by National Space Society | Apr 30, 2020 | Commercial Space, Moon, NASA, NSS Press Releases
The National Space Society (NSS) applauds NASA’s April 30 announcement by NASA Administrator James Bridenstine that SpaceX, Dynetics, and Blue Origin’s National Team have been chosen to provide human landing systems to carry crew to the Moon for Artemis III, the third...
by National Space Society | Apr 24, 2020 | Commercial Space, Space Development
By Dale Skran On Wednesday April 22 a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched another 60 Starlink satellites into orbit (see image above), bringing the total in the network to over 400, and allowing for initial service to northern latitudes. Other key facts on this launch include:...
by National Space Society | Apr 14, 2020 | Commercial Space, Space Development
By George Mancuso Boeing announced on April 6th it would fly a second uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT) of its CST-100 Starliner. The flight goal is to confirm that problems encountered during last year’s OFT-1 December 20th flight have been corrected. Boeing will...
by National Space Society | Mar 27, 2020 | Commercial Space, NASA, Space Development
By Dale Skran, Chair of the NSS Executive Committee NASA today announced that SpaceX has been chosen to provide a cargo vehicle, the Dragon XL (illustrated above), to support the lunar Gateway as part of the Artemis program. It is expected that a second cargo provider...
by National Space Society | Jan 20, 2020 | Commercial Space, Space Development
By George Mancuso NASA and SpaceX successfully completed an in-flight abort demonstration of the Dragon 2 spacecraft from a Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday January 19, 2020. The launch abort test began at 10:30 a.m. EST with liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy...
by National Space Society | Jan 7, 2020 | Commercial Space, Space Development
By Dale Skran Rocket Lab had a great 2019, concluding with its 10th launch overall, with six in 2019 alone. All six launched from Rocket Lab’s LC-1 in Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. All launches used the two-stage lox-kerosene Electron rocket, which typically delivers...
by National Space Society | Jan 4, 2020 | Commercial Space, Space Development
By Dale Skran Chair of the Executive Committee, National Space Society This article will only focus on Boeing activities that relate to space development, not to everything Boeing is involved in, which would be a long list. Boeing made significant advances toward...
by National Space Society | Jan 1, 2020 | Commercial Space, Space Development
Having just written a recap of SpaceX activities in 2019, it seemed natural to follow with a preview of 2020. In no particular order, we can expect: January 11, 2020: The in-flight abort test that supports the Commercial Crew program. This test was delayed out of 2019...
