NASA has two more launch opportunities at the end of this month if they can get permission from Space Force. The limiting factor is the certification on some batteries that are part of the rescue system. As a safety system you want to make sure all the parts work.…
Read the rest “September Moon”
The inaugural launch of SLS is scheduled for just 3 days from now. Local buzz says there will be 100,000 people in attendance to view the launch of the largest rocket system from US soil. Local NBC affiliate predicts 70% chance of good weather for the launch.…
Read the rest “3 Day Countdown”
I managed to snag tickets to the Artemis I launch at the end of the month. I was a bit disappointed that I was not able to get tickets for the Saturn V viewing area. I’m still looking forward to the launch.…
Read the rest “Go for Launch”
According to several sources following troubles with the wes, Artemis I has a new launch window no earlier than (NET) August.
The first launch window for Artemis 1 is June 6-16; additional windows are open June 29-July 12 and July 26-August 9.https://earthsky.org/space/sls-rehearsal-scrubbed-artemis-likely-delayed/…
Read the rest “NET August”
Now that SLS has crawled out to the launch pad we can calculate when she’ll launch, right. No exactly. The next step is a “wet test” where they fill the tanks with fuel to make sure nothing leaks or explode. Once that test happens next month the crawler will be called into service again to drag the stack back to the VAB.…
Read the rest “Artemis – June or Summer”
STS-41-C launched on April 6, 1984. The mission marked the first direct ascent trajectory for the Space Shuttle;
Challenger reached its 288-nautical-mile-(533-km)-high orbit using its Orbiter Maneuvering System (OMS) engines only once, to circularize its orbit. During the ascent phase, the main computer in Mission Control failed, as did the backup computer.…
Read the rest “STS-41-C”
NASA decided to change the launch numbering system. Apparently counting launches wasn’t complicated enough. STS-41-B (formerly STS-11) was the tenth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the fourth flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched on February 3, 1984, and landed on February 11 after deploying two communications satellites.…
Read the rest “STS-41-B”
November 1983, STS-9, also known as STS-41A and Spacelab 2 launch as the sixth mission of the Columbia. STS-9 sent the first non-U.S. citizen into space on the Shuttle, Ulf Merbold, becoming the first ESA and first West German citizen to go into space
I remember getting up in the middle of the night to watch the televised launch of Challenger. Once the shuttle cleared the tower shortly after 2am, I went outside and looked down the street to see the flame from the rockets light up the sky form 150 miles away.…
Read the rest “STS-8”
STS-7 was the second mission of Space Shuttle Challenger and Bob Crippen. It was also the long over due flight of the first American woman astronaut, Sally Ride. June 18, 1983. The mission featured the release of two satellites and the capture of one.…
Read the rest “STS-7”
Launch: 4 April 1983 18:30:00 UTC
STS-6 was the sixth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Launched from Kennedy Space Center on 4 April 1983, the mission deployed the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-1, into orbit, before landing at Edwards Air Force Base on 9 April.…
Read the rest “STS-6”
Launch: 11 November 1982, 12:19:00 UTC
STS-5 was the first operational flight of the Space Shuttle Orbiter 102 Columbia. Commander Vance D. Brand, Pilot Robert F. Overmyer, Mission Specialist Joseph P. Allen, Mission Specialist William B. Lenoir. STS-5 was the first shuttle mission to deploy communications satellites into orbit.
Launch: 27 June 1982, 15:00:00
STS-4 was the final test flight for the shuttle. Astronauts Thomas Ken Mattingly Ⅱ, and Henry W. Harsfield, Jr. orbited for a week in the summer 1982.
