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NASA and Russia's space agency adjusted the course of the International Space station (ISS) to avoid a collision with debris that was headed.

The fragment was a remnant of a Chinese weather satellite that was destroyed in a missile test 15 years ago, Roscosmos, the space agency, said in a tweet on Wednesday, around the time it adjusted course.

The debris was due to approach the space station some time on Friday if it hadn't moved.

It was due to enter the "pizza box," a flat, rectangular zone 2.5 miles deep and 30 miles wide around the space station inside which any object is "close enough for concern," per NASA.

"It just makes sense to go ahead and do this burn and put this behind us so we can ensure the safety of the crew," said Joel Montalbano, NASA's space station manager, at a press conference on Tuesday, per The New York Times.

Neither NASA nor Roscosmos said how big the fragment was. While a small fragment may not have significantly damaged the station, large bits of space junk have the potential to cause catastrophic damage.

The maneuver raised the space station's orbit by about a mile (1.2 km), Roscmoscos said in a press release Thursday. The ISS fired its rockets for just over six minutes to get out of the way, the Conversation reported.

It took place just a day before Crew-3 mission astronauts Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer arrived on the station.

This is the 29th time the space station has had to dodge a piece of space junk, according to The Times.

Space debris is made up of bits of often defunct spacecrafts broken apart in orbit, per NASA. It can travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, per NASA, about ten times the speed of a bullet.

Even a fleck of paint from a rocket can be dangerous at this speed for instance, if it hits an observation dome.

"Space debris has the potential to cripple the ISS and kill the crew," Robert Frost, Instructor and Flight Controller at NASA, said in a blog post in 2019. But the risk is "highly managed," he said.

Ground-based crews track the biggest pieces of space junk to allow lead time to move the ISS out of the way, as can be seen in this Insider video.

Anything above a third of an inch (1 cm) could penetrate the shields of the ISS's crew modules, according to the ESA. Anything larger than 4 inches (10 cm) could shatter the station to pieces, per ESA.

In this instance, the space junk came from an anti-satellite test conducted in 2007, when China launched a missile against its own weather satellite Fengyun-1C, per NASA.

That collision created about 3,500 pieces of large fragments and many other small ones, per NASA.

It wasn't immediately clear how big were the fragments predicted to cross paths with the ISS this Friday, but ground team only track bigger objects that are bigger than a softball, per NASA.

Collisions with smaller debris can also be damaging and are more unpredictable. In June, NASA said that a small fragment had punched a 0.2-inch (5-millimeter) hole in one of the ISS's robotic arms, Insider's Aylin Woodward previously reported.

Bigger fragments are also getting harder to track as an acceleration of space flight activity has led to a dramatic increase of fragments orbiting the planet.

Last year, NASA moved the ISS after detecting a piece of "unknown space debris" that would have flown within a mile of the space station Insider previously reported.

On that occasion, the astronauts still sealed themselves in a Soyuz rocke capsule, which could act as an escape pod in case the station was damaged.

Continued here:

ISS swerveed to avoid China space junk. Impact would be devastating. - Business Insider

NASA wants you to get excited about the nightmare world next door.

This spring, the agency announced that it would develop two new missions to explore Venus in the early 2030s. One, dubbed VERITAS (short for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy), would orbit the planet, peering through its thick clouds. The other, dubbed DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging), would go one step farther, dropping a high-tech probe to plummet through the acrid Venusian atmosphere. Now, NASA has released a new video highlighting the DAVINCI mission and the science it will conduct at our twin planet.

"Venus is waiting for us all, and DAVINCI is ready to take us there and ignite a new Venus renaissance," narrator Giada Arney, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, says in the video.

Related: Here's every successful Venus mission humanity has ever launched

Scheduled to launch in 2029, the DAVINCI mission comprises two main pieces, the video explains. First, the main spacecraft, which will conduct two flybys of the planet to study its atmosphere and the nightside surface. The spacecraft's atmospheric work will focus on observing how the clouds change over time and attempting to identify a mysterious chemical that strangely absorbs ultraviolet light.

The nightside work, meanwhile, will map the surface in infrared light, since the rock releases its absorbed heat during the long night. Scientists hope that data will help them understand how the planet's strange highlands formed.

Seven months after the two encounters, the probe will make a one-hour descent through the clouds, beaming back data all the way down. As the main spacecraft watches, the probe will detect the composition, temperatures, pressures and winds present at each layer of the Venusian atmosphere. Scientists hope that all this data will help them not only better understand the planet today, but also piece together its history and in particular, whether the world once boasted water.

Once the surface comes into view, the probe will also capture high-resolution images of a region called Alpha Regio Tesserae. The surface of Venus contains many patches of tesserae, where the rock has repeatedly broken and folded in a way that happens on Earth only deep in the crust. Scientists hope that by understanding the tesserae and how they ended up on the surface, they can better piece together Venus' history.

All told, the probe will show humans "what it might be like to stand on the Venus surface," Arney said. "The discoveries that emerge from this diverse data set will tell us whether Venus was truly habitable."

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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New NASA video takes you plummeting through Venus' atmosphere - Space.com

Enlarge / As the Crew-3 mission ascends, a Falcon 9 rocket with a Starlink payload awaits its turn on a nearby launch pad in Florida.

SpaceX

Welcome to Edition 4.23 of the Rocket Report! After a one-week hiatus, this report returns with a superfluity of news. There's a lot to cover, from exciting news in the New Mexico desert to busy times for the Space Coast in Florida as SpaceX gets busy with crewed missions.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

SpinLaunch completes first test flight. The California-based startup uses kinetic energy to launch payloads, and its test projectile reached "tens of thousands" of feet during its first launch, CNBC reports. The company's method uses a vacuum-sealed centrifuge to spin the rocket to a velocity several times the speed of sound before it is released. "It's a radically different way to accelerate projectiles and launch vehicles to hypersonic speeds using a ground-based system," SpinLaunch CEO Jonathan Yaney said.

Spinning and winning ... The company completed its first major test, using a one-third-scale version of its accelerator, on October 22 at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Even so, this version of the accelerator stands 165 feet tall. By using this approach, SpinLaunch aims to build smaller rockets that require less fuel to reach orbit. Its first orbital vehicle is intended to loft about 200 kg to low Earth orbit. SpinLaunch has raised $110 million to date from investors, including Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Airbus Ventures, and others. (Submitted by Wickwick, Tfargo04, Biokleen, Rendgrish, JohnCarter17, and Ken the Bin.)

Amazon to launch first Kuiper satellites on ABL. The company intends to launch its first prototype broadband satellites in the fourth quarter of 2022 on ABL Space Systems' RS1 rocket, Ars reports. Amazon's prototype satellites will operate at an altitude of 590 km. Such a launch date would come nearly four years after SpaceX launched its first prototype Starlink satellites.

Impressed by ABL ... The expected Q4 2022 launch of prototype satellites doesn't change that timeline for production satellites, which might not be launched until a year or more after the test versions. While Amazon doesn't have its own rockets like SpaceX does, Amazon said it is "impressed by ABL's unique capabilities" and expects "a long-term relationship" with its newly announced launch partner. Some Project Kuiper satellites will also launch on United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket.

The easiest way to keep up with Eric Berger's space reporting is to sign up for his newsletter, we'll collect his stories in your inbox.

Virgin Orbit plans third mission of 2021. The launch company said preparations are well underway for the third LauncherOne mission of this calendar year. This "Above the Clouds" mission will carry both experimental satellites for the US Department of Defense as well as two nanosatellites for Polish company SatRevolution. The air-launched rocket will originate from Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

Doubling down in 2022 ... LauncherOne debuted in May 2020 with a failure shortly after engine ignition. However, in January, the rocket completed its first successful orbital flight and followed that up in June with a second mission. Completing three successful flights in a year is a great start and speaks well of the company's logistics and operations planning. Virgin Orbit hopes to double its launch cadence in 2022, and, given the progress demonstrated this year, that seems possible. (Submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea.)

Virgin Orbit reaches agreement to launch from Japan. And it's a good thing that LauncherOne is reaching an operational cadence, as the company has big plans for it. Earlier this month, Virgin Orbit announced an agreement with ANA Holdings to procure 20 flights of the rocket from Japan's Oita Prefecture. ANA owns Japan's largest airline.

More like LauncherTwenty, amirite? ... Under terms of the agreement, ANA and several of its partners will fund the manufacturing of a new set of the mobile ground-support equipment used to prepare Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne system for flight from a pre-existing runway. The hope is to make Oita a LauncherOne-ready spaceport by as soon as the end of 2022, pending appropriate regulatory approvals in the United States and Japan. (Submitted by Ken the Bin.)

