SpaceX Crew Dragon 'Endeavour' Launches Four Astronauts to Space Station

Four astronauts aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour launch. (SpaceX)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Four astronauts launched aboard a reusable SpaceX Crew Dragon early Friday from America's Space Coast to begin a nearly six month stay aboard the International Space Station.

This SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the second operational commercial crewed space launch. It also marks the third time Americans have launched into space from the U.S. in last 11 months.

Riding a top a Falcon 9 rocket, the crew dragon Endeavour lifted off at 5:49:02 a.m. EDT, from the Kennedy Space Center. The Falcon 9's instantaneous launch time occurred as the space station orbited 258 miles high above the Indian Ocean.

The candle stick rocket soared up the east coast of the United States. Nearly three minutes after launch, Falcon's spent first stage separated and the second stage immediately took over.

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Flies Higher During Second Flight

Mars helicopter Ingenuity begins its second flight on April 22. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA flew for a second time the first powered aircraft on Mars Thursday demonstrating that humans can control flight within the planet's ultra thin atmosphere.

The tissue box-size Mars helicopter Ingenuity transmitted a few images during its flight to its host, the Perseverance rover. Located 215 feet away, Perseverance transmitted the final commands from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory one hour before the flight.

At an exact moment, the copter's twin rotor blades were spun up to 2,537 rpm. A final system's check was performed as the blades cut through Mars' ultra thin atmosphere.

Likened to the Wright Brothers first powered flight, Ingenuity took off from the Martian surface at 5:33 a.m. EDT, and stayed aloft for 51.9 seconds. The controlled flight flew a distance of seven feet and up to an altitude of 16 feet.

“The helicopter came to a stop, hovered in place, and made turns to point its camera in different directions,” Ingenuity’s chief pilot Håvard Grip said on Thursday. “Then it headed back to the center of the airfield to land."

Wings in Space: Columbia Launches the Space Shuttle Era

The first space shuttle flight lifts-off on April 12, 1981. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A new era of human spaceflight began in April 1981, as two NASA astronauts lifted-off aboard the first reusable winged spacecraft to set sail on the ocean of space.

Nothing is more associated with the 1980s as the space shuttle. In fact, Columbia's maiden launch was the first video ever played when MTV launched four months later.

Astronauts John W. Young and Robert L. Crippen served as the flight crew for the first space shuttle flight. Launched on April 12, 1981, the historic mission of shuttle Columbia allowed NASA to begin

Young was a veteran of two Gemini and two Apollo space missions, and Crippen was a rookie who had supported the Skylab missions. Each trained for nearly four years in preparation for this flight.

It was Young who was working the surface of the Moon in 1972 when NASA informed him that the space shuttle was approved for development. “The country needs that shuttle mighty bad,” Young replied.

SpaceX Dragon Launches Four Astronauts toward Space Station

Falcon 9 lifts-off with Crew Dragon 1 from KSC on Nov. 15. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted-off from America's Space Coast on Sunday evening with four astronauts beginning the first flight of an operational Crew Dragon spacecraft.

NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Japan's Soichi Noguchi are on course to dock with the International Space Station on Monday. They are scheduled to live and work aboard the orbital outpost for six months.

Crew Dragon 1 thundered away from the Kennedy Space Center's historic pad 39-A at 7:27:17 p.m. EST, riding a top the Falcon 9. The candlestick rocket darted out over the Atlantic waters at the exact moment the space station was 260 miles overhead.

"To all the people at NASA and SpaceX, by working through these difficult times you've inspired the nation, the world, and in no small part the name of this incredible vehicle," Dragon commander Hopkins radioed minutes before launch. "And now it's time to do our part -- Crew One for all."

The astronauts named their spacecraft Resilience by the crew to highlight the dedication of the teams involved with preparing the mission for flight. The successful launch occurred on the heels of a test flight by two NASA astronauts last May.

NASA Apollo 13 Upper Stage Impacted the Moon During the Flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The astronauts aboard the aborted flight of NASA's Apollo 13 may not have landed on the Moon, one section of their spacecraft did make a landing for scientific results.

The third stage of the Saturn V rocket known as the S-IVB was used to place the crew in the direction of the Moon. The S-IVB-508 stage housed the lunar lander Aquarius and the command module Odyssey, attached to its service module.

During the previous Apollo 12 landing, NASA had deployed one seismometer on the Moon's surface. The S-IVB impact occurred on April 14, 1970, at 77 hours, 56 minutes after the launch on April 11. The impact occurred 84 miles from that seismic station.

Odyssey of Apollo 13 Became NASA's 'Successful Failure'

Crew of Apollo 13 the day before launch at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The odyssey of NASA's Apollo 13 lifted-off fifty-years ago on Saturday to begin the third crewed mission to land on the Moon but quickly became a mission of survival in deep space.

