Boeing Starliner Stalled Again

Posted on by onespaceman2000
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.

Progress 88 Resupply Mission Approaches ISS

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Progress 85 cargo craft after undocking from International Space Station on Feb. 12. (NASA)

Yesterday saw another successful resupply launch towards the International Space Station (ISS). The Russian Progress 88 uncrewed spacecraft attached to a Soyuz rocket left Kazakhstan early Thursday morning. It will dock with the ISS Saturday morning (which you can watch on NASA TV).

These missions have become so routine that you generally see few if any stories about such missions. That is a sign of an efficient system. The residents on the ISS like boring efficiency as long as it gets them the supplies they need.

Stay tuned for a little more drama when the Boeing Starliner heads to the ISS tomorrow.

Another Businessman to the Rescue

Posted on by onespaceman2000

As if saving the Hubble Space Telescope was not enough, another businessman thinks he can do better with submersibles heading down to the Titanic. What could go wrong?

Ohio businessman Larry Connor believes he can safely tour the Titanic wreckage without encountering the same issues as the OceanGate TItan submersible that never made it back last year. I guess he is bored after his trip to the International Space Station as a tourist and needs something to do.

It would appear that space and the sea exploration is a plaything these days for folks with more money than sense. I don’t think success in luxury real estate equates to success in seafaring, but he would not be the first person at the bottom of the sea wondering what went wrong.

Maybe setting up a nonprofit organization to encourage space and sea exploration among the young who would never otherwise have such chances would be better investment in the long run.

Whatever happened to those guys who bought a convertible and rode off into the sunset when they had their mid- to end-of-life crisis?

The Launch of PREFIRE to Monitor the Poles

Posted on by onespaceman2000

NASA has more eyes in the skies after the launch on Saturday of its Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) mission. One of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket place the satellites into orbit from the launch facility in New Zealand.

The pair of CubeSats will spend 10 months monitoring the two poles of the Earth and help NASA to better better predict changes to the climate based on changes in the Earth’s ice, seas, and weather.

Tristan L’Ecuyer, PREFIRE’s principal investigator at thebUniversity of Wisconsin in Madison stated:

Our planet is changing quickly, and in places like the Arctic, in ways that people have never experienced before…NASA’s PREFIRE will give us new measurements of the far-infrared wavelengths being emitted from Earth’s poles, which we can use to improve climate and weather models and help people around the world deal with the consequences of climate change.

The name of the mission, PREFIRE, is a little scary given the fires throughout the world said to be associated with climate change. Sadly, we are far from pre-fire and more like mid-fire. We can only hope that better information from the satellites can help us to steer a safer path.

Space Quote: A Private Mission to Save Hubble?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Hubble Space Telescope returning to orbit after its second servicing mission in February 1997. (NASA)

“Perhaps the opportunity with Polaris won’t be there, but NASA can work with Congress and the Administration to request funds for a Hubble reboost or enhancement mission, using a commercial partner where NASA is in the drivers [sic] seat, and the maturity of the space systems is higher and lower risk.”

-Statement by John Grunsfeld, an astronaut who operated on Hubble multiple times, in an NPR story regarding an offer by businessman Jared Isaacman to privately fund a mission to move the Hubble Space Telescope to a higher orbit and conduct necessary repairs to extend the telescope’s life. His offer has been met with some skepticism due to the difficulty of such a mission.