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USA Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Blue Origin launch: How to watch Jeff Bezos' company's next human spaceflight from Texas
Blue Origin launch: How to watch Jeff Bezos' company's next human spaceflight from Texas As six more people prepare to ride to the edge of space, the rest of us will have to content ourselves with watching the mission on solid ground. Fortunately, Blue Origin will provide a livestream. Show Caption Hide Caption Watch zero gravity inside Blue Origin space flight with Katy Perry Katy Perry, Gayle King and four other women experienced zero gravity as they reached the edge of space on Blue Origin. Blue Origin's next crewed launch, known as NS-32, could get off the ground as early as 9:30 a.m. ET Saturday, May 31. Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launches take place from the company's private ranch facility known as Launch Site One. The facility is located 30 miles north of the town of Van Horn. Blue Origin will provide a webcast of the launch beginning about 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled liftoff. Six more space tourists are preparing to join the growing ranks of civilians who have flown on a Blue Origin rocket to the edge of space. The vehicle they'll ride to orbit, Blue Origin's New Shepard, is the same one that 58 others have ridden to space on 11 previous human spaceflights from the company's west Texas facility. The New Shepard's maiden voyage in July 2021 with a crew even included billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns the space technology company. New Shepard is composed of both a rocket and a crew capsule, which is outfitted with large windows for its passengers to glimpse spectacular views that most of us will never see. The rest of us will instead have to content ourselves with watching the mission on solid ground. Fortunately, Blue Origin will provide a livestream for the launch and spaceflight. Here's everything to know about Blue Origin's next human spaceflight and how to watch a livestream. When is the next Blue Origin launch? What to know about New Shepard liftoff, crew What is Blue Origin? Billionaire Jeff Bezos, best known for founding Amazon, is the founder of the private space technology company Blue Origin. Bezos himself even boarded Blue Origin's New Shepard for its maiden crewed voyage in July 2021, which came after the spacecraft flew on 15 flight tests beginning in 2012. For nearly four years since its first crewed mission, the New Shepard spacecraft has served as a powerful symbol of Blue Origin's commercial spaceflight ambitions amid a growing space tourism industry. In addition to sending space tourists on brief joy rides to the edge of space, Blue Origin has also increasingly sought to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX. Blue Origin's massive New Glenn rocket, which flew on its inaugural flight test in January, is also being developed for future spaceflights. At 320 feet tall, the spacecraft rivals SpaceX's 400-foot Starship in size. When is the next Blue Origin launch? Blue Origin's next crewed launch, known as NS-32, could get off the ground as early as 9:30 a.m. ET (8:30 a.m. CT) Saturday, May 31, the company announced announced Tuesday, May 27. Where are Blue Origin rocket launches? Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launches take place from the company's private ranch facility known as Launch Site One. The facility is located 30 miles north of the town of Van Horn in Culberson County – more than 140 miles east of El Paso near the U.S.-Mexico border. How to watch the Blue Origin New Shepard take off Blue Origin will provide a webcast of the launch beginning about 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled liftoff on its website. Who is going on the New Shepard? What to know about NS-32 Here's a look at the passengers on the next Blue Origin spaceflight: Aymette (Amy) Medina Jorge , a STEM teacher at Odyssey Academy in Galveston, Texas, who has led more than 60 zero-gravity space experiments. , a STEM teacher at Odyssey Academy in Galveston, Texas, who has led more than 60 zero-gravity space experiments. Gretchen Green , a radiologist specializing in women's imaging with more than 20 years of clinical experience. , a radiologist specializing in women's imaging with more than 20 years of clinical experience. Jaime Alemán , a Panamanian attorney, businessman and former ambassador to the United States. , a Panamanian attorney, businessman and former ambassador to the United States. Jesse Williams , a Canadian entrepreneur and adventurer who serves as CEO of Car History Group, which he founded in 2012. , a Canadian entrepreneur and adventurer who serves as CEO of Car History Group, which he founded in 2012. Mark Rocket , an entrepreneur from Christchurch, New Zealand, who is CEO of Kea Aerospace, which develops solar-powered UAVs for aerial imaging and monitoring, and president of Aerospace New Zealand. , an entrepreneur from Christchurch, New Zealand, who is CEO of Kea Aerospace, which develops solar-powered UAVs for aerial imaging and monitoring, and president of Aerospace New Zealand. Paul Jeris, a real estate developer and entrepreneur What happens during a New Shepard rocket launch? Each spaceflight on a New Shepard vehicle lasts about 11 minutes from liftoff to capsule touchdown. Named after astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the 60-foot-tall New Shepard rocket is topped with the gum drop-shaped crew capsule. During its ascent, the spacecraft reaches supersonic speeds surpassing 2,000 mph before the rocket booster separates from the crew capsule. At that point, those aboard the capsule become weightless as the spacecraft continues toward its highest point on its brief voyage above the Kármán Line – the 62-mile-high internationally recognized boundary of space. While experiencing a few minutes of microgravity, passengers have the opportunity to unstrap themselves from their seats to gaze out the capsule's large windows and take in a stunning view of Earth. Meanwhile, the rocket booster heads back to the ground while firing its engines and using its fins to slow and control its descent to land vertical about two miles from the launchpad. The capsule itself eventually begins what Blue Origin refers to as a "stable freefall' – plummeting back to Earth as three massive parachutes deploy and the capsule makes a soft landing in the desert, sending up plumes of dust. Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
With plans to launch from Florida, SpaceX's Starship makes it to space, but misses goals
After major setbacks during the past two Starship flights, SpaceX was counting on success this time as it launched the massive Starship on its ninth test flight from Texas — however the May 27 launch saw yet another dramatic ending. From launch to loss of the ship, high-quality footage was sent to the live coverage via Starlink. The world watched as once again things did not go as hoped for the massive launch system, which will eventually launch from Florida. The May 27 flight was aimed at testing much more than what transpired. After the past two test flights of the giant rocket ended in the loss of the ship under 10 minutes into the flight, most space observers were hoping for more of a significant comeback — or at least to see most of the flight goals met. While the ship coasted this time for close to 40 minutes and made it to the planned area of reentry, it ended up in a spin which caused it to break apart over the Indian Ocean. SpaceX noted on the live coverage of the launch that no one was in danger, and the air spaces were cleared. 'Some may focus on the lows, but behind the efforts of Starship — and other programs like New Glenn, Neutron, Vulcan, Terran, Stoke, etc — is a massive space economy taking shape: tens of thousands of jobs, billions in private investment, all aimed at truly opening the last great frontier," Jared Isaacman, President Trump's nominee to be the next NASA administrator, said on X. "When these capabilities arrive, they will spearhead a new era of exploration and discovery —and the lows will become a chapter in a much longer story.' SpaceX also put on a positive spin. "With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary," the company wrote on X. Earlier, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had announced an update on the company's Mars ambitions would come over X on May 27 after the launch, yet Musk and SpaceX remained silent after the flight. SpaceX is counting on Starship to not only be the company's next workhouse rocket, but also to send humans to Mars. NASA is also betting on Starship. It has Starship tapped to act as a human lander for its fast approaching Artemis III moon landing in 2027. The space agency also anticipates it will carry future missions to orbit and beyond, already having added it to the Launch Services Program. A lot is riding on a massive rocket which is set to eventually launch from Florida but progress has been slow. It wasn't a total loss for SpaceX, as there was a first. Tuesday's nineth test flight from Texas was the first to reuse a Super Heavy booster (lower stage). While the past two test flights did not go as well as planned with the ship (upper stage), the Super Heavy booster returned to the launch tower during those flights — in an impressive show toward reusability which was once science fiction. This will allow SpaceX to rapidly reuse boosters and bring down the cost of launches. For reference, it took SpaceX more than 30 flights to be able to reuse a Falcon 9 booster, which is now routine for the rocket as it lands on a drone ship or landing zone after every launch. It took Starship only nine flights to reuse a booster. The hope is that future Starship Super Heavy boosters will be capable of multiple launches per day. However, the launch on May 27 was not supposed to see the booster return to the launch tower, as SpaceX stated the plan was to test abnormal scenarios. The plan was to instead safely splash down in the Gulf of America, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico. That didn't happen as the flight started to go wrong. The booster was lost upon decent, and footage of the return switched to high quality views of the ship coasting in space. As the ship coasted, eight mockup Starlink satellites, known as simulators, were planned to be deployed from the ship. This didn't happen either, as the payload door did not open correctly. As the ship coasted on its suborbital trajectory, the SpaceX team then attempted a relight a single Raptor engine. That had to be forgotten as it was apparent the ship was losing orientation and was now encountering serious issues. The footage turned a glowing red as the ship held on before its eventual demise over the planned splashdown area in the Indian Ocean. Despite the missed goals and destruction upon reentry, this ship was able to perform its long coast in space. The past two test flights from Texas failed under 10 minutes into the flight, resulting in the ship giving dramatic pyrotechnic shows over the islands and waters south of Florida. The last incident on March 6 not only put a ground stop to Florida flights, but was even visible from Cape Canaveral, which is