Chinese company to buy reusable engines. Rocket Pi of China has signed a deal with Jiuzhou Yunjian to supply engines to power its Darwin-1 reusable launch vehicle, SpaceNews reports. Jiuzhou Yunjian makes liquid-fuel engines (specifically, methane/liquid-oxygen engines). The deal is for both main and upper stages. A single Lingyun-70 will power the first stage of the 2.25-meter-diameter Darwin-1 launcher with a Lingyun-10 engine on the second stage.

One of many contenders ... Rocket Pi exited stealth mode in March, presenting plans to develop Darwin-1 and a larger medium-lift launcher. The Darwin-1 rocket is slated to take flight no earlier than the first quarter of 2023. Rocket Pi is just one of several Chinese private launch companies developing reusable launchers. (Submitted by Ken the Bin.)

Honda develops a prototype rocket engine. Japanese officials with the Honda Motor Company have revealed more details about their plans to potentially expand into the rocket-launch business, Ars reports, and they have completed several test firings of a prototype engine. Honda's basic plan is to develop a small satellite launch vehicle with the capacity to put up to 1 metric ton into low Earth orbit. The goal for this initiative is not to become the next SpaceX but to give Honda engineers freedom to innovate.

Go or no-go decision forthcoming ... As part of internal company discussions about future business opportunities a few years ago, a cohort of Honda's younger engineers expressed an interest in rockets. And so, since late 2019, the company has devoted some of its research and development resources toward developing a rocket engine. Honda plans to support internal development work until about 2025 or 2026, after which point it will make a "go or no-go" decision on whether to proceed with a launch business and complete development of the rocket.

Epsilon 5 rocket lofts nine satellites. The Japanese space agency's Epsilon-5 rocket successfully launched nine small satellites into low Earth orbit on Tuesday, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation reports. Liftoff of the rocket was delayed by four minutes from the original schedule to avoid the Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying astronauts returning from the International Space Station.

A lower cost, but not exactly low ... Five Epsilon rockets have been successfully launched since 2013 by JAXA, which developed the Epsilon series with the aim of putting small satellites into orbit at low cost. The cost of the solid-fueled rocket is less than $40 million, and it can put as much as 1.5 metric tons into low Earth orbit. (Submitted by Ken the Bin and tsunam.)

Georgia spaceport decision delayed again. A federal agency has yet again pushed back a final decision on whether to allow the construction of a launch pad for commercial rockets in coastal Georgia, the Associated Press reports. Rather than releasing a decision in early November, the Federal Aviation Administration now plans to do so by December 15. An agency statement cited a delay caused by "ongoing consultation efforts." The final determination was originally expected at the end of July but now has been delayed at least three times.

Pushback from park advocates ... Camden County is in the southeast corner of Georgia. It wants to build the nation's 13th licensed commercial spaceport, and it has spent nearly 10 years and $10 million pursuing that goal. In June, the FAA issued an environmental impact study that concluded building the spaceport would be its "preferred alternative." That drew pushback from the National Park Service and its parent agency, the US Department of the Interior. (Submitted by Ken the Bin.)

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Rocket Report: SpinLaunch spins up, Falcon Heavy to return big time in 2022 - Ars Technica

The mystery of the unknown fuels us to innovate and find answers. Perhaps the biggest mystery throughout the existence of humanity has been outer space. The barriers to space exploration have been astronomical, but the technology has finally arrived and accelerated our ambitions.

For the first time ever, the final frontier looks approachable for both individuals and businesses. Enterprises, with the backing of private money, are starting to acquire the resources and technology to expand their investments into the space economy.

Right now might be the best time to be invested in these companies laying the groundwork for the next trillion-dollar industry.

Space is Going Mainstream

Just a decade ago, rocket launches were a rare occasion and when they happened, it was a big deal. But with the advancement in reusable rocket technology, we now see launches broadcast on TV monthly, as billionaire backed companies race to space.

Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson are fueling the push, turning their focus from their businesses here on Earth, to the stars above. Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are building the foundation for whats to come. Space tourism is not for everyone yet, but the interest is growing as the idea of visiting space is going mainstream.

Of those companies, only Virgin Galactic (SPCE) is publicly traded, so its hard for the average investor to get full exposure. While SpaceX will likely IPO soon, many investors dont know that there are already many under-the-radar stocks that have exposure to the space economy.

Continued . . .

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Space Race Riches: Little-Known Stocks with Huge Profit Potential

SpaceX and Blue Origin get the headlines, but research indicates a handful of lesser-known space stocks may be much more profitable.

One startup has plans to launch a rocket into space every 29 hours 10 times faster than SpaceX. Another is a one-stop rocket shop already under contract to send missions to the moon, Venus and Mars. Shares are projected to spike +100%.

Zacks just-released special report reveals 4 space stocks with extreme upside potential. Be one of the first to see it. Opportunity ends midnight Sunday, November 14.

See Zacks Top Space Stocks Now >>

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Big Bang Growth

It all starts with getting there and advances in technology have made the trip to space much easier. Costs have declined significantly and reusable rockets are making a trip to space more affordable.

The Space Foundation recently released a report in which it claims the global space economy rose to $447 Billion in 2020. This was up 55% over the last ten years. UBS expects that to jump another 80% by 2030.

While tourism is getting all the hype, some other space sub sectors that could experience exponential growth include energy, mining, real estate and hospitality.

Exploring the Space Economy

Its important to highlight two different categories before we get into the specific sub-sectors of the space economy.

First, we have the space-for-earth economy. This involves goods or services that are produced in space, but made for earth. Obviously, most of the current revenues are produced in space at the moment and would fit in this category on the service side.

The space-for-earth economy includes space infrastructure, human space flight, rocket launchers, cellular broadband and satellite companies.

Next, we have the space-for-space economy. Here we have goods and services that are produced in space, for space. This aspect has yet to have any meaningful impact on the space economy, but that will change because of recent technology.

Let's take a quick look at some future space industries.

Energy Think space-based solar power that would allow for solar to be captured 24 hours a day! Not only will energy be produced in space for us down here, but it can be fuel for the space-for-space economy.

Mining The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is thought to contain a massive amount of value in raw materials. According to NASA, the belt is worth $700 quintillion or $100 billion for each human on earth. Cost remains a big hurdle to fulfill this mining dream, but the benefits boggle the mind.

Real-Estate and Hospitality In the not-so-distant future, there will be businesses that involve leasing space-in-space shelter, whether it be space stations or orbiting hotels.

Tourism The billionaire players we discussed above are leading the charge. This movement is bringing the eyeballs and the money to the space tourism industry that is needed to grow. UBS sees the space tourism market at $3B by 2030.

Stocks Already Shooting for the Moon

While many new companies have yet to go public, there are a handful of stocks that investors can choose from. Check out these returns that have come over the last six months in just three space names:

Stock A is a space launch company that provides satellite launch services. The stock took off back in February, moving up over 120% in just a few weeks after it came to market. The stock has come back down to earth, but it was over 30% in October. Is it time for this one to take off again?

Stock B is a spaceflight company that rocketed up over 300% this summer. It has pulled back all the way to levels seen before the move higher. Will another stock launch come into the end of the year?

Stock C delivers capabilities in space infrastructure and earth intelligence. The stock started the year with a 52% move higher, but has since pulled back to 2020 levels. Is it time to get back in?

In Summary

Humans have always had the desire to explore the cosmos, but the barriers of cost and technology were far too great until now. Private enterprises, backed by billionaires that grew up on Sci-Fi, are building the elevators to space. Those that follow will expand access and take humans into the next multi-trillion-dollar economy.

Dont miss out on these opportunities as humans and investors literally go to the moon.

I just released Space Exploration: The Next Trillion-Dollar Industry, a brand-new Special Report to help you capitalize on the emerging space economy. Youre invited to download it today.

In the report I highlight 4 cutting-edge stocks I believe any investor interested in space exploration needs to know about. Most investors have never heard of some of these stocks, but theyre each making tremendous contributions to the new space race.

I encourage you to check out this report today. But don't delay. The deadline to download Space Exploration: The Next Trillion-Dollar Industry is midnight Sunday, November 14.

See 4 space exploration stocks now >>

Good Investing,

Jeremy MullinStock Strategist

Jeremy Mullin has been a professional trader for more than 15 years with specific expertise in profiting from patterns set by High-Frequency Traders. He is the editor of Zacks Counterstrike.

Here is the original post:

Is Now the Time to Invest in Space Exploration? - Zacks.com

NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, a medical doctor and veteran of launches on the space shuttle and Russias Soyuz spacecraft, joins three rookie space fliers on SpaceXs Crew Dragon Endurance poised for liftoff on mission to the International Space Station.

