentator Dan Huot. 'We see it arcing right over top of us, we see 33 out of 33 Raptor engines lit on Super Heavy as it starts to ascend skyward.' 'That was incredible. We could feel the building shaking here, feel the vehicle's power,' added SpaceX's Jessie Anderson. The booster's reuse was mostly successful having previously flown in January. Unlike its last trip, SpaceX was not attempting a recovery back at the launch site, and the booster broke apart shortly before its attempted splashdown over the Gulf waters off the coast of Texas. But it did successfully send the Starship upper stage on its way into suborbital space, improving on the January and March attempts this year that both ended with the upper stage disintegrating soon after launch leaving trails of debris visible from South Florida and the Caribbean. While the investigation into the March flight's demise is ongoing, the Federal Aviation Administration last week gave SpaceX the OK to go with was the third Starship launch of the year and ninth suborbital test flight overall. But there was no storybook ending for this mission, as SpaceX lost contact with Starship somewhere over the Indian Ocean so it never made it to the planned splashdown site off the western coast of Australia. SpaceX hit its first snag with the upper stage when it failed a payload door test that was supposed to let the company deploy some Starlink satellite simulators using what commentators called its PEZ dispenser. The door didn't open all the way, so SpaceX opted to close it and continue on with its prime objective, which was to survive reentry, part of its eventual effort to have the Starship upper stage to return safely to the launch site. About 30 minutes into the flight, though, Huot revealed Starship had suffered some sort of leak in its fuel tank systems causing it to be in 'in a little bit of a spin' and that prompted the company to skip another planned test of relighting of one of its Raptor engines midflight. 'At this point, we've essentially lost our attitude control with Starship. We are still on a path toward reentry. We are suborbital, so no matter what we are going to enter, however, this lowers the chances for it to be a controlled reentry,' he said. 'So not looking great with a lot of our on-orbit objectives for today. We were hoping to do the PEZ deploy and relight an engine, and then, really importantly, get into that controlled entry to really put the heat shield through the ringer.' Without any control, SpaceX opted to dump all of the spacecraft's remaining fuel. In the end, the company lost contact with Starship about 45 minutes into flight. 'We're continuing to learn more about this ship, about this rocket,' Huot said. 'We are trying to do something that is impossibly hard, and it's not always going to — you're not going to reach it in a straight line. We said there's going to be bumps, there's going to be turns, but seeing that ship in space today was a hell of a moment for us.' To date all launches have been from Texas, but the company is building out two launch sites on the Space Coast. At more than 400 feet tall and the booster producing more than 16 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket that has made it to space, although it has yet to perform an orbital launch. NASA has a vested interest in the system getting completed as a version of Starship has been tapped to be the human landing system for the Artemis III mission that seeks to return humans to the moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. Despite the partial failure of flight 9, the FAA this year increased SpaceX's license so it can fly up to 25 missions a year out of Texas. 'This is exactly the SpaceX way,' Anderson said. 'We're going to learn, iterate and iterate over and over again until we figure it out.' -----------
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SpaceX Starship rocket launches 9th test flight after last 2 attempts ended in explosions
SpaceX's latest unmanned Starship rocket launch went off without a boom on Tuesday, May 27, after two test fights ended in dramatic explosions earlier this year. Liftoff of SpaceX's ninth flight test of its Starship spacecraft happened just after 7:30 p.m. ET from SpaceX's Starbase headquarters in Boca Chica, Texas. The massive launch vehicle marked the ninth Starship launch and the third this year. "An incredible flight test so far today," Jessie Anderson, senior production engineering manager at SpaceX, said on a livestream. "Ship is in its orbital trajectory." SpaceX communications specialist Dan Hewitt replied: "What a moment. I need to collect myself." The last Starship flight test in March was not as successful, with the gargantuan rocket breaking up and sending fiery debris across the sky. Still, SpaceX said progress was made during the launch when the ship's rocket booster was caught by giant mechanical arms known as chopsticks. It was the second time in a row the booster catch went as planned, and third time overall. This time around the booster catch was not attempted as SpaceX said it prioritizes the acceleration and development of CEO Elon Musk's plans for Starship to reach Mars. The team lost connection with its the booster, which had been expected to land in the Gulf of America. The Jan. 16 Starship test flight also ended in an explosion that SpaceX later said was caused by propellant leaks and fires in the aft section of the vehicle, commonly