the future launch site of the massive launch system. After the March 6 incident, SpaceX said it worked with the Bahamian government to organization clean-up efforts. It said that no hazardous material was released in the area, and water and marine life were not at risk from the debris. A launch date from 39A remains uncertain, yet SpaceX previously stated it is aiming for a Florida launch by the end of the year. It is nearing half way through the year, and Starship has yet to reach orbit. The company also has eyes on Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 37 as a future Starship pad. A massive Gigabay, a building that will be used to stack and finalize the 232-foot-tall Super Heavy boosters (lower-stages) before flight, is currently under construction by SpaceX's facility on Kennedy Space Center grounds. The 380-foot-tall structure will rival NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, which stands at 525-feet-tall. This will make the Gigabay a recognizable feature looming in the distance on approach to Cape Canaveral. That is good news for the Florida space economy. The governor's office previously stated that brining SpaceX's Starship to Florida will include the addition of at least $1.8 billion of SpaceX capital investment and will bring an estimated 600 new full-time jobs to the area by 2030. When is the next Florida rocket launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, Axiom, ULA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral In future flights, the ship itself is also planned to be returned to the launch site. 'Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable. But by putting hardware in a flight environment as frequently as possible, we're able to quickly learn and execute design changes as we seek to bring Starship online as a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle,' the SpaceX website states. During the May 27 coverage, SpaceX stated it has a goal of 25 Starship launches per year. It's not just payloads and lunar landers that Starship will be utilized for. An uncrewed launch to Mars is also in the plans for late next year, when the planet will be close to Earth but Starship needs to make it past the testing phases in order for this to happen. "With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary," SpaceX stated on X. Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@ or on X: @brookeofstars. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX's Starship suffers loss as plans proceed for future Florida launch
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
After celebrity spaceflight, Blue Origin unveils next launch crew including NE Ohio man
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin spaceflight company is preparing to send its next group of passengers on a brief trip high above Earth to witness a view few other civilians have ever seen. The impending spaceflight would be Blue Origin's first since the company made headlines in April when a group of famous women, including pop star Katy Perry, boarded the company's spacecraft for a ride to the edge of space. This time around, though, the crew is comprised not of celebrities, but of educators and entrepreneurs. Blue Origin announced Wednesday, May 21, the names of the crew members who are due to fly on the company's famous New Shepard spacecraft when it lifts off again from rural West Texas. Among the crew of passengers named to fly is Northeast Ohio businessman Paul Jeris, known as "Put-in-Bay Paul." Jeris is a world traveler and thrill-seeker who has visited roughly 150 countries, according to Fox 8. Fox reported that Jeris had been on the Blue Origin waiting list for years before finally getting the call to experience the company's version of space flight. 'They called me and they said, 'are you ready to go?'' Jeris said, according to Fox 8. 'I was so excited!' The launch, the date for which has not yet been announced, would be New Shepard's 12th human spaceflight and 32nd flight overall. Here's everything we know so far about Blue Origin's next rocket launch from Texas: Billionaire Jeff Bezos, best known for founding Amazon, is the founder of the private space technology company Blue Origin. Bezos himself even boarded Blue Origin's New Shepard for its maiden crewed voyage in July 2021, which came after the spacecraft flew on 15 flight tests beginning in 2012. For nearly four years since its first crewed mission, the New Shepard spacecraft has served as a powerful symbol of Blue Origin's commercial spaceflight ambitions amid a growing space tourism industry. In addition to sending space tourists on brief joy rides to the edge of space, Blue Origin has also increasingly sought to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX. Blue Origin's massive New Glenn rocket, which flew on its inaugural flight test in January, is also being developed for future spaceflights. At 320 feet tall, the spacecraft rivals SpaceX's 400-foot Starship in size. Even Amazon is competing with SpaceX by developing its own Kuiper internet satellite constellation in a direct challenge to Starlink. Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launches take place from the company's private ranch facility known as Launch Site One in Van Horn, Texas – more than 140 miles east of El Paso. However, the company has not yet announced the date for its next crewed launch, known as NS-32. Once the New Shepard does get off the ground again, the six people selected to board it will join 58 others who have flown on the spacecraft across 11 previous human spaceflights. Here's a look at who was announced for the mission: Aymette (Amy) Medina Jorge, a STEM teacher at Odyssey Academy in Galveston, Texas, who has led more than 60 zero-gravity space experiments. Gretchen Green, a radiologist specializing in women's imaging with more than 20 years of clinical experience. Jaime Alemán, a Panamanian attorney, businessman, and former ambassador to the United States. Jesse Williams, a Canadian entrepreneur and adventurer who serves as CEO of Car History Group, which he founded in 2012. Mark Rocket, an entrepreneur from Christchurch, New Zealand, who is CEO of Kea Aerospace, which develops solar-powered UAVs for aerial imaging and monitoring, and president of Aerospace New Zealand. Paul Jeris, a Northeast Ohio real estate developer and entrepreneur The upcoming Blue Origin launch comes on the heels of a highly publicized celebrity spaceflight on April 14 featuring musical artist Katy Perry and broadcast journalist Gayle King. Also on the flight for the mission known as NS-31 was civil rights activist and bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, filmmaker Kerianne Flynn and Lauren Sánchez, an Emmy Award-winning journalist who is the fiancé of Jeff Bezos. The women made history as the first all-female crew to travel to space since 1963, when the Soviet Union's Valentina Tereshkova completed a solo spaceflight, Blue Origin has said. But the women who were part of the mission also faced widespread backlash for a launch that was widely criticized as a marketing ploy that contributed to Earth's pollution. Each spaceflight on a New Shepard vehicle lasts about 11 minutes from liftoff to capsule touchdown. Named after astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the 60-foot-tall New Shepard rocket is topped with the gum drop-shaped crew capsule. During its ascent, the spacecraft reaches supersonic speeds surpassing 2,000 mph before the rocket booster separates from the crew capsule. At that point, those aboard the capsule become weightless as the spacecraft continues toward its highest point on its brief voyage above the Kármán Line – the 62-mile-high internationally recognized boundary of space. While experiencing a few minutes of microgravity, passengers have the opportunity to unstrap themselves from their seats to gaze out the capsule's large windows and take in a stunning view of Earth. Meanwhile, the rocket booster heads back to the ground while firing its engines and using its fins to slow and control its descent to land about two miles from the launchpad. The capsule itself eventually begins what Blue Origin refers to as a "stable freefall' – plummeting back to Earth as three massive parachutes deploy and the capsule makes a soft landing in the desert, sending up plumes of dust. If you have dreams of blasting off to orbit on a Blue Origin spacecraft, you likely need to either have very deep pockets or a name that's recognizable enough to get you invited as an honored guest. Though Blue Origin does not publicly list prices on its website, a form to reserve a seat requires customers to agree to a $150,000 deposit alone. And if the price of the first ticket sold for a Blue Origin spaceflight is any indicator, seats likely cost in the millions of dollars. The $28 million ticket price was the winning bid in an auction that included 7,600 people registered to bid from 159 countries. However, a select few passengers over the years have had their seats aboard New Shepard paid through grants and other funding methods from large institutions. Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blue Origin announces 1st launch since Katy Perry, Gayle King flight
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Space calendar 2025: Here are the moments you won't want to miss
Though 2025 won't mark the return of astronauts into deep space as NASA had hoped, launchpads still will be scorching-hot from a procession of robotic spacecraft attempting to land on the moon. How many of these moon landings will succeed? Will the number top the two-ish (one of which made a heckuva comeback) last year? Giant commercial rockets, such as SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's New Glenn, will likely also have several uncrewed orbital test launches as they iron out the kinks in their hardware. And while people await scientific missions to distant solar system destinations, a few probes will send home close-up pictures of planets as they snag gravitational boosts from flybys. Here's a round-up of space missions and cosmic events just around the bend. Bookmark this calendar and look for updates from Mashable throughout the year. SEE ALSO: NASA leader doubts Elon Musk will push Trump to axe moon rocket Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, but it's perhaps the most overlooked of the rocky worlds in the solar system. Hot and harder to reach than Saturn, it hasn't enjoyed the level of study that other worlds have. But BepiColombo, a joint mission of the European and Japanese space agencies, seeks to change that. The spacecraft makes its sixth and final flyby on Jan. 8 before returning to enter orbit around the planet in late 2026. Closest approach will take the spacecraft just 160 miles above the surface of Mercury. Mission controllers will release images of the event on Jan. 9. Two small uncrewed spacecraft, one of which is carrying several NASA instruments, will try to land on the moon with a boost from the same rocket. Both Firefly Aerospace and Japan's ispace will ride a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket slated to leave Earth as early as 1:11 a.m. ET Jan. 15. Firefly's Blue Ghost lander was originally scheduled to lift off in late 2024, and the launch will mark its maiden voyage. The spacecraft is slated to travel for 45 days before trying to touch down in early March. Firefly's flight will be the first Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission of the year. The NASA program has recruited vendors from the private sector to help deliver instruments to the moon and send back crucial data. Ispace's new Hakuto-R mission will be its second try, after it ran out of fuel and crashed on the lunar surface in April 2023. The Resilience lander, a partnership with Japan's space agency JAXA, is taking a long way to the moon to save on fuel, arriving about four to five months after launch. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will soon get a chance to see his giant rocket New Glenn launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. His aerospace company Blue Origin started a countdown on Jan. 13, but launch controllers waved off the opportunity when a technical issue arose. The company will try again no earlier than Jan. 16, targeting a three-hour launch window that opens at 1 a.m. ET. Blue Origin's goal is to reach orbit, and the company will also try to land its booster on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean so that it can be reused on future flights, though executives admit doing so would be "ambitious" on the first try. SpaceX is preparing to launch another uncrewed Starship test, this time with an upgraded spacecraft and 10 mock satellites to practice a payload deployment in space. This SpaceX launch would mark the seventh Starship test and feature a reused engine from the booster returned from the fifth test. Weather-related postponements have made it possible that Starship and Blue Origin's New Glenn will lift off for these tests on the same day. Starship's one-hour launch window opens at 4:00 p.m. CT. Intuitive Machines made history last year as the first company to reach the moon intact — though its lander, Odysseus, broke a landing leg and touched down tilted. The Houston-based company is now gearing up for a second moon landing — this time with the Athena lander. The mission, referred to as IM-2 or PRIME-1, will carry a NASA rover. The spacecraft will test a drill and mass spectrometer, a device that identifies the kinds of particles in a substance. Liftoff is targeted for a four-day launch window that opens no earlier than 7:02 p.m. ET Feb. 26. Another spacecraft, NASA's Lunar Trailblazer, will also hitch a ride on this flight. The small satellite will orbit the moon to map out the locations of lunar water. After a successful October 2024 launch, the Europa Clipper spacecraft has been hurtling through space. It's on schedule to make its first flyby of Mars on March 1, where it will get a gravity assist to continue its journey. Its closest approach to the Red Planet is expected at 12:57 p.m. ET, when it will zip 550 miles above the Martian surface. The probe won't arrive at Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, for its mission until 2030. Scientists are intrigued by Europa because they believe it could hold double the water held by Earth's oceans. Could this small world in the outer solar system have conditions capable of supporting life? If NASA finds that Europa is a habitable place, a second Europa mission could return to determine if there are indeed any inhabitants. Following a successful launch in January, Firefly Aerospace will target a robotic landing in the Mare Crisium region of the moon, an ancient hardened lava flow, no earlier than 2:34 a.m. CT on March 2. Prior to descent onto the surface, NASA and Firefly intend to broadcast commentary, starting at 1:20 a.m. CT that morning. However, the broadcast will not include a live video stream of the spacecraft. "Our available bandwidth will be dedicated to critical descent operations during landing," Firefly officials said on X, formerly called Twitter. Landing on the moon remains onerous. The moon's exosphere provides virtually no drag to slow a spacecraft down as it approaches the ground. Furthermore, there are no GPS systems on the moon to help guide a craft to its landing spot. Blue Ghost shared a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Japanese company ispace, which will try to land on the moon after a failed attempt in 2023. Its Resilience lander is taking a longer route than Blue Ghost to save on fuel, arriving in May or June. On the heels of Firefly Aerospace's moon landing attempt, competitor space company Intuitive Machines will try to touch down just four days later. The landing is slated for 11:32 a.m. CT on March 6. Intuitive Machines will provide live event coverage, starting at 10:30 a.m. CT / 11:30 a.m. ET. The company's lander, Athena, will attempt to descend on Mons Mouton, a plateau at the moon's south pole. Before landing, the spacecraft is expected to orbit the moon for about one week. Coming off the heels of a Starship test that ended in an explosion and a scrubbed launch on March 3, SpaceX will try to fly the rocket and empty spacecraft again as early as 5:30 p.m. CT March 6. The upcoming launch will be the eighth for Starship and feature several hardware changes following January's mishap. During the previous test, two flashes occurred near one of the ship's engines shortly after booster separation. A post-flight investigation determined that strong vibrations led to fuel leaks that were too much for the ship's vents to handle, leading to fires that eventually triggered the flight termination system. NASA intends to launch an astrophysics observatory to create a map of the entire sky in 3D. The mission, SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), will orbit Earth while studying hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies, showing them in 102 invisible "colors." One of the main goals of the mission is to learn more about cosmic inflation, a brief but crucial phase of the Big Bang that contributed to the universe's expansion. It will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as early as 11:10 p.m. ET on March 11. Live launch coverage will begin at 10:15 p.m. ET. NASA's PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) probe is hitching a ride on the same rocket and will be the first to image the sun's corona and solar wind together to better understand them as a connected system. Back in 2022, NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into a harmless asteroid to practice thwarting a space rock, should a hazardous one ever be on a collision course with Earth. The European Space Agency is providing a follow-up to that test, known as Hera. The mission's spacecraft launched in October 2024 and will rendezvous with Dimorphos, the slammed asteroid, in 2026. But this March, it will also have a quick pop-in with Mars, closest approach at 7:51 a.m. ET, and one of the Red Planet's two moons, Deimos. Mission controllers will use the opportunity to collect data on the Martian moon. The agency plans to host a webcast image release from the flyby at 6:50 a.m. ET the next day, March 13. Two astronauts whose eight-day visit to the International Space Station turned into a more than eight-month layover are expected to return to Earth in March. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been waiting for their ride since the space agency decided not to send them home on the spaceship they rode in on. That test vehicle, Boeing's Starliner, landed empty without any problems, but NASA hadn't wanted to risk it after the capsule experienced propulsion issues in space. The pair was supposed to return in a SpaceX Dragon capsule in February, but NASA announced at the end of 2024 that the flight would likely be pushed back to March. Wilmore and Williams, who were integrated into Crew-9, will fly back to Earth after the next crew arrives at the space station, allowing for a brief hand-off period. Crew-10 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on March 14. Due to weather concerns later in the week, NASA has decided to move up the Crew-9 return. Their spaceship is expected to undock at 1:05 a.m. ET on March 18. A splashdown landing would follow at about 5:57 p.m. ET that evening. Blue Origin will send an all-female crew to the edge of space in its next civilian astronaut mission. The flight will be the eleventh carrying passengers on the New Shepard rocket to the Kármán line, where Earth's atmosphere and outer space meet. Katy Perry, CBS Mornings' Gayle King, and Jeff Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sánchez will join former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics scientist and social activist Amanda Nguyen, and fashion designer-turned-film producer Kerianne Flynn on the trip. The NS-31 mission will target liftoff from the company's private West Texas launch pad at 8:30 a.m. CT / 9:30 a.m. ET on April 14. Check back here for details about the webcast as the launch approaches. NASA launched the Lucy spacecraft on a grand 12-year asteroid tour last fall with plans to fly by several space rocks that share Jupiter's orbit. On April 20, Lucy will encounter a small main-belt asteroid, Donaldjohanson, as a sort of test sequence before it visits seven Trojan asteroids. The asteroid, called DJ for short, is only 2.5 miles wide, with an extremely slow rotation that takes more than 10 days to complete. Meteor showers happen every year or at regular intervals as Earth passes through the dusty wake of previous comets. Each time a comet zips through the inner solar system, the sun boils off some of its surface, leaving behind a trail of debris. When the planet intersects with the old comet detritus, the result can be a spectacular show, with sometimes up to hundreds of meteors visible per hour. The debris that creates the Lyrid meteor shower originates from comet Thatcher. The Lyrids, best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, will be active from April 17 to 26. The Eta Aquariids meteor shower, best viewed from the southern tropics, produces strong "persistent trains" of shooting stars. The shower is the first of two each year created by Halley's Comet debris. The celestial event will be active from April 20 to May 21. A NASA-funded science mission seeks to get to the bottom of how solar radiation strips away the tattered Martian atmosphere. Called Escapade, the mission will involve two Mars orbiters built by Rocket Lab. The flight was previously scheduled for October aboard Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, which would have been its first launch. But, as rockets are wont to do, the inaugural flight was delayed. NASA and Blue Origin are now in talks for a new launch date for that mission, no earlier than spring 2025. After a failed attempt in April 2023, Japan's ispace will try to land an uncrewed robotic spacecraft on the moon and deliver a rover to its surface. The Hakuto-R mission is gearing up for a landing near the center of Mare Frigoris at 3:24 p.m. ET on June 5 (It will be June 6 for Japan). Livestream coverage will begin about one hour earlier, at 2:15 p.m. ET, with English translation. If conditions change, the company has identified three other potential sites for its lander, dubbed Resilience. The alternative locations have different landing dates and times. Private astronauts will launch to the International Space Station for Axiom Space's fourth