NASA’s Constellation Program — including the deployment of the Orion crew vehicle replacing the space shuttle — will first be assigned to international space station flights, then propel humans and cargo to the Moon. Expeditionary missions to Mars and beyond will follow. But there’s ongoing discussion of mounting a piloted mission to an asteroid — [...]
Brushing aside the threat of a presidential veto, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an over-budget spending measure July 26 that would provide $17.6 billion for NASA for 2008. The $53.8 billion Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill (H.R. 3093) passed by a vote of 281 to 142 following two days of debate that left the [...]
NASA Ames Research Center will host a news briefing at 1 p.m. PDT Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007, to provide updates on NASA’s Constellation Program. Constellation is developing the Orion spacecraft and Ares rockets to support an American return to the moon by 2020. The Orion spacecraft will carry astronauts to the International Space Station by [...]
Alliant Techsystems Inc. has been named to a team with a $70 million contract to build an emergency propulsion system for the next-generation spacecraft Orion that would allow the crew to separate from the rest of the craft in the event of an emergency. The contract will create 50 jobs in Maryland, most of them [...]
At least twice, astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so drunk they posed a flight-safety risk, an aviation weekly reported Thursday, citing a special panel studying astronaut health. The independent panel found “heavy use of alcohol” before launch, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology, which reported [...]
An international aerospace company hopes NASA work will lead to a larger presence in Huntsville and the chance to put the Ares I rocket on course after its launch. BAE Systems has proposed to NASA that its team of aerospace contractors – including the United Space Alliance, Harris Corp., Goodrich Corp., General Dynamics, Wyle Laboratories [...]
It has long been a complaint of space advocates that presidential candidates spend little or no time discussing their space policy positions—if, in fact, they have bothered to develop any positions on the subject. Space is near the bottom of the list of topics of interest to the electorate in general, and one that is [...]
The engineers over at Pratt & Whitney must be having a blast these days. The company’s Rocketdyne division has just won a $1.2 billion contract to design, develop and test NASA’s new version of what propelled Apollo astronauts to the moon in the 60s and 70s. The J-2X engine is a key element for the [...]
On Monday, July 16, 2007, NASA awarded Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne a contract to build the J-2X engines for the Ares launch vehicles. Through the Constellation program, Ares will launch the next-generation of astronauts aboard Orion. The Ares I rocket will consist of a single five-segment solid-fueled rocket (for the first stage) and a single [...]
To catch up on the lingo and progress of the new space race, follow these notes. Substitute the ARES I and ARES V launch rockets for the Saturn V. Replace the Apollo capsule with what’s called the Orion crew vehicle. And put NASA Langley Research Center in a position to use its long history of [...]