The 61-year-old astronaut has logged 161 days in space on two previous missions. Marshburn is ready to more than double his time in space on his next six-month stint on the space station.

Marshburn will join a short but growing list of astronauts who have launched from Earth on three different types of rockets and spacecraft. Hes confident in SpaceXs reliability after the company has strung together more than 100 consecutive successful launches of its Falcon 9 rocket family.

Theres actually a huge flight history because this is the same Falcon thats been launching the cargo vehicles, so I thin theyve proven themselves, Marshburn told Spaceflight Now in a pre-launch interview. Thats not to say that its risk-free. Even a Soyuz thats done so many launches is not risk-free.

He will serve as pilot of the Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft, a brand new vehicle in SpaceXs fleet of reusable crew ferry ships. In that role, Marshburn will assist NASA commander Raja Chari in overseeing the spacecrafts systems during the trip to the space station.

If all goes according to plan, the flight to the station will be automated. Chari and Marshburn are trained to take over and manually fly the capsule if something goes wrong.

Chari, mission specialist Kayla Barron, and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer are each making their first trip into orbit.

Marshburns advice for his rookie crewmates? Take it slow as you experience microgravity for the first time.

About a third to half of astronauts who fly in space experience symptoms of space motion sickness, which can include nausea, loss of appetite, headaches, and in rarer cases, vomiting. The effects are caused by fluid shifts inside the body and neurovestibular changes triggered when a person reaches the weightless environment of space.

I think the first thing is youre going to be really super excited, and youre going to want to hop out and enjoy this new environment, Marshburn said. So just take it easy, keep your head still.

Then, when youre on the space station, theyre going to have time to get fast and efficient, he said. You just need a little time for your inner ear to catch up to the new environment and whats going on.

Marshburn said he is hugely impressed with his crewmates.

Raja, in particular, he comes from his operational background, and you read his resume my goodness.

Chari is a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, and commanded flight test operations of the F-35 fighter jet at Edwards Air Force Base when he was selected to join NASAs astronaut corps in 2017.

He, in my mind, really does demonstrate all the qualities that youd want inacommander, Marshburn said. His technical knowledge of that Dragon is beyond comparison for an astronaut on the outside comingin and soaking up as much as they can.

I really have learned a lot from him, Marshburn said. Ive been to space before, but Im learning from him and my crewmates quite a bit.

Chari said Marshburns presence on the crew has been hugely beneficial during training.

Hes seen life in a small capsule, Chari said. Hes seen life on a larger machine in the shuttle. Hes seen life for a long-duration on the ISS. So hes got that wide breadth of experience to help inform our training.

NASA selected Marshburn in the agencys 2004 astronaut class. He flew to the space station as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Endeavours STS-127 mission in July 2009, and accomplished three spacewalks to position spare parts and perform maintenance on the output.

Marshburn launched on his second flight on Dec. 19, 2012, aboard Russias Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft. On that mission, Marshburn spent nearly 146 days in orbit as a member of the space stations long-term Expedition 34 and 35 crews.

The Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft is scheduled to blast off from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:10 a.m. EDT (0510 GMT) Wednesday. The launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket was delayed from Sunday to avoid bad weather in downrange abort zones in the Atlantic Ocean.

If the launch happens Wednesday morning, the Crew Dragon capsule is scheduled to dock with the space stations Harmony module around 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT), around 22 hours after liftoff.

The mission, designated Crew-3, is SpaceXs third operational crew rotation flight to the space station. They will replace the four-person team of Crew-2 astronauts who arrived at the space station in April on SpaceXs Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft.

The Crew-2 mission is scheduled to return to Earth around Nov. 8 for splashdown off the Florida coast, while the Crew-3 astronauts will remain in orbit until next April, when SpaceXs Crew-4 mission will arrive to replace them.

Marshburn and his crewmates will work alongside three other space station crew members who flew to the complex on Russian Soyuz vehicles cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, Pyotr Dubrov, and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

During his time on the station, Marshburn is likely to head outside the complex for at least one spacewalk before the end of the year to work on the labs S-band communications system. More spacewalks are scheduled early next year, but NASA has not finalized crew assignments for those excursions.

The space station crew will also welcome two arriving spacecraft with non-professional astronauts. A Russian Soyuz mission is due to dock in December with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and two Japanese space tourists, and a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule is scheduled to arrive in February with former NASA astronaut Mike Lopez-Alegria three paying passengers flying under contract with the Houston-based company Axiom Space.

Both missions will be commanded by experienced space fliers, unlike the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission that flew to orbit on a three-day flight in September aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. Inspiration4 did not dock with the space station.

Marshburn doesnt expect the space tourist missions will disrupt the research and maintenance work on-board the station.

Weve been planning so that they can get their work done and we can get our work done, he said. Certainly, I would expect that for somebody whos never been to space, if they needed a hand, I could lend a hand Thats actually NASAs plan with our schedule to allow a little bit of time for that.

Weve seen the training, Marshburn said. Weve met them all. Theyre great folks. Theyre passionate about what theyre doing. They want to help. They want itto be successful for the whole station, and for their whole mission.

I dont think itll be a challenge, but were up to the challenge if there is. Were learning for whats going to be coming as more and more private astronauts and spaceflightparticipants fly up.

Marshburn was born in Statesville, North Carolina, and graduated high school in Atlanta. He warned a bachelors degree in physics from Davidson College and a masters degree in engineering physics from the University of Virginia, then attended medical school at Wake Forest University.

After earning his medical degree in 1989, Marshburn worked as a LifeFlight physician and an emergency room doctor, then joined NASA in 1994 as a flight surgeon at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Before becoming an astronaut, Marshburn served as a flight surgeon at mission control for several space shuttle missions and for the Shuttle/Mir program, when NASA astronauts lived and worked on Russias Mir space station in the late 1990s.

Marshburn will be the resident physician on the International Space Station during his six-month stay, overseeing medical equipment and offering first aid to his crewmates, if necessary.

Space is hard on the eyes, so we have he capability of getting something out of the eye, dealing with a corneal abrasions with stuff floating around, Marshburn said. Space is hard on the hands. Our hands are like our feet. So abrasions, strains, sprains in the hands. We have the ultrasound.

If we came down to it, we have a table, an electrical isolation table. We can really get a patient down, we can defibrillate. Wecan do a run of advanced life support. We have the medication, the IV access, the ability to support the airway all of the really serious advanced stuff than an EMT would have to do, say, to get somebody transported to a hospital. We can do that for a limited amount of time.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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Tom Marshburn brings extensive spaceflight experience to Crew-3 mission Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket at NASAs Kennedy Space Center early Thursday, checking off another box on the pre-flight checklist before liftoff Sunday with a four-person crew heading for the International Space Station.

But a weather forecast shows a high risk that winds or waves int the Atlantic Ocean could force a launch delay.

The test-firing early Thursday paved the way for a dress rehearsal Thursday night with the four astronauts preparing to ride the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon capsule to the space station.

NASA commander Raja Chari, pilot Tom Marshburn, and mission specialists Kayla Barron and Matthias Maurer from the European Space Agency will put on their SpaceX flight suits and board the Crew Dragon spacecraft on launch pad 39A.

SpaceXs ground support team will help the astronauts through the hatch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The operation serves as a practice run, and is the only time the crew will go inside the spacecraft on the launch pad before launch day.

A line of strong to severe thunderstorms is forecast to push through Floridas Space Coast Thursday evening, but it wasnt clear whether that might impact the schedule for the dress rehearsal.

Running a few hours behind schedule, SpaceX ground teams rolled the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon Endurance capsule from SpaceXs hangar to pad 39A early Wednesday. A hydraulic lift raised the 215-foot-tall (65-meter) rocket vertical over the flame trench, setting the stage for the test-firing early Thursday.

SpaceX engineers stationed inside a firing room at Kennedys launch control center gave commands for an automated computer-run sequencer to begin loading kerosene and liquid oxygen into the Falcon 9 rocket after midnight Thursday.

The mock countdown culminated in ignition of the Falcon 9s nine Merlin 1D main engines at 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT) Thursday. The engines ramped up to full power, producing 1.7 million pounds of thrust for nearly 10 seconds as hold-down clamps kept the Falcon 9 on the ground.

After engine cutoff, SpaceX drained the rocket of its liquid propellant supply, and took steps to safe the Falcon 9 in preparation for the dress rehearsal later in the day.

The preparations this week are leading up to a launch opportunity Sunday at 2:21 a.m. EDT (0621 GMT). The mission, known as Crew-3, will be the third operational SpaceX crew rotation flight to the space station, and the fifth SpaceX mission to carry astronauts into orbit.

But weather conditions, particularly sea states and winds downrange in the Atlantic Ocean, will likely be a factor in determining whether the mission remains on schedule for launch Sunday.