The flight of Apollo 13 has been called “a successful failure”. It was successful in how the crew worked with mission control to return home, but a failure in that the lunar landing was aborted.

A veteran of three previous spaceflights, James (Jim) Lovell commanded the flight. Command Module pilot John (Jack) Swigert and Lunar Module Pilot Fred W. Haise, both rookie astronauts, rounded out the crew.

Akron Classmates Achieved High Flying Jobs as Astronaut, Blue Angel

AKRON, OHIO -- Two high school classmates driven early by different goals found themselves a decade later working in similar career fields -- one a top naval aviator and one a NASA astronaut.

On June 6, 1966, Stuart Robinson Powrie and Judith Arlene Resnik graduated with their senior class from Firestone High School. Their families and the educators at the Akron, Ohio school had inspired the two to climb higher and travel farther.

Stu (as he liked to called) was a competitive swimmer during high school, a sport he continued during his years at the U.S. Naval Academy. In 1970, Powrie graduated from the academy, but not before he set two Navy records as a competitive swimmer.

Judy loved classical piano, however she loved mathematics even more during high school. She even earned a perfect score on her SAT exam. In 1970, she graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering.

Upclose: Two Engineers Discuss Servicing Space Shuttle Atlantis

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's space shuttle fleet served as an orbiting workshop for thirty years -- a space truck which delivered a variety of spacecraft and segments of the International Space Station into orbit.

Five space-worthy orbiters were built to allow astronauts to live and work in space. Behind the pressurized living quarters, a massive 60-foot cargo bay housed commercial and scientific satellites, or a pressurized module, which extended the volume of the crew's work space.

Each orbiter named to honor a sailing vessel -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. Each was structurally built the same, however there were differences to those who knew them on an intimate basis.

Between 1981 through 2011, NASA launched 135 space shuttle missions from the Kennedy Space Center. Of those, two orbiters -- Columbia and Challenger -- did not return home after launch due to failures.

At the Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex, one shuttle is on display following her retirement. Atlantis, a veteran of 33 space flights, rests inside a multi-level building built especially for the spacecraft.

SpaceX Crew Dragon Performs Successful Launch Abort Test

A Falcon 9 lifts-off on January 19, 2020, on the launch abort test. (SpaceX)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- SpaceX achieved a huge milestone in safely launching astronauts from America's Space Coast this spring as they performed an uncrewed launch abort test of their spacecraft on Sunday.

This flight test of the Crew Dragon's launch escape system now moves SpaceX and NASA closer to launching astronauts from American soil. While NASA is focused on returning first to the moon, SpaceX will taxi astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

"SpaceX’s in-flight demonstration of Crew Dragon’s launch escape capabilities is designed to provide valuable data toward NASA certifying the spacecraft to begin carrying astronauts to and from the Space Station," SpaceX Spokesperson James Gleeson said on Saturday.

NASA's Quieter Supersonic X-59 Approved for Final Assembly

The future of supersonic flight across land will be tested with NASA X-59. (LMA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An experimental NASA aircraft designed to perform supersonic commercial travel while reducing the sound generated by sonic booms was approved for final assembly on Thursday.

The X-59, also known as the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD), is NASA’s first experimental aircraft in three decades. Aircraft construction is taking place today at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Skunk Works plant in Palmdale, California.

A $250-million contract awarded to Lockheed Martin in 2018 will see the aircraft built and tested during 2020. The X-59 is expected to make its inaugural flight from Edwards AFB, Calif. in 2021 to deem it is safe to fly.

Following a series of test flights, NASA will receive the aircraft in late-2021 to close out Phase one. Phase two will have a NASA test pilot first fly the X-59 to Mach 1 over the Edwards test range in 2022.

NASA research test pilot Jim Less is one of two pilots waiting in the wings to perform those first supersonic flight tests. “A supersonic manned X-plane,” Less said during a NASA interview. “This is probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. We’re all pretty excited.”

Four-Time Shuttle Astronaut Inspiring Today's Youth at SpaceCamp

Dr. Don Thomas stands near space shuttle Pathfinder in Huntsville. (Atkeison)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The early days of America's space program inspired a future four-time space shuttle astronaut who now works to inspire the youth of today to reach for their goals -- including a voyage to Mars.

Dr. Donald Thomas ventured into space during four flights on the space shuttle. Each flight was a personal hallmark of achievement and a passion he shares with children and teens around the globe.

On Friday, Thomas will visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center -- home to the popular SpaceCamp and Aviation Challenge STEM-related camps. He hopes to inspire future engineers, pilots, and astronauts on the day they graduate from SpaceCamp.

"I was inspired to become an astronaut when I was just six years-old as I watched the launch of Alan Shepard," Dr. Thomas said as he stood near a large scale mock-up of the space shuttle. "That forever changed my life and career direction and motivated me to become an astronaut."