mission. Four crew members will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, as early as 9:11 a.m. ET on June 8. The commercial space company has said this mission will consist of about 60 scientific studies on the effects of spaceflight on the body and how to improve health and medical treatments on Earth. When Axiom flew its first private mission in 2022, it redefined the word "astronaut." For decades, that title was reserved for government space pilots and crew. More recently, uber-rich space tourists earned the distinction by breaching Earth's atmosphere. But with Axiom's private mission came a third possible description: Someone privately trained and sent into space to perform commercial scientific research. Axiom crews receive 750 to over 1,000 hours of training. The Delta Aquariids are another shower best observed from the southern tropics. Conditions will be favorable for viewing meteors in the morning. Astronomers suspect the interacting debris causing the event came from the strange Comet Machholz. The event will be active from July 18 to Aug. 12. Perseids meteors streak across the sky over Bishop, California, in 2024. Credit: NASA / Preston Dyches The popular Perseids, made up of remnants of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, is usually a spectacular show for the Northern Hemisphere. The meteor shower is active from July 17 to Aug. 23. But don't get your hopes up this year: Experts say the waning gibbous moon, more than 80 percent full, will allow only the brightest meteors to be seen. The European Space Agency's so-called Juice mission is scheduled to fly by Venus on Aug. 31, though exact times and distances will be determined closer to the event. "Juice" is a wonky acronym for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. The mission will study Jupiter's moons, including Europa, Callisto, and particularly Ganymede. These moons have intrigued scientists for years because they're thought to have liquid oceans trapped beneath icy shells. Before reaching Jupiter, the spacecraft will make flybys of Earth and Venus to get enough energy to slingshot to the outer solar system, reaching Jupiter in 2031. Astrobotic Technologies tried to become the first commercial company to land on the moon last year, but it lost its chance just a few hours into the flight because of a fuel leak. The company will try again this fall with its Griffin lander. Originally, this mission was supposed to carry a NASA rover to drill for ice at the lunar south pole. But VIPER — short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover — was canceled due to cost overruns. Griffin will still launch without the rover as a flight demonstration of the lander and engines. The Orionids meteor shower marks the return of activity caused by Halley's Comet debris. In recent years, the displays have been pretty lackluster, but a waning crescent moon rising near dawn means moonlight won't obscure the shower in 2025. The celestial event will run from Oct. 2 to Nov. 12. The Southern Taurids make up a complex meteor shower. Usually, the displays are weak, but Taurid meteors are more numerous sometimes. Known as a "swarm year," 2025's event could offer more fireballs as Earth plows through a group of pebble-sized fragments from the Comet Encke. But given the moon's phase, there's a good chance moonlight will interfere with viewing most Taurids. Activity will go from Oct. 13 to Nov. 27. A Dream Chaser spaceplane, Tenacity, is expected to launch to the International Space Station in 2025. Credit: Sierra Space The Leonids are some of the fastest-moving meteors, traveling up to 44 miles per second. The debris that causes the show comes from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, but the displays are usually pretty weak. The exceptions are years when the showers become so-called "meteor storms," but that won't likely happen again until perhaps 2035. The shower will be active from Nov. 3 to Dec. 2. Widely regarded as the best meteor shower of the year, the Geminids can be seen from most any part of the world, especially the Northern Hemisphere. The Geminids are denser meteors, allowing stargazers to see them as low as 29 miles above ground before the cosmic dust burns up. The shower will be active between Dec. 1 and 21. This year the moon will have a waning crescent phase, which rises around 2 a.m. local time. Prior to that, views should be moon-free. You could glimpse bright meteors by facing a direction with the moon at your back, according to the American Meteor Society. The Ursid meteors are caused by debris from Tuttle's Comet, which orbits every 13 years. This shower, often overlooked because of its close timing to Christmas, can only be observed in the Northern Hemisphere. Because of a new moon at the shower's peak, moonlight won't interfere with the show. The event will be active from Dec. 16 to 26. Sierra Space has been working on a spacecraft with the nostalgia of NASA's space shuttle program. Dream Chaser, a cargo space plane capable of runway landings, is set to launch for the first time to the ISS for a resupply mission sometime this year. Following Intuitive Machines' second mission in early 2025, the company will shoot for another later in 2025 or early in 2026. If successful, the lunar landing mission, IM-3 or PRISM, will deploy rovers and study a so-called "lunar swirl." NASA is teaming up with India's space agency on a mission to study Earth's land and ice, involving the NISAR satellite, which will scan all of the planet's surfaces twice every 12 days to measure changes. The satellite will launch from the Indian Space Research Organisation's space port, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, on India's southeastern coast. It was supposed to liftoff this spring, but neither agency has provided an update on the mission's status.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Viasat, Blue Origin Partner to Demonstrate Telemetry Relay for NASA