In a pre-launch forecast issued Thursday, the weather team from the U.S. Space Forces 45th Weather Squadron predicted an 80% chance of good conditions at Kennedy Space Center for liftoff Sunday morning.

Forecasters expect a chance of isolated rain showers, and otherwise partly cloudy skies at launch time, with winds from the west at 10 to 15 mph, and a temperature around 66 degrees Fahrenheit. The main weather concerns at the launch site are with low chances of violating the flight through precipitation and cumulus cloud rules.

But the conditions downrange are a different story.

A strong low pressure system producing gale-force winds is currently located southeast of Nova Scotia, near the Falcon 9 rockets flight corridor heading northeast from Kennedy Space Center. The National Hurricane Center gives the system 30% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone in the next five days.

Even if the low pressure center does not become a tropical cyclone, the system is expected to move south and southeast over The Atlantic Ocean. Theres a high risk the weather system could produce winds and waves that exceed the Crew Dragon spacecrafts criteria for splashdown, which could occur in the North Atlantic if theres an emergency or rocket failure during launch.

SpaceX and NASA monitor weather conditions are more than 50 locations along the Falcon 9 rockets ascent track from Floridas coast, up the East Coast, and across the Atlantic toward Ireland.

Teams calculate the probability of violation for each location looking at winds, waves, lightning, and precipitation before determining if conditions are go for launch.

SpaceX and NASA have a backup launch opportunity for the Crew-3 mission at 1:10 a.m. EDT (0510 GMT) on Wednesday, Nov. 3.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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SpaceX test-fires crew rocket as teams monitor downrange abort zone weather Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

The Aerospace Corporation will hold its next Space Policy Show webinar on November 4, 2021 at 1:00 pm ET.

The topic is: Learning the Risks for Long-Duration Human Space Flight.

More information is on the events website, which says:

How does NASA help prepare for astronauts to remain in isolation and confinement for long-duration space flight to Mars? Enter SIRIUS-21 an 8 month analogue mission that will conduct physiological and psychological experiments with an international crew from the US, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. The Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station (SIRIUS) project will use virtual reality in an environment of sensory deprivation and limited resources; the team will live just like astronauts while performing a number of behavioral and performance experiments. Aerospaces Paul Frakes talks to Ashley Kowalski about her missions 70+ experiments that include cognitive, physical and biological tests and a bit of her own soul searching as she gets ready to embark on this simulated journey from right here on earth.

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LEARNING THE RISKS OF LONG-DURATION HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT (Aerospace Corp), Nov 4, 2021, virtual, 1:00 pm ET - SpacePolicyOnline.com

Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have made sub-orbital space travel a reality for those travel adventurers and space explorers with the desire and disposable income to pay up to $450,000 for a ticket. Both of these companies have demonstrated that space tourism is a potentially massive market and, whilst not without risk, can be accomplished safely. As more companies like Space Perspective enter this fledgling market with their own innovative spaceflight solutions, travelers will inevitably be offered more choice as the market segments on price, transportation method and the longevity and quality of the experience, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

It could be argued that at this time segmentation in the space travel market is based on the simple functionality of launching a traveler into space and returning them safely back to earth. From lift off to touch down, a flight in Blue Origins New Shepard lasts 11 minutes, while an expedition on Virgin Galactic lasts between two to three hours. By comparison, Space Perspective plans to offer space tourists a more relaxing and luxurious experience, with a flight into the stratosphere scheduled to last six hours from lift off to touchdown.

Ralph Hollister, Travel and Tourism Analyst at GlobalData, comments: With such vast sums of money currently being paid for a ticket, the companies that can offer the best balance of a luxury experience which you would expect at these price tags with more time onboard, while maintaining a sense of safety and wellbeing throughout the flight, will deliver a better sense of value for money and a richer experience gained which will be more appealing to customers.

Space Perspective plans to deliver a distinctly unique space travel experience focused on price, longevity and luxury. Space Perspective offers a markedly cheaper ticket price with tickets for its Spaceship Neptune being sold at $125,000 a seat. This price point is significantly lower than a current Virgin Galactic seat on its VSS Unity space plane, which costs $450,000.

Hollister adds: Space Perspectives current price point is hardly all inclusive, but it means that space travel is a possibility to a much wider pool of prospective space tourists. According to GlobalDatas macroeconomic database, 43% of US households are in the income bracket of $75,000+. This percentage suggests that there is a sustainable market for space travel in the US at the current pricing level which is where Space Perspective is based and will launch from. However, prices will continue to come down, potentially opening up the market to millions.

Sustainability is a key focus for Space Perspective. The travel experience is contained within a pressurized capsule attached to a balloon supported by hydrogen, which will carefully transport travelers to an altitude of approximately 100,000 feet. This will provide a relaxing journey without the need for jet fueled rockets as a propellant. The capsule, which will also have a bar, will offer space tourists an all-round view of the darkness of space and the curvature of the earth.

Sustainability is now one of the biggest consumer trends driving purchasing decisions, especially in tourism. All tourism companies are under increasing pressure to contribute towards decreasing harmful emissions and Space Perspectives plans not to use jet fuel will appeal to the 45%* of global consumers, who say that environmental issues are now extremely important.

Hollister concludes: The emerging market segment of space balloon tourism is not just exclusive to Space Perspective. Companies such as World View are also looking to become leading players in space balloon experiences. At $50,000 per ticket, the company plans to offer an even lower price point, which will make the market less exclusive and drive further segmentation as companies grab a bigger slice of what is anticipated to be a growing cash rich market.

*GlobalDatas Q3 2021 Consumer Survey.

4,000 of the world"s largest companies, including over 70% of FTSE 100 and 60% of Fortune 100 companies, make more timely and better business decisions thanks to GlobalData"s unique data, expert analysis and innovative solutions, all in one platform. GlobalData"s mission is to help our clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative across a range of industries, including the healthcare, consumer, retail, financial, technology and professional services sectors.

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Space Perspective planning to offer world's first luxury spaceflight experience as 'space balloon tourism' is set to take off, says GlobalData -...

Astronauts Matthias Maurer, Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron arrived at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final launch preparations. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now

Astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Matthias Maurer, and Kayla Barron flew from their home base in Houston to NASAs Kennedy Space Center Tuesday to begin their final few days of launch preparations before blasting off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the International Space Station Sunday.

Three of the crew members Chari, Maurer, and Barron are first-time space fliers. Maurer, a German-born European Space Agency astronaut, will be the 600th person to fly into space, according to NASA statistics.

Chari will be the 599th, and Barron will be the 601st person to reach space since 1961, when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin launched into orbit at the beginning of the Space Age.

I was the lucky one that got the round number, but we will all have fun in space, Maurer said Tuesday after arriving at Kennedy aboard a NASA Gulfstream jet.

Being No. 600 in 60 years, it makes 10 persons per year, Maurer said. But I think in a very few years we will see an exponential rise of that because now were entering the era of commercial spaceflight, and all the suborbital flights, they also count in the statistics.

NASAs spaceflight statistics include every person who has reached an altitude of at least 50 miles (80 kilometers), the boundary of space also recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. military.The Krmn line at an altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers) is where space begins according to theFdration Aronautique International.

The FAA has awarded commercial astronaut wings to pilots and crew of Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, which flies above the 50-mile boundary but does not reach the internationally-recognized 62-mile threshold.

Twenty people have joined the list of space fliers under the U.S. government definition since the beginning of this year. Seventeen of those are not professional astronauts or cosmonauts, with most of them flying as passengers on suborbital trips on Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin vehicles.

The arrival of the Crew-3 astronauts at Kennedy Space Center marks the start of a busy few days leading up t0 liftoff Sunday.

We are super excited to be here at Kennedy, said Chari, commander of the Crew-3 mission.

We got to see the pad flying in, which was amazing, he said. The last few days have been full of reviews. Weve had the benefit of getting to focus on training while our leadership teams have been making tough decisions and getting the vehicle ready to make it safe for us to fly. And were ready to go.

The only technical issue under review by NASA and SpaceX engineers involves the toilet on the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The waste system malfunctioned on the most recent Dragon crew mission last month, when SpaceX launched four private citizens into orbit on the first-of-its-kind all-commercial Inspiration4 mission.

A glued joint in a line that carries urine into the spacecrafts waste tank became disconnected during the three-day flight. SpaceX welded the joint in the waste system on the Dragon spacecraft for the Crew-3 mission to avoid having the same problem.

NASA teams are reviewing the modification before formally giving the go-ahead for the Crew-3 launch this weekend. Agency officials are also studying the condition of the toilet system on the Crew Dragon spacecraft currently docked at the space station, which will be used by four astronauts to return to Earth next week.