NASA's X-57 Maxwell to Demonstrate the Benefits of Electric Propulsion

NASA's experimental aircraft will use electricity and zero gas to fly. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA is engineering an all-electric aircraft capable of flying people and cargo great distances as a futuristic, clean-energy concept becomes a reality during the coming decade.

NASA’s first piloted X-plane in two decades, the X-57 Maxwell will push the boundaries of aeronautics by creating a clean-air, low noise aircraft. Using a modified Italian Tecnam P2006T high-winged aircraft, NASA has removed its propellers and will install an experimental wing with a reduced surface area.

When testing is completed in 2020, the nearly 3,000-pound X-57 may be able to fly at a maximum altitude of 14,000-feet. Its fastest air speed is expected at about 172 m.p.h. during a cruising altitude of 8,000-feet.

Test pilots and engineers are now preparing for those first flights this autumn by working with an X-57 simulator. Pilots are learning how the unflown aircraft may react in flight and understanding possible failure modes.

Two Americans, One Russian Lift-off to the Space Station

A Soyuz FG lifts-off from Kazakhstan with a new space station crew. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Two Americans and their Russian spacecraft commander launched a top a Soyuz rocket on Thursday to begin a four-orbit voyage to catch-up with and dock to the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch, and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin will spend six-months living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory 255 miles up. Once the crew docks on Thursday evening, the station will return to a full compliment of six crew members.

A Russian Soyuz FG rocket lifted-off on March 14 -- Pi Day -- at 3:14:08 p.m. EDT (12:14 a.m. on Friday, local time) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crew's Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft is scheduled to dock at 9:06 p.m. to the space station's Rassvet module. (NASA-TV will air these events live.)

NASA Apollo 6 paved America's Pathway to the Moon

ATLANTA -- As America recalls the golden anniversary of mankind's first voyage to the moon this December, the lesser known flight of Apollo 6 cleared a major hurdle for NASA as it paved the country's pathway toward lunar orbit.

Designed as a test flight article and flew unmanned, the flight of Apollo 6 fifty years ago tested not just the spacecraft itself, but launched the largest rocket America ever flew on a second and final critical mission to ensure the astronauts safety.

Today, the Apollo 6 command module rests at the Fernbank Science Center in East Atlanta. The spacecraft is on public display at the science center and remains a testament to the Earth orbiting test flight which flew on April 4, 1968.

The launch of the second Saturn 5 with Apollo 6 (AS-502) a top lifted-off at 7:00:01 a.m. EDT, from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The nearly 365-foot tall rocket darted into a blue morning sky without a crew, however loaded with a wealth of science instruments and video cameras for engineers to reseach in the months that followed.


Once launched, flight controllers began to notice the rocket was shaking a bit as it ascended through the atmosphere. The five massive F1 engines at the base of the rocket's first stage performed well for the first two minutes, and then, according to a 1968 NASA memo, "there were thrust fluctuations that caused the vehicle to bounce like a giant pogo stick for about 30 seconds."

NASA InSight Lander to Explore the Inner Space of Mars

Mars lander InSight is scheduled to launch in May on a six month voyage. (NASA)

By Charles A Atkeison

(AvGeekery.com) -- NASA's newest discovery mission to Mars will launch this spring to begin the first extensive exploration of the planet's internal structure.

The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) is scheduled to lift-off for the Red Planet and into a predawn sky on May 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and land six months later upon the Martian plains of Elysium Planitia.

Launch officials will have only 35 days to launch the spacecraft during a period in which the Earth and Mars are perfrctly aligned. This mission will mark the first interplanetary mission to launch from the West Coast.

Taking the Temperature and Pulse of Mars

NASA hopes the spacecraft will provide new insight into several key questions such as does Mars have a liquid or solid core, and learn about the planet's internal motions including the Sun's effect on the fourth planet from our closest star.

Challenger's Final Flight Begins Enduring Mission of Inspiration

The tenth flight of Challenger lifts off on Jan. 28, 1986. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- As the space shuttle Challenger rose into a cold blue sky over America's Space Coast, excitement for the first teacher to travel into space turned to stunned disbelief as the vehicle suddenly broke apart - a crew lost - in an event which changed both NASA and the nation thirty-two years ago.

The frigid cold weather created a launch pad coated in thick ice which wrapped itself around the fully fueled space shuttle on the morning of January 28, 1986. Challenger's tenth crew, led by commander Francis Dick Scobee, included NASA's Teacher in Space representative, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, on a very publicized mission flying the first average citizen into space.