Viasat, Inc. VSAT recently announced that it is collaborating with Blue Origin, a Washington-based space technology company, to demonstrate the Viasat InRange launch telemetry relay service. The demonstration of Viasat's new space-based launch communication system is set to be conducted by using Blue Origin's new Glenn rocket. This venture is part of Viasat's engagement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's ("NASA") Communications Services Project (CSP), which is focused on advancing commercial alternatives to legacy government communications infrastructure. Traditional launch vehicles face significant limitations due to their reliance on ground-based telemetry systems, which necessitate maintaining a direct line of sight with tracking stations. This limits launch flexibility, confines operations to specific geographic corridors, and can reduce overall launch efficiency. Managing and coordinating these ground assets also increases costs, adds operational complexity, and frequently results in scheduling delays. Viasat's InRange solution offers a cost-effective and flexible concept for rapid and responsive launch telemetry. The concept is engineered to provide a continuous relay connection between launch vehicles and ground systems via Viasat's global L-band satellite network. This capability enables real-time transmission of launch data during flight, allowing mission controllers to monitor vehicle performance beyond the limits of ground-based systems. This development eliminates communication gaps, often referred to as blackouts, that occur when a launch vehicle passes through areas not covered by Earth-based communications this partnership, Viasat will support NASA's strategic transition away from the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system toward commercial satellite communications solutions. Additionally, Viasat is aligning its InRange demonstration efforts with NASA's Launch Services Program, which historically handled the reception and distribution of TDRS relayed telemetry data. As part of this initiative, Viasat's Space and Mission Systems team, part of the company's Defense and Advanced Technologies segment, will work with Blue Origin across two planned launches using the New Glenn launch vehicle. The first New Glenn launch featuring Viasat's InRange system is expected to take place later this year and will serve as the initial in-flight test of the service. This flight is also anticipated to mark the first demonstration of Viasat's space-relay capabilities developed under the NASA CSP program, which includes a broader portfolio of multi-band relay services for low-Earth orbit missions and satellite constellations. The second mission, which will be a full InRange service demonstration, is currently planned for 2026. Viasat has experienced soft demand trends in some end markets in the past few quarters. Its communication service business is plagued by fierce competition. However, Viasat is steadily expanding its portfolio of offerings to capitaliz emerging market trends. As NASA phases out the TDRS system, demand for commercial alternatives will increase. A successful demonstration of the InRange launch telemetry relay service can give Viasat a competitive advantage in the industry. This will likely lead to higher revenues. An improved financial performance is likely to propel the stock upward. Shares of Viasat have plunged 41.6% over the past year against the industry's growth of 42.2%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Viasat currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader industry have been discussed below:Juniper Networks, Inc. JNPR sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 4.88%. Juniper is leveraging the 400-gig cycle to capture hyperscale switching opportunities within the data center. The company is set to capitalize on the increasing demand for data center virtualization, cloud computing and mobile traffic packet/optical convergence. Juniper also introduced new features within the AI-driven enterprise portfolio that enable customers to simplify the rollout of their campus wired and wireless networks while bringing greater insight to network IDCC carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. In the trailing four quarters, InterDigital delivered an earnings surprise of 160.15%. The company is a pioneer in advanced mobile technologies that enable wireless communications and designs and develops a wide range of advanced technology solutions used in digital cellular, wireless 3G, 4G, and IEEE 802-related products and Networks, Inc. ANET, carrying a Zacks Rank of 2 at present, supplies products to a prestigious set of customers, including Fortune 500 global companies in markets such as cloud titans, enterprises, financials and specialty cloud service delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 11.82% and has a long-term growth expectation of 14.81%. Arista currently serves five verticals, namely – cloud titans (customers that deploy more than one million servers), cloud specialty providers, service providers, financial services and the rest of the enterprise. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR) : Free Stock Analysis Report InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Viasat Inc. (VSAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
