SpaceX has started flying their new Dragon 2 capsule for both their Crew Dragon missions as well as their new Cargo Dragon missions as part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Service Phase 2 contract. In this #TwoMinuteTuesday episode, we talk about the differences between the Dragon 1 and Dragon 2 capsules from SpaceX and how their [...]
SpaceX's 21st ISS resupply mission on behalf of NASA and the first under the CRS-2 contract, this mission brings essential supplies to the International Space Station using the cargo variant of SpaceX's new Dragon 2 spacecraft. Cargo includes several science experiments, and the external payload is the Nanoracks Bishop Airlock. Although the boosters for most [...]
As SpaceX Starship prepares for its 15 km SN8 test flight, I thought it would be good to talk about 6 of the top features and methods used with the SpaceX Starship and how it will change the game in spaceflight for all agencies and organizations. SpaceX Starship is a great vehicle, but it's also [...]
The 15th operational batch of Starlink satellites (16th overall) will lift off from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket. In the weeks following deployment the Starlink satellites will use onboard ion thrusters to reach their operational altitude of 550 km. This batch of Starlink satellites all feature [...]
Everyone wants to know how astronauts go to the bathroom in space and now that SpaceX and NASA are launching astronauts I've also been asked if the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule has an on board toilet, especially because astronauts routinely have to spend 20+ hours inside the capsule on their way to the International Space [...]
The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich (a.k.a. Sentinel-6A, Jason CS-A, Copernicus Sentinel-6A) spacecraft is developed and operated by the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), ESA, NASA and NOAA. The primary mission of Sentinel-6 is to provide ocean surface elevation data via a suite of instruments including synthetic aperture radar, and a GNSS radio [...]
The Rocket Lab Return to Sender mission, which will be Rocket Lab’s 16th Electron launch, will lift-off from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula.Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle will loft 30 satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit at 500 km altitude for a range of customers, including TriSept, Unseenlabs, Swarm, Auckland Programme for Space [...]
The first two crewed mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule have taken between 19 and 30 hours to dock with the International Space Station, however, the Russian Soyuz capsule has demonstrated docking within just three hours. Why does it take so long for SpaceX to dock to the ISS and what goes into the [...]
SpaceX will dock with the International Space Station for the second time with their Crew Dragon capsule carrying 4 astronauts. The docking procedures and hatch opening will be preceded by a number of phasing and approach burns on the Crew Dragon capsule to complete the docking autonomously.SpaceX launched the first operational mission of its Crew [...]
SpaceX will launch the the first operational mission of its Crew Dragon vehicle as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Transportation Capability Program (CCtCap), carrying three NASA astronauts and one JAXA astronaut to the International Space Station. This mission will be the first operational crewed flight to launch from the United States since the end of [...]
