Lifeboat Foundation

SpinLaunch, a start-up that is building an alternative method of launching spacecraft to orbit, conducted last month a successful first test flight of a prototype in New Mexico.

The Long Beach, California-based company is developing a launch system that uses kinetic energy as its primary method to get off the ground – with a vacuum-sealed centrifuge spinning the rocket at several times the speed of sound before releasing.

“It’s a radically different way to accelerate projectiles and launch vehicles to hypersonic speeds using a ground-based system,” SpinLaunch CEO Jonathan Yaney told CNBC. “This is about building a company and a space launch system that is going to enter into the commercial markets with a very high cadence and launch at the lowest cost in the industry.”

After a series of delays for bad weather, the ill-health of an astronaut and then a wait for the splashdown of the previous mission this morning the world’s only re-usable orbital rocket take four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) as SpaceX and NASA launch the Crew-3 mission.

Originally due to launch on October 27 2021 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA has now confirmed that its SpaceX Crew-3 mission will take-off no earlier than 9:03 p.m. EST on Wednesday, November 10 2021.

Continue reading “NASA And SpaceX’s Delayed ‘Halloween’ Mission Is Finally Going Skywards. Here’s When And Where To Watch Four Astronauts Blast-Off” »

The four Crew-2 astronauts returned to Earth after 199 days in space.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — After six months in space, SpaceX’s Crew-2 astronauts returned to Earth late Monday (Nov. 8), splashing down off the Florida coast to end the private company’s second long-duration mission.

SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission for NASA splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico just south of Pensacola, Florida, at 10:33 p.m. EST (0333 GMT on Nov. 9), with a recovery ship swiftly retrieving the spaceflyers’ Crew Dragon capsule from the sea. Their return wrapped up a six-month trip to the International Space Station (ISS).

Tesla works on software… SpaceX gets hit with another delay… Elon Musk will pay taxes.

The astronauts will now undock Monday and splashdown late Monday night.

SpaceX and NASA have pushed back the return to Earth of four astronauts on the International Space Station to late Monday (Nov. 8) due to bad weather at their splashdown site.

The astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission for NASA will now undock from the space station Monday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. EST (1905 GMT) — a day later than planned — and splash down that night off the Florida coast at 10:33 p.m. EST (0333 GMT). You can watch it all live here and on the Space.com homepage, courtesy of NASA TV, beginning at 11:45 a.m. EST (1645 GMT).

A former SpaceX executive, who worked at the aerospace company for 19 years, said the public has a different perception of CEO Elon Musk.

“We see him differently during work and I think the public has a different perception,” Hans Koenigsmann, a SpaceX vice president, told Insider.

As the richest man in the world, with a fortune of $292 billion, Musk is constantly in the public eye.

This beer is truly out of this world.

A constitution for Mars’ future government is further along than you think.

A constitution for a colonized Mars’ future government is further along than you think. Former SpaceX general counsel, David Anderman, tells us how it could work.

The article details the discomfort astronauts may feel due to malfunctioning waste management systems. Luckily their critical systems are not compromised. It’s also very difficult for them to make these repairs up in orbit.

Well, I guess adult diapers are the way of the future. 😂

A NASA astronaut stationed aboard the International Space Station acknowledged this week that a design flaw in the toilet built into SpaceX’s Crew Dragon module will force she and her colleagues to use diapers during their upcoming return journey to Earth.

Continue reading “NASA Astronaut: SpaceX Forcing Her to Pee in Diaper Is ‘Suboptimal’” »