referred to as the attic. Federal Aviation Administration greenlit another Starship flight test on May 22 after SpaceX completed its investigation into the March 6 launch. The FAA said SpaceX completed "all of the rigorous safety, environmental and other licensing requirements" for another go-ahead. Starship is SpaceX's gargantuan rocket and vehicle designed to one day be fully reusable transportation system that can return to the ground for additional missions. In the years ahead, Starship is intended to carry both cargo and humans into Earth's orbit and deeper into the cosmos. NASA's lunar exploration plans, which appear to be in jeopardy under President Donald Trump's proposed budget, call for Artemis III astronauts aboard the Orion capsule to board the Starship while in orbit for a ride to the moon's surface. But Musk is more preoccupied with Starship reaching Mars – potentially, he has claimed, by the end of 2026. Under his vision, human expeditions aboard the Starship could then follow in the years after the first uncrewed spacecraft reaches the Red Planet. During the eighth launch test on March 6, flight operators lost contact with the upper portion of Starship, which exploded less than 10 minutes into the flight, creating debris visible from Florida to the Caribbean. Despite the failure of the Starship vehicle, the spacecraft's rocket booster managed to navigate back to the launch pad for the second time in a row, and third time overall. The maneuver, first completed in October 2024, involves SpaceX catching the booster with giant mechanical arms known as chopsticks. Starship is regarded as the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed. At more than 400 feet tall, Starship towers over SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket – one of the world's most active – which stands at nearly 230 feet. The launch vehicle is composed of both a 232-foot Super Heavy rocket and the 171-foot upper stage spacecraft. Super Heavy alone is powered by 33 of SpaceX's Raptor engines. The upper section, also called Starship or Ship for short, is the upper stage powered by six Raptor engines that will ultimately travel in orbit. Anthony Robledo covers national trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him arobledo@ Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SpaceX Starship rocket launches after last 2 flight tests exploded
USA Today
28-05-2025
- Science
- USA Today
SpaceX Starship rocket launches 9th test flight after last 2 attempts ended in explosions
SpaceX Starship rocket launches 9th test flight after last 2 attempts ended in explosions Show Caption Hide Caption See video of SpaceX Starship exploding as seen from Viera, Florida. The SpaceX Starship can be seen exploding in the sky above Viera, Florida on March 6, 2025 at 6:40 p.m. SpaceX's latest unmanned Starship rocket launch went off without a boom on Tuesday, May 27, after two test fights ended in dramatic explosions earlier this year. Liftoff of SpaceX's ninth flight test of its Starship spacecraft happened just after 7:30 p.m. ET from SpaceX's Starbase headquarters in Boca Chica, Texas. The massive launch vehicle marked the ninth Starship launch and the third this year. "An incredible flight test so far today," Jessie Anderson, senior production engineering manager at SpaceX, said on a livestream. "Ship is in its orbital trajectory." SpaceX communications specialist Dan Hewitt replied: "What a moment. I need to collect myself." The last Starship flight test in March was not as successful, with the gargantuan rocket breaking up and sending fiery debris across the sky. Still, SpaceX said progress was made during the launch when the ship's rocket booster was caught by giant mechanical arms known as chopsticks. It was the second time in a row the booster catch went as planned, and third time overall. This time around the booster catch was not attempted as SpaceX said it prioritizes the acceleration and development of CEO Elon Musk's plans for Starship to reach Mars. The team lost connection with its the booster, which had been expected to land burning in the Gulf of America. The Jan. 16 Starship test flight also ended in an explosion that SpaceX later said was caused by propellant leaks and fires in the aft section of the vehicle, commonly referred to as the attic. Federal Aviation Administration greenlit another Starship flight test on May 22 after SpaceX completed its investigation into the March 6 launch. The FAA said SpaceX completed "all of the rigorous safety, environmental and other licensing requirements" for another go-ahead. What is Starship? Starship is SpaceX's gargantuan rocket and vehicle designed to one day be fully reusable transportation system that can return to the ground for additional missions. In the years ahead, Starship is intended to carry both cargo and humans into Earth's orbit and deeper into the cosmos. NASA's lunar exploration plans, which appear to be in jeopardy under President Donald Trump's proposed budget, call for Artemis III astronauts aboard the Orion capsule to board the Starship while in orbit for a ride to the moon's surface. But Musk is more preoccupied with Starship reaching Mars – potentially, he has claimed, by the end of 2026. Under his vision, human expeditions aboard the Starship could then follow in the years after the first uncrewed spacecraft reaches the Red Planet. What happened on last Starship flight? During the eighth