• Boeing Starliner Stalled Again

    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,…

  • Progress 88 Resupply Mission Approaches ISS

    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…

  • Pic of the Week: The Dorado Group

    This week’s image was captured by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope. Launched last summer to create a 3D map of the universe, it has been pretty busy sending back some impressive images. This particular image shows the Dorado group of galaxies, one of the richest group of galaxies in the southern hemisphere.…

  • Space Stories: OSIRIS-APEX Survives Sun Flyby, Nearby Exoplanet May Be Habitable, and More Rogue Planets Rolling About

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —NASA: “NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX Unscathed After Searing Pass of Sun“ Mission engineers were confident NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification – Apophis Explorer) spacecraft could weather its closest ever pass of the Sun on Jan. 2, 2024. Their models had predicted that, despite traveling 25 million miles closer to…

  • Another Businessman to the Rescue

    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…

  • The Launch of PREFIRE to Monitor the Poles

    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…

  • Space Quote: A Private Mission to Save Hubble?

    “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,…

  • ISS May Soon Have an Indian Astronaut

    A U.S. official speaking in India promised that an Indian astronaut would be on the International Space Station (ISS) soon, maybe by year end. The Hindustan Times reports that the comments were made by U.S. Envoy Eric Garcetti at the US-India Commercial Space Conference: Unlocking Opportunities for US & Indian Space Startups. Mr. Garcetti was…

  • NASA is the Place to Work

    Even with the recent budget-related stress, NASA continues to be a happy place for its workers. The agency was rated by its employees as the best place work for the 12th straight year in the 2023 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey, issued by the Partnership for Public Service and Boston Consulting Group.…

  • Pic of the Week: A Triple-Star System

    This week’s image is from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It shows a triple-star system that consists of the variable star HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3. NASA explains: HP Tau is known as a T Tauri star, a type of young variable star that hasn’t begun nuclear fusion yet but is…