Chari and his crewmates will spend this week reviewing flight plans, rehearsing for launch day, and taking some time off before their scheduled blastoff to the International Space Station at 2:21 a.m. EDT (0621 GMT) Sunday from pad 39A.

Assuming an on-time launch, the Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft the newest member of SpaceXs crew capsule fleet will dock at the station around 12:10 a.m. EDT (0410 GMT) Monday.

The Crew-3 astronauts will spend six months at the space station, performing experiments and maintaining the complex as part of a seven-person long duration crew. Three other crew members launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The new crew will spend a few days getting briefings and updates from the outgoing Crew-2 astronauts, who arrived at the space station in April on SpaceXs Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. The Crew-2 mission will end Nov. 4 or 5 with an undocking from the station and a splashdown off the coast of Florida.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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German astronaut to become 600th person to fly into space Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A museum on Clevelands lakefront honors women who have reached the heights and aimed for the stars.

And it doesnt have anything to do with rock n roll.

These stories have a ripple effect for young women, said Sara Fisher, executive director of the International Womens Air and Space Museum at Burke Lakefront Airport. They hear these stories and think, If this strong woman can do it, I can do it.

The museum, founded in 1998, is the only one of its kind in the world, Fisher said. It recognizes the full range of womens contributions to aviation, from pioneering pilots and astronauts to engineers, astronomers and physicists.

There are more than 20,000 items in its collection, including photographs, clothing, letters and even full-size aircraft and flight simulators. The museum holds over 6,000 biographies of women, highlighting accomplishments that dont make it into most textbooks.

The museum will host a Zoom program at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 -- Veterans Day -- on Women in the Armed Forces: World War II and Beyond, in conjunction with the Liverpool, N.Y., Library. Fisher will discuss the obstacles encountered and the accomplishments of women aviators over the last 75 years.

More than Amelia

There is more to the history of women in flight than Amelia Earhart, the museum illustrates in its virtual exhibit Defying the Odds, launched online in June.

Everyone knows the names of Orville and Wilbur Wright, the first men to fly. But few are aware of the contributions of their sister, Katherine, who supported them during their experiments and was one of the first airplane passengers. She also found time to agitate for the vote for women.

Fisher said one of the most heartbreaking episodes of historic amnesia is the story of Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman to earn a pilots license. Because of the prevailing racial bias of the time in the United States, she had to travel to France to train, learning the language before she left.

The air is the only place free from prejudice, Coleman said.

Bessie Coleman was the first African-American woman to earn a pilot's license, but had to travel to France to train and be tested. She died in a plane crash in 1926, but inspired generations of future flyers. (John S. Matuszak, special to cleveland.com)

She became a barnstormer in the 1920s, and was tragically killed in a plane crash in Florida in 1926. Her accomplishments inspired generations of African-Americans to follow her lead.

Women faced many barriers to flying, but refused to be grounded. Barred from competing with men, they launched the first Intercontinental Womens Air Derby in 1926, a 2,759-mile race from California to Cleveland that included Earhart.

Accounts of their feats were condescending. Emma Todd, who designed airplanes, was described by the New York Times as a little woman who has invented and built one of the handsomest aeroplanes in existence.

The museum recognizes the feats of women from around the globe, from China to Argentina to Egypt, and even those with disabilities, such as the first deaf pilot.

Flying for freedom

There was a desperate need for pilots during World War II, and women answered the call. Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, was founded in 1942 by Jacqueline Cochran, who would go on to be the first woman to break the sound barrier.

These women tested and ferried aircraft and trained pilots, freeing up men for combat missions. Around 1,100 women participated in this volunteer effort; 38 were killed.

The outfit was disbanded in 1944, with Gen. Hap Arnold acknowledging that the women had fulfilled their mission and in many cases equaled or surpassed the abilities of men.

However, the women flyers werent granted military status until 1977, and were belatedly issued the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010.

Into space

The Mercury 13 women, including future space traveler Wally Funk, underwent the same testing and training as the first group of men astronauts, but were denied the opportunity to fly in space. Funk finally went aloft in June, as the oldest person to fly in space. (John S. Matuszak, special to cleveland.com)

One of the major episodes examined by the museum is the experience of the Mercury 13 women astronaut trainees, a group that included Wally Funk, who last summer became the oldest person to fly in space.

Funded privately by Jackie Cochran, and under the supervision of NASA, the women undertook the same testing and training as their male counterparts, often exceeding them.

Funk was able to remain in a sensory deprivation tank for 10 hours, besting the four hours endured by John Glenn, who became the first astronaut to orbit the earth, Fisher pointed out.

The program was scrapped and the women never got the opportunity to fly in space, until Funk went up in the Blue Origin rocket at 82 -- five years older than Glenn when he made his second space flight in 1998.

It was more than 20 years after the first American flew in space, and 14 years after the first moon landing, that Sally Ride became the first American woman to go into space, in 1983.

The museum recognizes the growing number of women who have flown in space, but they still represent a small percentage of astronauts. (John S. Matuszak, special to cleveland.com)

Barriers still exist. Of the 200 astronauts who have traveled to the International Space Station, only 39 so far have been women. Of the more than 500 humans who have flown in space, only about 11 percent have been women.

One of those was Catherine Coleman, who has served as a volunteer at the Cleveland museum. Sunita Williams (virtually) ran the Boston Marathon and completed a triathlon while aboard the space station.

The museum at Burke Lakefront displays a wall with the photos of all of these women, along with their biographies, and has had to post the expanding roster on another board.

Fisher said she enjoys seeing the faces of the girls and young women on school tours, as they realize what has been achieved and what they themselves can aspire to.

The men flyers have given out the impression that aeroplaning is very perilous work, something that an ordinary mortal should not dream of attempting, early aviator Harriet Quimby observed. But when I saw how easily the men flyers manipulated their machines, I said I could fly.

Admission to the International Womens Air & Space Museum, at 1501 N. Marginal Road, is free. Guided tours and lunch tours are available for a fee.

For information, including registration for the Women in the Armed Forces presentation, visit http://www.iwasm.org.

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International Womens Air & Space Museum celebrates women with the right stuff - cleveland.com

Washington, November 1: A team of scientists, engineers and social workers are working on a project that aims at inclusive space exploration for people with disability. As part of the project named AstroAccess a group of 12 disabled scientists, veterans, students, athletes and artists launched into a zero-gravity environment last month. Conducted by the Zero Gravity Corporation (Zero-G), the flight was aboard a plane equipped with a special padded section that flies up to an altitude of around 32,000 feet and then begins a rapid descent at about 4 miles per second. This quick descent creates a free fall, or microgravity, weightless effect lasting roughly 30 seconds.

Afterwards, the plane climbs back up to a stable altitude, and repeats the process again. On the October 17 flight, the process was repeated roughly 15 times. The historic parabolic flight aimed to address how disability looks like in a weightless, microgravity environment-like space. "The whole point of this project is to demonstrate that people with disabilities are able to fly safely into space," said Dr. Erik Viirre, director of The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California San Diego, and a neurologist at UC San Diego Health. "What we're working on in this initial flight are demonstrations of a variety of different tasks that our Ambassadors will have to carry out, including navigating up, down, left and right; clear communication; and being able to move to a set location," he added. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin To Build A Private Space Station By 2030.

The 12 AstroAccess Ambassadors selected for this first microgravity flight included four blind or low-vision Ambassadors; two deaf or hard-of-hearing Ambassadors; and six Ambassadors with mobility disabilities, all carrying out a variety of tasks and challenges in the weightless environment. One of the challenges was seeing whether all crew members could perform basic safety and operational tasks, like navigating to oxygen masks. The crew also tested a procedure to see whether sound beacons can be used for blind members to orient themselves, and the effectiveness of haptic devices in communicating commands. They're also investigating how American Sign Language will be impacted by microgravity. To get a better idea of what is needed for more inclusive space travel, AstroAccess plans to conduct a series of follow-on parabolic flights after this inaugural launch, the researchers said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 01, 2021 05:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).

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A Space Exploration Project Inclusive of People With Disability Takes Flight - LatestLY

Lesson Overview

Featured Article: A Future for People With Disabilities in Outer Space Takes Flight by Amanda Morris

Recently, 12 passengers with disabilities traveled aboard a parabolic flight in an experiment testing how people with disabilities would fare in a zero-gravity environment.

In this lesson, you will learn about their experience and the efforts being made to ensure that the future of spaceflight is more inclusive. Then, you will think about accessibility and universal design in your community.

Do you want to travel to space? When we asked students this question in February, many of them were excited about, or at least interested in, this possibility. Before reading the featured article, consider the two additional questions below in writing or class discussion.

What limitations or barriers are there to your traveling to space?

Have you ever considered how ability or disability affects your possibilities for space travel? Why or why not?

