Archive for the ‘Proton’ Category
Weekly Links
Down to Earth
Russia will stop building the Proton rocket.
The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been officially delayed to 2021.
Virgin Orbit has been granted an FAA launch license for its first launch from California.
In Orbit
There were two orbital rocket launches during the last week. On June 27th, China launched a Long March 2C rocket carrying two satellites into orbit. On July 29th, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, carrying a Dragon cargo craft scheduled for arrival at ISS on Monday morning.
Meanwhile, Rocket Lab was not able to launch last week and has delayed their first commercial flight.
Around the Solar System
Out at Mars, there were no updates on the dust storm of the status of the dormant rover Opportunity.
After weeks of a slow approach, Japan’s probe Hayabusa-2 has arrived at asteroid Ryugu, with gorgeous views of the never before explored rock.
Astronomers have new evidence that the interstellar visitor ‘Omuamua was actually a comet, not an asteroid.
Weekly Links
Down to Earth
After much delay over the last year, the US Senate has finally confirmed former Congressman Jim Bridenstine as the new NASA administrator.
Orbital ATK is designing a new rocket for the Air Force, to be named OmegA.
A new Netflix film, Mercury 13, covers the participation (or lack thereof) of women pilots in America’s early space program.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) received over 4,000 applicants to be astronauts in their budding space program.
Former cosmonaut Vladimir Lykakhov, who spent 333 days in space, has died.
Scott Altman and Thomas Jones have been inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame.
In Orbit
Two orbital rocket launches since my last post:
- April 18 – A Russian Proton rocket launched carrying a military communications satellite.
- April 18 – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched carrying NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).