America's first "teachernaut" planned to conduct two live classroom sessions, including "The Ultimate Field Trip", a tour through the orbiter; and a lesson on why people explore and work in space from 176 miles above. The broadcasts were to be shown in classrooms around the planet on NASA-Select TV. Christa's excitement and enthusiasm made her a popular role model both in the public school systems and with the media.

This shuttle stack was the heaviest to launch weighing 4.53 million pounds, and carrying the second massive Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS). The SPARTAN satellite, designed to be placed over the side of the shuttle for a free flight close study of the popular visit by Haley's Comet, was to be deployed on day three of the mission and retrieved twenty orbits later.

John W Young recalled life from Georgia to Walking on the Moon

John Young gives a Navy salute during a Moon bounce in 1972. (NASA)

He was known as the astronaut's-astronaut.

A depression-era youth who grew up in northwest Georgia to become the seventh man to walk on the moon discussed his life in his recently released autobiography.

As a young boy attending school in Cartersville, located 40 miles north of Atlanta, John W. Young wrote about his meager life in the small town. And, how his strengths carried him on to college and into a flying career with the U.S. Navy and later upward to NASA.

Forever Young: A Life of Adventure in Air and Space is the book on the life of a true American hero, John Watts Young. Co-authored by James R. Hansen, Forever Young puts you on the flight deck and in the cockpit as Young prepares to push America forward in the space race and toward space research.

Young described his father's job at a Cartersville filling station as a temporary one after being laid off from a prominent job as a world traveling civil engineer during the height of the economic collapse.

Marine Test Pilot, Russian and Italian Launch to International Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An American Marine Top Gun test pilot, a Russian biochemist, and an Italian Special Forces parachutist lifted off on Friday a top a Russian Soyuz rocket beginning a voyage to rendezvous and dock with International Space Station.

Nearly six hours later, the crew of three successfully docked to the Russian Rasvet module on the Earth facing side of the space station at 5:54 p.m. EDT -- seven minutes earlier than planned.

NASA astronaut Randy J. Bresnik, Russian Soyuz commander Sergey Ryazanskiy, and Europe's Paolo Nespoli, all three space veterans, will be busy with a multitude of science experiments; the arrival and undocking of several unmanned cargo crafts; and spacewalking as they prepare the orbital outpost for new hardware.

Launched from the historic launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:41 a.m. EDT (9:41 p.m. local), today's lift-off occurred from the same pad Russia's Sputnik 1 launched from sixty years ago this October. That successful satellite launch in 1957 heralded the dawn of the space age.

As the Soyuz soared skyward into the darkening skies of sunset, a 400-foot golden flame pushed the rocket higher as it traveled eastward. Nearly nine minutes later, a strong jolt was felt by the crew as their Soyuz spacecraft separated from the rocket's third stage upon reaching orbit 125 miles above.

Space Station to Perform Three Orbit Chase of Solar Eclipse

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronauts aboard the International Space Station may have the best windows for viewing the Great American Eclipse as they photograph and record August's astronomical event during three consecutive orbits.

Soaring 255 miles above, the six person crew of Expedition 52 will have detailed observation objectives in place as they point cameras from the Cupola's windows while they trek across North America once every 91 minutes. They will also be the first humans to witness this solar eclipse thanks to orbital mechanics.

In May 2012, NASA astronaut Don Pettit witnessed a solar eclipse from Earth orbit. "It is amazing to see an eclipse from orbit," Pettit recalled. "The shadow on Earth looks just like what you see in the physics and astronomy books."

Newly released ground tracks by NASA provided to AvGeekery.com show the space station's three positions as it passes through the Moon's penumbra during the midday hours of August 21 -- the height of solar eclipse across America. Astronauts will attach special solar filters to their 400 mm and 800 mm cameras as they approach their first observation's over the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch marks historic milestone at Kennedy Space Center

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A uncrewed SpaceX cargo craft departed America's Space Coast on Saturday loaded with nearly three tons of supplies for astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station.

The SpaceX launch marked the first reflight of a Dragon spacecraft, and also set a historic milestone from America's Spaceport.

A Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center's Pad-39A on June 3 at 5:07:38 p.m. EDT, blazing a trail out over the Atlantic Ocean. The lift-off marked the 100th rocket launch from the historic launch complex 39-A.

The launch pad was first used fifty years ago this November as the first Saturn V moon rocket launched during the uncrewed Apollo 4 mission. Pad 39-A later supported many notable space flights including Apollo 11's mission to first land man on the moon in 1969; America's first space station Skylab in 1973; the first space shuttle flight in 1981 and 81 subsequent shuttle flights; and today, SpaceX launches.

Signed in April 2014 by CEO Elon Musk, SpaceX has an exclusive twenty-year lease with NASA to use 39A for both uncrewed launches, and future crewed missions aimed at sending astronauts to the space station and Mars. A Dragon 2 spacecraft will be used for crewed flights to the station beginning in summer of 2018.