Read the article and then answer the following questions:

1. In what ways has the history of spaceflight been exclusionary? How does the nonprofit organization AstroAccess attempt to make spaceflight more accessible?

2. Why do the participants in the AstroAccess flight argue that it is important to consider accessibility in private space travel now, rather than later?

3. What is the purpose of the space travel testing that AstroAccess is currently doing?

4. Tim Bailey, the executive director of a nonprofit organization focused on space education, said at first that he was concerned about people with disabilities on a zero-gravity flight. What assumptions did he make? Why did he change his mind?

5. What were some of the designs that were tested on the AstroAccess flight to address various accessibility needs?

6. How are space agencies and private spaceflight companies becoming more inclusive or not for astronauts and everyday people with disabilities who are interested in space travel?

7. The article featured the personal stories and reflections of several of the passengers on the AstroAccess flight. Choose one story that you found particularly interesting and share what stood out to you about that passengers experience.

The featured article focuses on accessibility for people with disabilities in space. Learn more about accessibility here on Earth by exploring one or more of these articles:

Inclusive Design: Did you know there is a whole movement dedicated to accessible and inclusive architecture and design? It is sometimes called universal design, or inclusive design. You can learn more about inclusive design by reading about a museum exhibit dedicated to accessible designs, or an architectural reflection of changes to design following the American With Disabilities Act. Or you can learn about accessible cosmetics designs or home designs for older people.

Choose one article and, as you read, make note of any design features that you had not considered before. Would any of these benefit a space you go to often, such as your school, your home or your local grocery store? How so? What additional questions or reflections do you have about accessible design in your community?

Accessibility at Work: Making Work Accessible, an illustrated article from the Scratch column, profiles Krystal Bailey, a vocational rehabilitation counselor in the Bronx who helps people with disabilities enter the work force. As you read, consider how Krystals experience using a wheelchair has made her interested in this kind of work. Then, make note of how she helps her clients find work and the different elements she must consider in terms of accessibility.

Want more Lessons of the Day? You can find them all here.

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Lesson of the Day: A Future for People With Disabilities in Outer Space Takes Flight - The New York Times

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Image: Blue Origin

Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is teaming up with other firms to build a space station in Earth orbit. The group announced its plans on Monday, revealing the latest concept for a privately built orbital outpost that could replace or complement the International Space Station. The New York Times

Called Orbital Reef, the proposed space station is described as a mixed-use business park in space. The projects announcement comes months after Blue Origin completed its first human space flight, which included Bezos along with three others. Partners in the project include Sierra Space, Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions, and Arizona State University.

As per Blue Origins announcement, Orbital Reef will provide the essential infrastructure needed to scale economic activity and open new markets in space. The company intends for the station to serve a range of customers from space agencies to media and travel companies. They also claim that the station will start operating in the second half of this decade.

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Blue Origin plans to build a 'mixed-use' space station by the end of the decade - Archinect

A massive solar flare from the sun could lead to a dazzling (and maybe spooky) northern lights display for parts of the northern United States this Halloween, according to a NASA scientist.

The sun storm, a powerful X1-class solar flare, erupted from the sun on Thursday (Oct. 28) and sent a vast cloud of charged particles toward Earth that should arrive over Halloween weekend, and possibly even the haunted day itself. Those particles will slam into the Earth's atmosphere to amplify the regular northern lights caused by the sun's solar wind.

The solar flare, the second most powerful eruption from the sun this year, sparked a strong geomagnetic storm that should supercharge the northern lights, and could make them visible from as far south as New York, Idaho, Illinois, Oregon, Maryland and Nevada, said C. Alex Young, NASA's associate director for science at the Heliophysics Division of the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Related: The sun's wrath: Worst solar storms in history

See the northern lights?

If you take a photograph of the Halloween northern lights from the solar flare, send images and comments in to spacephotos@space.com.

"This could be a great show for people in the mid-to-upper U.S. latitudes for aurora," Young said in an email late Thursday. "Especially those in Canada, [Upper Peninsula of Michigan], Alaska, Iceland, Norway, Scotland, etc."

Seeing auroras at such low latitudes is rare and can be difficult, especially if you live in a big city filled with streetlights and other light pollution. To get your best chance at seeing any auroras this weekend, try to get away from city lights and find the darkest sky possible.

Also, don't expect to see the dazzling, sweeping displays common at higher latitudes, Young warned. It won't be as dynamic a show as the ribbons of light seen far northern regions known for such light shows, or those seen by astronauts from space.

If you're hoping to see the northern lights for yourself, check out our guides on where and how to photograph the aurora, as well as the best equipment for aurora photography and how to edit aurora photos once you have your snapshots. If you need equipment, consider our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography to start out.

Young said the solar flare was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), a huge eruption of radiation, that spewed solar particles away from the sun at a mind-boggling 2.5 million mph (4 million kph).

"The current estimates for the CME are that it will reach Earth on Oct. 31," Young said.

Thursday's solar flare erupted from an active sunspot called AR2887 that is currently located in the center of the sun as it makes its way across the star's face, as seen from Earth. Another active sunspot, called AR2891, rotated into view this week for its own two-week trip across the sun's face. It fired off a moderate, M-class solar flare on Sunday (Oct. 24).

X-class solar flares are the strongest type of sun eruptions. When they're aimed directly at Earth, the most powerful ones (the X1 flare on Thursday is the lowest level) can endanger astronauts in space, interfere with satellite communications signals and affect power grids on Earth. Thursday's solar flare caused a temporary radio blackout for high frequencies, as well as a GPS blackout for systems that use low-frequency signals, Young said.

"The flare will probably have no impact on the ISS," he added, referring to the International Space Station, which is home to seven astronauts from the U.S., Japan, France and Russia. Four more astronauts will launch to the station on SpaceX's Crew-3 mission on Halloween.

As for the rest of us, there's no need to worry, either, Young said.

"We dont have much to worry about as far as impact to our daily lives but there could be more space weather impacts in the future as we continue to move towards solar max around 2024-2025," he added.

The sun is currently in the beginning phase of its latest 11-year solar cycle, called solar cycle 25, in which its activity rises and falls over time. Currently its activity is relatively low.

"And the sun can always surprise with an unexpected large flare/CME/SEP combo," Young said. "Historically, those often come after we pass solar max but the Sun, she always aims to keep us on our toes.

Email Tariq Malik attmalik@space.comor follow him@tariqjmalik. Follow us@Spacedotcom,FacebookandInstagram.

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Huge solar flare could supercharge northern lights on Halloween - Space.com

The weird motions of planet Earth and its sun will be a fun sight for future NASA astronauts standing on the south pole of the moon, if a new agency animation is any indication.

NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland released the short video compressing a simulated viewpoint over three months (or a little over three lunar days) into two minutes. You can see Earth bobbing up and down while the sun does a more graceful glide around the horizon.

If you keep a close eye on the video, after a while you'll be treated to an eclipse of Earth passing in front of the sun, which is the opposite of lunar eclipses that we can see from Earth.

"For observers on Earth, this is a lunar eclipse, in which the moon passes through the shadow cast by Earth. Viewed from the moon, however, this is an eclipse of the sun," the NASA studio said in the video description.

Related: Every single mission to the moon ever

The virtual camera in the animation is on the rim of Shackleton Crater, partially visible in the bottom right, and is aimed at Earth.This is approximately the same region that NASA is targeting for its Artemis moon-landing missions.

The agency hopes to put boots on the surface later in the 2020s, with a suite of robotic explorers joining the effort. Those payloads, collectively known as the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, may touch down on the moon as early as 2022.

NASA's Artemis 1 mission, an uncrewed loop around the moon and then back to Earth again, is expected to launch in February 2022, the agency announced last week. The mission was delayed several times due to technical issues.

The next planned mission is Artemis 2, a crewed lunar orbiting mission that will fly the first international astronaut (a Canadian) to the moon's vicinity. The very tentative date for that is 2023. NASA then hopes to have Artemis 3, a landing mission, touch down in 2024.

But these dates may change as Artemis 1 is finalized and technology development and funding are further along. The spacesuits for Artemis, for example, appear to be too far behind to make a 2024 deadline, according to NASA's inspector general.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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This is what Earth looks like from the moon's south pole (video) - Space.com

Not only did Mary Haizlip and Blanche Noyes make names for themselves through competitive flight, but they also made money by flying. The women worked as test and demonstration pilots, one of the many ways they contributed to the field of aviation. Discover their stories.

Mary Haizlip was the second woman in the United States to hold her commercial pilots license. She was a test pilot for Spartan Aircraft, American Eagle, and Buhl Aircraft.

