Image (Credit): The launch of Boeing’s Starliner earlier today from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner launched earlier today (June 5) on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are now safe in orbit on their way to the International Space Station (ISS). They will dock at the ISS tomorrow afternoon.
Boeing’s Starliner is the second graduate from NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which also includes SpaceX.
You can read more about the Starliner mission and upcoming events at this NASA site.
Update: The two astronauts arrived safely at the ISS safely on Thursday (June 6), though there were some issues with the Starliner’s thrusters.
Image (Credit):Logo for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. (NASA)
Image (Credit): The deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope on April 25, 1990 from the space shuttle Discovery. (NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Lockheed Corporation)
The Hubble Space Telescope is suffering the kinds of aches and pains that can come with being old, and NASA officials say they’re shifting into a new way of pointing the telescope in order to work around a piece of hardware that’s become intolerably glitchy. Officials also announced that, for now, they’ve decided not to pursue a plan put forward by a wealthy private astronaut who wanted to go to Hubble in a SpaceX capsule, in a mission aimed at extending the telescope’s lifespan by boosting it up into a higher orbit and perhaps even adding new technology to enhance its operations.
NASA announced Friday it selected three industry proposals to help develop technologies for future large space telescopes and plan for the agency’s Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept, which could be the first space telescope designed to search for life outside our solar system. The mission would directly image Earth-like planets around stars like our Sun and study their atmospheres for the chemical signatures of life, as well as enable other investigations about our solar system and universe. NASA is currently in the early planning stages for this mission concept, with community-wide working groups exploring its fundamental science goals and how best to pursue them. The agency is also in the process of establishing a Habitable Worlds Observatory Technology Maturation project office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
When NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew past the tiny main belt asteroid Dinkinesh last November, the Southwest Research Institute-led mission discovered a trough and ridge structure on the main asteroid as well as the first-ever-encountered contact binary satellite. The flyby data of this half-mile-wide object revealed a dramatic history of sudden breakups and transformation. Scientists think a big chunk of Dinkinesh suddenly shifted, excavating the trough and flinging debris into its vicinity. Some materials fell back to the asteroid body, forming the ridge, while others coalesced to form a contact binary satellite known as Selam. The complex shapes show that Dinkinesh and Selam have significant internal strength and a complex, dynamic history.
Do we really need one more Star Wars television series? Not really, but we will get one anyway. It starts tomorrow (June 4) and is called Acolyte. It reminds me of the movie Solo, which was made for no other purpose other than to mine the diminishing appeal of the Star Wars empire (financial empire, that is). We seem to be getting to the point of better special effects and the disappearance of any meaningful story.
Here is the pitch for the new series (and trailer):
In “Star Wars: The Acolyte,” an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems….
I would much rather see a bolder and better told story for The Mandalorian, or an earlier release of the second (and sadly last) season of Andor, which was pushed until next year. Instead, we get the a mishmash of old themes that represents one more stirring of a old pot.
This is a combination of everything that poisoned the original series – too many special effects in episodes I-III and a less than original story in episodes VII-IX. At least The Mandalorian was fun, and Andor gave us an interesting piece of the overall story (as did the movie Rouge One). The rest is chaff.
Nonetheless, the series will continue and we are expected to abide. As Darth Vader said in The Empire Strikes Back, “There is no escape. Don’t make me destroy you.”
Update: I ended my viewing after the second episode. The program was too stiff with little humor or self-awareness. I do not need to spend my time with CSI: Star Wars. I will await the return of Andor.
Image (Credit): The Chang’e 6 stacked in the clean room here on Earth before its successful launch to the Moon. (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation)
Yesterday, China successfully landed on the Moon again, this time on the far side with its Chang’e 6 mission. The probe is now in the unexplored South Pole region where it can study the lunar surface.
If all goes well, collected samples from this area will be returned to Earth for additional study. The Chang’e-6 mission includes an orbiter, a returner, a lander and an ascender.
China already returned a lunar sample successfully back in 2020 as part of its Chang’e 5 mission.
Image (Credit): The Starliner awaiting launch, should it ever happen. (NASA)
Nothing to report about the Boeing Starliner, again. This time it was a computer glitch that stopped the countdown earlier today only a few minutes before the planned launch.
While a launch tomorrow was initially proposed, Boeing stating:
NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) are forgoing a Starliner Crew Flight Test launch attempt Sunday, June 2, to give the team additional time to assess a ground support equipment issue at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex-41 in Florida.
The launch of the crewed capsule towards the International Space Station will be delayed until at least the middle of next week.
After years of waiting, I guess we should not be surprised. However, we can be disappointed. Boeing has a long list of accomplishments in the space industry. We are at the edge of the next great space race. This is no time to stumble.
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