launch test on March 6, flight operators lost contact with the upper portion of Starship, which exploded less than 10 minutes into the flight, creating debris visible from Florida to the Caribbean. Despite the failure of the Starship vehicle, the spacecraft's rocket booster managed to navigate back to the launch pad for the second time in a row, and third time overall. The maneuver, first completed in October 2024, involves SpaceX catching the booster with giant mechanical arms known as chopsticks. How big is Starship? Starship is regarded as the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed. At more than 400 feet tall, Starship towers over SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket – one of the world's most active – which stands at nearly 230 feet. The launch vehicle is composed of both a 232-foot Super Heavy rocket and the 171-foot upper stage spacecraft. Super Heavy alone is powered by 33 of SpaceX's Raptor engines. The upper section, also called Starship or Ship for short, is the upper stage powered by six Raptor engines that will ultimately travel in orbit. Anthony Robledo covers national trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him arobledo@ Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX scrubs Crew-10 launch attempt, delaying trip to the space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The astronauts left behind on the International Space Station when NASA sent the Boeing Starliner home are expected to return to Earth in the coming days, but will have to wait at least one more day. SpaceX scrubbed a Wednesday night launch attempt from KSC's Launch Pad 39-A because of a hydraulic issue on a clamp arm of the transporter erector apparatus that holds the Falcon 9 rocket up adjacent the launch tower. 'Unfortunately, we had an issue with the clamp arm. It wouldn't have been potentially able to open up fully,' said SpaceX commentator Jessie Anderson. 'So the teams are working through whatever that issue, that root cause of that issue is to make sure that when we do go for launch, those clamp arms will fully open and will clear the way for the (transporter erector) to be able to recline appropriately for liftoff.' The Crew-10 astronauts were sitting in Crew Dragon Endurance atop the rocket with just over 40 minutes to go before the planned launch. If SpaceX can solve the problem at the pad, the crew could come back for another launch attempt Thursday potentially at 7:26 p.m. Eastern time or Friday at 7:03 p.m. But it's not decided yet if NASA and SpaceX can take advantage of those opportunities. 'Sorry, we couldn't get you off today. We'll speak to you soon, and look forward to try it again,' said space mission control as the crew prepared to depart the spacecraft and head back to crew quarters. 'Great working with you today,' said Crew-10 commander Anne McClain. 'Kudos to the whole team, I know it was a lot of work to try to get it to go, but like I said earlier, we'll be ready when the equipment is.' When it does launch, the mission marks the final portion of a long odyssey for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who docked at the space station last June for a planned eight-day stay, and have been there ever since. They could be home as early as Sunday, but NASA won't announce target times until Crew-10 arrives to the station. The pair were stranded by safety concerns with the Starliner, which returned to Earth without crew. Then their extended stay became a focus for President Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, leading to accelerated timing for the Crew-10 mission. Heading to the space station are NASA astronauts McClain and pilot Nichole Ayers, as well as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The quartet got suited up and made the drive over from KSC's Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building to the pad in a set of black Teslas after 4 p.m. making their way up the launch tower and climbing into their seats by 5 p.m. SpaceX had reported the clamp issue early on, and McClain had reported the crew is 'go for launch.' They're set to arrive less than a day later to the space station, where they will have a two-day handoff with the people they're replacing. That includes the duo that flew up last summer on Boeing Starliner's Crew Flight Test, Wilmore and Williams. The pair arrived June 6, 2024, one day after launching from Cape Canaveral on the first human spaceflight of Boeing's spacecraft. 'Honestly, I'm kind of most looking forward to breaking bread with those guys, talking to them, giving them big hugs,' McClain said. Starliner suffered thruster failures and helium leaks on the way that ultimately led to NASA's decision to send it home without Williams and Wilmore. Instead, they joined the space station crew and were reassigned to fly home with the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. That crew flew up in the Crew Dragon Freedom with two, instead of the normal four astronauts, in September to make room on the ride home for Wilmore and Williams. Now they will join Crew-9 commander and NASA astronaut Nick Hague along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov with a departure as early as Sunday headed for a splashdown off the Florida coast. During a predeparture press conference last week, Williams said the most difficult part of their stay has probably been how their families have had to deal with it. 