In addition to her work flying, Haizlip also held the world's speed record for women for seven years. In 1930 she flew a Cessna racer, finishing second in a race and posting the fastest pylon time for the Cessna racer. In ten days at the 1931 Cleveland National Air Races, she competed in six different high-performance aircraft. Haizlip was the second highest money winner, man or woman, at the 1931 National Air Races.

Haizlip was the first woman pilot inducted in the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame on December 17, 1982.

Blanche Noyes left a promising theater and movie career to marry an airmail pilot who wound up teaching her to fly. Dewey Noyes bought Blanche her first plane in 1929 and taught her to fly because he wanted to prove that anyone could do it. She soloed on February 15, 1929 and earned her license in July of the same year, becoming the first woman pilot in the Cleveland area. She immediately entered the Women's Air Derby from Santa Monica to Cleveland and placed fourth.

Noyes was a demonstration pilot for Standard Oil in 1931 and continued flying with various corporations until 1935. Following the death of her husband in a crash in 1935, Noyes joined the Air Marking Group of the Bureau of Air Commerce in the summer of 1936, and later was a member of the Women's Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. Blanche was the copilot for Louise Thaden when Thaden won the 1936 Bendix Trophy Race, a first for a woman. For many years, she was the only woman pilot allowed to fly a government aircraft.

Noyes, who raced in nearly every national air race for women, was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1970. In recognition of her 35 years of government service for air safety, Noyes became the first woman to receive a gold medal from the Commerce Department.

This content was migrated from an earlier online exhibit, Women in Aviation and Space History, which shared the stories of the women featured in the Museum in the early 2000s.

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Flying for Work | National Air and Space Museum - National Air and Space Museum

A huge solar flare from the sun has spawned an eerie green glow over some parts of Earth in a Halloween northern lights show that has stargazers over the moon.

A powerful X1 solar flare from the sun on Thursday (Oct. 28) unleashed a wave of charged particles that reached Earth last night just ahead of Halloween (Oct. 31). It spawned what scientists call a G3-class geomagnetic storm in the Earth's upper atmosphere, and could make the northern lights (auroras typically seen around the Earth's north pole) visible at latitudes much lower than normal.

Halloween night sky 2021: See Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and maybe some spooky fireballs

See the northern lights?

If you take a photograph of the Halloween northern lights from the solar flare, send images and comments in to spacephotos@space.com.

"Impacts to our technology from a G3 storm are generally nominal," the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center wrote in a statement Friday (Oct. 29). "However, a G3 storm has the potential to drive the aurora further away from its normal polar residence and if other factors come together, the aurora might be seen over the far Northeast, to the upper Midwest, and over the state of Washington."

"Tonight was an actual dream," John Weatherby, a photographer in Iceland who also creates NFTs of the northern lights, wrote on Twitter while sharing a video of the auroras. "KP7 aurora for our workshop group's first night. So grateful they got to see this incredible show."

Related: Halloween in space! These wild astronaut costumes are just out of this world

The northern lights (and their south pole equivalent the southern lights) occur when charged particles from the sun's solar wind hit particles in Earth's upper atmosphere causing a glow visible from the surface. These particles are funneled to the Earth's poles by our planet's magnetic field, making them normally visible from high latitudes closer to the poles. The northern lights are known as the aurora borealis, while the southern lights are called the aurora australis.

During a major solar flare (X-class flares are the most powerful), the sun can unleash powerful radiation storms and eruptions known as coronal mass ejections that send much more charged particles toward Earth than the everyday solar wind. That's what happened during Thursday's solar flare, which sent a coronal mass ejection toward Earth at just under 2.2 million mph (3.5 million kph), SWPC officials wrote in the statement.

Related: The sun's wrath: Worst solar storms in history

That wave of particles reached Earth Saturday night, making the auroras visible and brighter at lower latitudes. Those conditions should continue through Halloween night, according to the SWPC.

NASA solar scientist C. Alex Young, associate director for science at the Heliophysics Division of the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, cautioned observers at lower latitudes like the U.S. Northeast, upper Midwest and Washington that the display won't be as impressive as those farther north. You will also have to get away from city lights if you hope to see any auroras.

If you're hoping to see the northern lights yourself, check out our guides on where and how to photograph the aurora, as well as the best equipment for aurora photography and how to edit aurora photos. If you need equipment, consider our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography to make sure you're ready for the next aurora event.

Skywatchers in regions of the Earth that normally see bright auroras have reported truly dazzling aurora displays.

"WHAT A NIGHT," wrote a skywatcher named Thomas on Twitter while sharing dazzling photos of the Halloween auroras from Sweden's Lapland region.

One skywatcher in Reykjavk, Iceland didn't have to travel far to see the northern lights. They were easily visible from the comfort of home.

"Aurora in my backyard," the observer, who goes by @PhinerianKlipsy on Twitter, wrote while sharing photos of green auroras in the sky.

Skywatcher Michael Charnick also spotted the storm from Iceland and used an iPhone 13 to photograph the event, which he observed late Halloween eve (Oct. 30).

"Incredible substorm over the west coast of Iceland ~ 30 min ago," he wrote on Twitter.

Charnick then captured some stunning views of the auroras over the Labrador Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The sun is currently in the beginning phase of its latest 11-year solar cycle, called solar cycle 25, in which its activity rises and falls over time. The X1 solar flare of Oct. is only the second X-class solar flare of the cycle. It follows and X1.6 solar flare that occurred on July 3.

If you take a photograph of the Halloween northern lights from the solar flare and want to share them for a possible photo gallery or story, let us know! You can send images and comments in to spacephotos@space.com.

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Halloween northern lights from huge solar flare thrill skywatchers - Space.com

The CEO and founder of Space Perspective, Jane Poynter, talks to us about launching space travels very first luxury experience.

The commercial space race has been dominated by headlines from Bezos, Branson and Musk. Their rocket ships herald a new era in space flight and tourism for a select few. But hot on the heels of these high-profile space bros is another relatively more accessible offering that aims at an altogether gentler, more luxurious experience.

Imagine sipping on a martini, breathing deeply and looking over the blue layers that demarcate the edge of the atmosphere as the sun edges up slowly in the curved horizon. Youre dressed in your favourite cocktail club outfit and cast your eye, scanning the coastline below, a stars view of where land slowly meets the oceans on planet Earth. It might sound more like science fiction, but its closer to reality than you think.

Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum, partners in business and life, have launched a unique experience onboard the ground-breaking, pressurised Spaceship Neptune, a luxury-cruise experience in the sky. Travellers in a piloted pod will ascend into the edge of space, some 100,000 feet high, using flight technology used for decades at NASA another of Poynter and MacCallums companies, Paragon Space Development Corporation, has supplied life-support system equipment to the agency for years and state-of-the-art space-balloon-engineering.

Space Perspectives trips will enable eight people, plus a pilot, in each Spaceship Neptune capsule to experience 360-degree, 725-kilometre views of space, the stars, sunrises and sunsets, as well as epic, breathtaking views of Earth below. The profound, six-hour, once-in-a-lifetime journey can be shared with friends and family, and even be the setting for special events, such as small weddings or concerts.

This summer, for the first time ever, your ticket to explore space with Poynters company is available to book online. Start saving.

Our entire careers have been devoted to looking at ways of taking people to space in a way thats more accessible, and rockets just didnt seem to be it yet. I mean, theres a lot of energy with a rocket, right? And its still a fairly nascent technology. And experientially, I think getting on a rocket is difficult for a lot of people to get their heads around and weve got high Gs and a lot of vibration and training. So we were looking for a way for people to have that astronaut experience in a much more comfortable, relaxed, gentle way.

When Taber was in his early teens, he saw his astrophysicist father send a large gamma-ray telescope under a space balloon to study our Milky Way he was actually on the team that discovered the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. Taber remembered seeing these balloons going up and remembered the elegance and how gentle they were. He walked into my office one day and said, What do you think about taking people up under a space balloon? And that was it. Thats the idea. Thats exactly what we were looking for.

Its expensive and definitely for the wealthy, but I actually expected it to be more. Well, its less than half the price of Virgin Galactic actually it was half the price, as Virgin has gone from about US$250,000 to $425-450,000. So its quite likely youll see our price go up in the future, but we want this to be accessible to as many people as possible. The demand is such that well almost certainly be putting the price up before it comes down. Our long-term vision is for it to come down, but I think it would be a while before it does.

Its even smoother than being on a plane theres going to be a bar, therell be food. Theres no zero gravity or space suit, so you can lounge, and theres a bathroom. When youre in an aeroplane youre going through the air, so you sometimes get that buffeting. Were going up through the air, but were going so slowly, at 12mph [20km/h], that its incredibly smooth Its not the same mechanism as a hot-air balloon, but I suppose by analogy and experientially its similar. So, its not really like anything youve ever experienced before, but its very smooth.

