Stephen Smith 🇺🇦
I am a long-time advocate of space exploration, settlement and commerce. Migrated from @WordsmithFL on Twitter.
Joined Nov 2022
What might have been ... Orbiter Enterprise at #KSC Pad 39A for fitting tests.
Enterprise originally was to have a refit into a full-fledged orbiter, but NASA decided instead to upgrade a spare airframe into Challenger.
These are the voyages ...
#NASA held a telecon this afternoon to discuss tomorrow's scheduled Cygnus commercial cargo flight to #ISS (weather permitting).
They used the briefing to debunk the rumors swirling about the #Boeing #Starliner #CFT crew having to return on a #SpaceX crew #Dragon.
The recent study was in case Tracy Dyson (who launched on #Soyuz) had to come home on Dragon. NASA is *not* sending Dragon suits to the #CFT astronauts on tomorrow's flight. They'd need the suits to come home on Dragon.
Eric Berger at #ArsTechnica thinks there's a pretty good chance that the #NASA #Boeing #Starliner #CFT crew will come home on a future #SpaceX #Dragon spacecraft.
While some people continue to try to frighten you into believing that #NASA astronauts are "stranded" on #ISS, here's the reality of what's happening with the #Boeing #Starliner #CFT.
"The test involved firing 27 of the spacecraft’s 28 jets for short bursts, moving through them one at a time to check thruster performance and helium leak rates. Preliminary results show all the tested thrusters are back to preflight levels based on thrust and chamber pressure."
When I lectured on #Space topics back in the day at #KSCVC, I often talked about how #ISS helped #NASA do microgravity research into potential #Cancer cures and treatments.
I was chummy with a German group which found that cancer cells tend to die in microgravity. Why? The hypothesis was that the cells drown in their own waste. But they warned it might be years, or never, before they figured out how to apply that on Earth. Apparently they've folded.
Here's what's new.
https://www.issnationallab.org/release-issrdc2024-igniting-innovation-project-selection/
How do we balance aerospace and ecology on the #SpaceCoast?
"Wild Canaveral" is a 1990 documentary by the local PBS affiliate about the history of the area beyond just the rockets' red glare. Although it was aired 34 years ago, most of it is still current.
You'll see a Roy Roberts in the documentary. His family owned the land where #SpaceX has built its #KSC operations complex. If you've heard of "Roberts Road," this is what it looked like before SpaceX.
Former #NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver was interviewed today for an hour on the Off-Nominal podcast. I've known Lori for a long time; she tells it like it is, doesn't spin like the NASA bureaucracy does. (Which is why many in the NASA bureaucracy hated her during her time in service, 2009-2013.)
In case you hear someone claim that "NASA found life on Mars!"
Not quite ... Those of us who remember the hype over the "Mars Rock" during the Clinton administration know that turned out to be a bust. Let the scientists do their work.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-rover-scientists-find-intriguing-mars-rock
Among her other duties, VP #Harris has chaired the National Space Council, an advisory body which, to be honest, doesn't have much influence on #NASA or US space policy.
That said, a Harris-Kelly ticket, with a retired astronaut as VP, certainly would seem to give #Space more visibility in the campaign than it usually gets.
For what it's worth, Harris chairing the last National Space Council meeting.
The front page of #FloridaToday (then, just "Today"), 55 years ago this morning.
#Space #SpaceCoast #NASA #Moon
The front page of #FloridaToday, then called just "Today," 55 years ago this morning.
(Note the Chappaquiddick story ...)
From #SpaceNews on the #SpaceX contract to build an #ISS deorbit vehicle for #NASA.
It's interesting that this is *not* a "commercial" contract like cargo and crew. SpaceX will build the vehicle then sell it to NASA, which will operate it, not SpaceX.
NASA will hold a separate bid for the launch vehicle.
All that said, I suspect that, in the end, SpaceX will do it all with NASA oversight.
https://spacenews.com/enhanced-dragon-spacecraft-to-deorbit-the-iss-at-the-end-of-its-life/
#FloridaToday looks at the history of the #KSC Vehicle Assembly Building. (If there's no paywall ...)
The front page of #FloridaToday (then, just "Today"), 55 years ago this morning.
Stephen Smith 🇺🇦
I am a long-time advocate of space exploration, settlement and commerce. Migrated from @WordsmithFL on Twitter.
Joined Nov 2022