Tag Archives: space-launch

NASA Invites Media to View Space Launch System Progress

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WASHINGTON — NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier and other agency officials will debut a new machine for manufacturing NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and check on development progress with the heavy-lift rocket at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans Friday, June 21. NASA is inviting media representatives to attend a 9:15 a.m. Continue reading →

NASA's Biggest Rocket Yet Aims for 2017 Test Flight

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NASA’s largest rocket yet, a vehicle under development called the Space Launch System (SLS), is on track for its first test flight in 2017, according to experts who spoke at the Space Tech Expo in Long Beach last month. The rocket is designed to carry astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before. Meanwhile, NASA plans to leave travel to low-Earth orbit to commercial space companies, which are developing private space taxis to take over the job vacated by the retired space shuttle. Continue reading →

NASA to Lease Historic Launch Pad for Commercial Rocket Missions

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The historic NASA launch pad from where astronauts blasted off for the moon and space shuttles departed for Earth orbit is now in need of a new rocket to launch. This week, NASA is expected to begin soliciting proposals for the commercial use of Launch Pad 39A at the space agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Continue reading →

Marshall Space Flight Center director will give UAHuntsville spring commencement address

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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Marshall Space Flight Center Director Patrick Scheuermann will deliver the spring commencement address at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The commencement will be May 4 at 10 a.m. at Propst Arena in downtown Huntsville’s Von Braun Center Continue reading →

NASA's Mars-bound mega rocket ahead of schedule, on budget

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NASA This artist’s concept shows NASA’s Space Launch System atop its Florida launch pad. By Clara Moskowitz Space.com COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The development of NASA’s biggest, most powerful rocket yet is running ahead of schedule and on budget, its primary contractor said last Wednesday Continue reading →

NASA's Mars-Bound Mega Rocket on Track for 2017 Test Launch

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The development of NASA’s biggest, most powerful rocket yet is running ahead of schedule and on budget, its primary contractor said Wednesday (April 10). The toweringSpace Launch System(SLS)is a 384-foot (117 meters) behemoth intended to launch astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to deep-space asteroids and Mars. Continue reading →

Obama Seeks $17.7 Billion for NASA to Lasso Asteroid, Explore Space

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NASA unveiled a $17.7 billion spending plan for 2014 today (April 10) that continues major ongoing space exploration projects, while including funds to kick-start an audacious new mission to capture a small asteroid and park it near the moon so astronauts can explore it by 2025. The proposed NASA budget is part of President Barack Obama’s 2014 federal budget request and would restore the U.S Continue reading →

NASA to Unveil 2014 Budget Request, Asteroid Lasso Plan Today

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NASA’s funding outlook for the next year will be revealed today (April 10), when President Barack Obama releases his 2014 federal budget request. A boost over the $17.7 billion allocated to the space agency in last year’s request would be a surprise in these tough fiscal times. But NASA is expected to receive $100 million to jump-start a bold asteroid-capture mission, which would drag a 500-ton space rock near the moon for research and exploration purposes Continue reading →

Capturing an Asteroid: How NASA Could Do It

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NASA’s bold plan to drag an asteroid into orbit around the moon may sound like science fiction, but it’s achievable with current technology, experts say. President Barack Obama’s 2014 federal budget request, which will be unveiled today (April 10), likely includes about $100 million for NASA to jump-start an asteroid-capture mission, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) said last week. Continue reading →

Inside NASA's Plan to Catch an Asteroid (Bruce Willis Not Required)

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NASA’s newly unveiled asteroid-capture plan is still in its early stages, but some details are already emerging about how the audacious mission might work. President Barack Obama’s 2014 federal budget request, which was released Wednesday (April 10), gives NASA $105 million to jump-start a program that would snag an asteroid and park it near the moon Continue reading →

NASA Planetary Science Bracing for Brunt of Sequester Cuts

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WASHINGTON As NASA begins to apportion the 5 percent budget cut mandated under sequestration, parts of the U.S. space agency are being asked to cough up more so that others can cough up less or be spared altogether, a senior NASA official told an advisory panel April 4. NASAs Planetary Science Division, which Congress favored with a $200 million increase in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 (H.R. Continue reading →

NASA to get $100 million for asteroid mission, senator says

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Rick Sternbach / Keck Institute for Space Studies An artist’s illustration of an asteroid retrieval spacecraft capturing a 500-ton asteroid that’s 7 meters wide. By Mike WallSpace.com NASA will likely get $100 million next year to jump-start an audacious program to drag an asteroid into orbit around the moon for research and exploration purposes, U.S. Sen. Continue reading →

NASA Mega-Rocket Could Lead to Skylab 2 Deep Space Station

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NASA’s first manned outpost in deep space may be a repurposed rocket part, just like the agency’s first-ever astronaut abode in Earth orbit. With a little tinkering, the upper-stage hydrogen propellant tank of NASA’s huge Space Launch System rocket would make a nice and relatively cheap deep-space habitat, some researchers say Continue reading →