We talked with a lot of astronauts about what the quintessential experience of being in space is. And you know what almost the universal response is? Its experiencing Earth from space. The zero-G part is cool, but it can also be kind of annoying. The rocket ride is like, OK but its really that experience of looking down at Earth, which youll be able to see.

It takes two hours to go up to space. And then youre really sitting on top of the atmosphere for about two hours, floating, and about two hours to come back down again. If you think about that, were in that last 1 percent of the atmosphere, and were 20 miles above the planet. And that last 1 percent extends for many, many, many miles beyond the International Space Station. So everything that you think of in low Earth orbit, thats all in that last 1 percent of the atmosphere.

So 80 percent of them at the moment are American and I think thats mostly because its where the majority of our press has been to date. And the rest is from all over the world. About 70 percent of those whove booked are men, which doesnt mean to say they arent going to take female companions with them. We also dont know exactly, for some of the flights, who the other customers are. About 45 percent of our flights have been booked as complete capsule flights between people. So sometimes well have somebody call and they say, Would you book two seats for me right now? But could you hold the rest of the capsule for a few days? Im just gonna go call some friends. And then a couple of days later, theyll call back and go, OK, I need the whole capsule.

I think that having more and more people go into space translates into a greater understanding of what the space industry at large brings to our everyday lives. Eventually with millions of people having that experience of seeing Earth in space, whether its from where were flying in suborbital flight, or from the moon or Mars, or from low Earth orbit in a space hotel one day, its going to have a huge ripple effect, because its the kind of experience that you dont un-experience, right? Once youve had that perspective change, you cant go back to the way you were before.

This article first appeared on Prestige Online Hong Kong.

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Out of This World: CEO and Founder of Space Perspective, Jane Poynter on Luxury Space Travel - Prestige Online

We know the names of early American women pilots like Bessie Coleman and Amelia Earhart. However, across the globe, women pilots were also taking to the skies and setting records. Travel across the globe with these stories of four such pilots.

Helene Dutrieu of Belgium was known as the "girl hawk" of aviation because she was the most daring and accomplished woman pilot of her time. She first soloed in France in 1909 and within a year was setting altitude and distance records. She thrilled the world in September of 1910 by flying non-stop from Ostend to Bruges, Belgium, and she became the first Belgian woman to receive a pilot license on November 25, 1910. During her second year as an aviator, she narrowly escaped death twice. She visited the United States in 1911, making her American debut at the Nassau Boulevard Aviation meeting. Back in Europe, Dutrieu won France's Coupe Femina for the women's world nonstop light record on December 31, 1911, flying 158 miles (254 kilometers) in 178 minutes. In Florence, Italy, she was the only woman in a field of 15 and out flew all of her male competitors to win the King's Cup. In 1913 the French government awarded Dutrieu the Legion of Honor for her achievements. She also became an ambulance driver and later a director of a military hospital.

In 1909, while the Baroness Raymonde de Laroche was dining with Charles Voisin, he suggested that she learn to fly an airplane. Her new ambition took her to the French flying grounds at Chalons where she was taught by Voisin himself. On March 8, 1910, she received the first pilot's license awarded to a woman. She entered the 1910 Reims meet as the only female participant and was seriously injured in a crash. After a lengthy recovery, she went on to win the Femina Cup for a nonstop flight of four hours. In 1919, the Baroness set a women's altitude record of 15,700 feet (4,785 meters). In the summer of 1919, de Laroche, who was also a talented engineer, reported to the airfield at Le Crotoy to copilot a new aircraft in hopes of becoming the first female test pilot. Unfortunately, the aircraft went into a dive on its landing approach and both the Baroness and the pilot were killed. A statue of de Laroche stands at Le Bourget airport in France.

In 1930, Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia and did so with very little flying experience. She had only received her license in 1929, learning to fly at the London Aeroplane Club at Stag Lane, but she was an impressive secretary-turned-pilot who earned an aircraft ground engineer's license as well. Flying a Gipsy Moth namedJason, Johnson made the England to Australia trip in May 1930 in 19 and a half days, and continued to make many impressive cross-country flights from England around Europe and to Moscow and Tokyo.

In 1931, she married fellow British aviator James Mollison and promptly broke his record for the England to South Africa flight. In 1936, she reclaimed the record again, flying 14,000 miles (22,530 kilometers) in 12 days. Johnson and Mollison flew the Atlantic together in July 1933, but crashed on landing at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Both received only minor injuries and so ordered another plane for a west-to-east flight to England, but it crashed on take-off. Johnson and Mollison made it as far as India during the 1934 MacRobertson Race from England to Australia; soon after, they divorced.

During World War II, Johnson flew for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), ferrying aircraft around England. She was killed in January 1941 when she bailed out of her crippled twin engine aircraft and drowned in the Thames River. Johnson's popularity in England was equal to the Amelia Earhart phenomenon in the United States, and a song,Amy, Wonderful Amywas written in her honor.

Jean Batten grew up in New Zealand and developed a love for aviation that overcame her desire to be a concert pianist. Her interest in flying stemmed from the 1919 England to Australia flight by Ross and Keith Smith, and later solo flights.

Batten's father did not approve of her aviation enthusiasm but she convinced her mother to move to England with her and help her become a pilot. She received her license and her commercial rating at the London Aeroplane Club at Stag Lane and then began planning for a flight from England to Australia. Her first two attempts failed, but she succeeded in 1934, flying a Gipsy Moth.

Batten became an instant sensation in Australia, New Zealand, and in England upon her return flight the next year (it was the first roundtrip by a woman). In 1935, she broke James Mollison's records for England to Brazil and Dakar to Natal while becoming the first woman to solo across the South Atlantic. Then, in 1936, she realized her dream of flying solo from England to New Zealand in a Percival Gull in 11 days and earned her second consecutive Harmon Trophy, having shared the first one in 1935 with Amelia Earhart. In 1937, she set another record for an Australia to England flight. Unable to obtain a flying job during World War II, Batten gave up flying and eventually became a recluse, living with her mother in Majorca, Spain, and appearing in public only for a few anniversary events. In 1937, she published her autobiography,My Life.

This content was migrated from an earlier online exhibit, Women in Aviation and Space History, which shared the stories of the women featured in the Museum in the early 2000s.

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Around the World with Barrier Breaking Women Pilots - National Air and Space Museum

Women made history not only as pilots of aircraft, but also by being willing passengers. Would you be brave enough to fly in an aircraft when it was a relatively new invention? Discover three of these womens stories.

Therese Peltier

Therese Peltier, a talented sculptor, became the first woman to fly as a passenger in a heavier-than-air aircraft (as opposed to a lighter-than-air aircraft like a balloon). On July 8, 1908, she made a flight of 656 feet (200 meters) with Leon Delagrange in Milan, Italy. She subsequently made several solo flights in a Voisin biplane but did not pursue a flying career. On her flight at the Military Square at Turin, she flew for two minutes and traversed a distance of 656 feet (200 meters) at an elevation of seven feet.

Edith Berg

Edith Berg watched Wilbur Wright demonstrate the Wright Flyer at Le Mans, France. She was so thrilled by the performance that she asked Wright for a ride. Thus, in October 1908, she became the first American woman to fly as a passenger in an airplane, soaring for two minutes and seven seconds. Seated in the right seat of the aircraft, she tied a rope securely around her skirt at her ankles to keep it from blowing in the wind during the flight. A French fashion designer watching the flight was impressed with the way Berg walked away from the aircraft with her skirt still tied. Berg was then credited with inspiring the famous "Hobble Skirt" fashion.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart is best known for the records she set as a pilot and her mysterious disappearance. However, she too made history from the passenger seat. In 1928, she was the first woman to be a passenger on a transatlantic flight. Amy Phipps Guest owned the Fokker F.VII Friendship and wanted to make the flight but when her family objected, she asked aviator Richard Byrd and publisher/publicist George Putnam to find "the right sort of girl" for the trip. On June 17, 1928, Earhart and pilots Wilmer Stultz and Lou Gordon departed Trepassey, Newfoundland, and, though promised time at the controls of the tri-motor, she was never given the opportunity to fly the aircraft during the 20-hour 40-minute flight to Burry Point, Wales. She did get in the pilot's seat for a time on the final hop to Southampton, England. The dramatic 1928 flight brought her international attention and the opportunity to earn a living in aviation. When she later flew solo across the Atlantic, her earlier flight also made her the first person to cross the Atlantic twice by air.

This content was migrated from an earlier online exhibit, Women in Aviation and Space History, which shared the stories of the women featured in the Museum in the early 2000s.

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Making History from the Passenger Seat | National Air and Space Museum - National Air and Space Museum