'It's been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us, you know? We're here. We have a mission. We're just doing what we do every day,' she said. 'Every day is interesting because we're up in space and it's a lot of fun. So I think the hardest part is, you know, having the folks on the ground have to not know exactly when we're coming back.' The decision to switch capsules and move up the pair's return came shortly after SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced President Trump had tasked him with bringing them home 'as soon as possible.' NASA officials said discussion about the switch, though, was already in play at least a month before the Musk and Trump statements. 'But the president's interests sure added energy to the conversation,' said NASA's Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of the Space Operations Mission Directorate. 'It's great to have a president who's interested in what we're doing.' Musk later claimed SpaceX offered to fly up a specific rescue mission, but that was turned down by the Biden administration for political reasons. Bowersox, though, said NASA managers made their recommendation based on the mission needs and capability of Williams and Wilmore. 'We thought the plan that we came up with made a lot of sense, and that, especially for Butch and Suni, we know they're experienced astronauts,' Bowersox said. 'They're great in space. We knew they'd be great additions to the crew and we knew that for most astronauts, spending extra time on orbit is really a gift, and we thought they'd probably enjoy their time there, so we thought it was a good way to go and for a lot of reasons.' Steve Stich, NASA Commercial Crew Program manager, added that a lot of technical requirements were in play such as having the correct size spacesuits and seats for the pair. 'The best option was really the one that we're embarking upon now,' Stich said. 'It really was driven by that in conjunction with Butch and Suni being very experienced crew members.' Wilmore and Williams will have spent 9 1/2 months in space along with the unique experience of having flown on four spacecraft: Starliner and Crew Dragon as well as Russian Soyuz and space shuttle missions. 'We helped put it together. We've been up here seeing it change throughout all these years, do a lot of science up here,' Williams said. 'I think just the fact that we're living up here in this very unique place gives you an amazing perspective, not only, you know, out the window, obviously, but also just on how to solve problems. 'I don't want to lose that spark of inspiration and that perspective when I leave, so I'm going to have to bottle it somehow.' For the Crew-10 quartet, the mission marks the beginning of what is normally about a six-month stay on board, with the Crew-11 mission slated to fly in late summer. They will join Expedition 73 on the station, which has had continued human presence since November 2000. It's McClain and Onishi's second spaceflight while Ayers and Peskov are rookies. Ayers becomes the first of NASA's most-recent class of astronauts, which includes Central Florida native Luke Delaney, to be assigned a spaceflight. 'It's an honor to represent my class and be the first one, but I think that all of us were ready at the same time, and so it could have been any one of us that got picked,' Ayers said. 'There was nothing but love for me when I got announced for this mission, and there has been nothing but love and support from my crewmates and my classmates this entire time training.' McClain said she has been talking more often with Williams and Wilmore. 'We're about to be housemates here in a few days. Their spirits are high,' she said. 'Of course, they're ready to come home, and of course we're ready to launch. But the most important thing is that we do both of those things safely.' She insisted they have the same mentality as she does when it comes to the importance of NASA's mission at the station, calling it significant to scientific development and a proving ground for deep-space exploration. 'All of us take very serious our responsibility to be stewards of the International Space Station,' she said. 'We simply cannot leave it uncrewed or undercrewed for any period of time. 'That is first and foremost on all of our minds when we go is that level of responsibility. And it's certainly foremost on their minds.' Stumping for the station's importance comes adjacent comments from Musk who recently called for it to be deorbited as early as 2027, stating that it was no longer useful. SpaceX and Boeing were both originally contracted to provide taxi service for NASA to the space station as part of the Commercial Crew Program, designed to end reliance on Russia and bring launches back to Florida. Delays have plagued Starliner, though, which is now at least five years behind SpaceX. The launch of Crew-10 marks SpaceX's 16th human spaceflight for its spacecraft since the Demo-2 mission in May 2020. That flight marked the first time U.S. astronauts launched from the U.S. since the end of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. With the space station slated to end service after 2030, time is running out for NASA to certify Starliner so it can have a chance to fly alongside SpaceX for rotational crew missions. 'We'll continue to work for certification toward the end of this year,' Stich said. 'Whatever we do, the Starliner vehicle will be crew capable.' _____
