Month: June 2019

Watch NASA Build the 2020 Red Planet Rover: Webcam

The “Seeing 2020” live video feed allows the public to watch engineers and technicians assemble and test NASA’s next Mars rover in a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech Ken Kremer — SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 10 June 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  Thanks to a newly installed webcam, you can watch as NASA builds

Trump Tweet Trashes His Own Plans for NASA’s Accelerated Moon Landing

President Donald Trump after signing Space Policy Directive 1 on Dec. 11, 2017, directing NASA to return to the moon. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Ken Kremer — SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 7 June 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  With a single tweet President Donald Trump trashed his own plans for NASA’s accelerated human Moon landing program thereby jeopardizing the  return of American

NASA Opens ISS to Expanded Commercialization & Private Astronauts

The International Space Station photographed by the departing Expedition 56 crew members in the Soyuz MS-08 crew capsule on Oct. 4, 2018. Credit: Roscosmos/NASA Ken Kremer — SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 7 June 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – From the business capital of the world at Nasdaq in New York City NASA officials today, June 7, announced a significant expansion in commercial

1st ULA Atlas V to carry 1st Astronauts on 1st Boeing Starliner to ISS Arrives at Cape Canaveral: Photos

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will launch the first astronaut crew aboard the Boeing Starliner commercial crew vehicle to the ISS later this year has arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after rolling off the Delta Mariner cargo ship on June 5, 2019. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com Ken Kremer — SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 5 June 2019 CAPE

Boeing Starliner Crew Test Article Completes Hot Fire Testing

Boeing teams ran multiple tests on Starliner’s in-space maneuvering system and the spacecraft’s launch abort system on May 23, 2019 at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Photo credit: Boeing  Ken Kremer — SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 2 June 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Boeing engineers completed a lengthy series of hot fire tests on the propulsion system of Starliner

Legless SpaceX Falcon 9 Lowered Horizontal in Record Turnaround Time and Shipped Back to Cape in ‘Dance’ with Payload Fairings

Recovered SpaceX Starlink Falcon 9 1st stage is tilted and lowered horizontally by two cranes and crews working together around 5 PM EDT May 29, 2019 one day after arriving vertical atop OCISLY droneship into Port Canaveral, FL on May 28. Note: 9 Merlin 1D engines fully exposed.   From May 23 SpaceX Starlink 1 launch.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com Ken Kremer — SpaceUpClose.com &

Recovered Starlink Falcon 9 and Fairings Simultaneously Craned off Recovery Ships, Landing Legs Detached: Photos

Newly recovered/returned Starlink Falcon 9 1st stage (r) and 1 of 2 recovered payload fairings (l) simultaneously go airborne – another space first – as both are craned off SpaceX recovery ships OCISLY & GO Navigator around 415 PM EDT May 28, 2019. Falcon 9 first stage arrived noonish atop OCISLY into Port Canaveral. Note: 9 Merlin 1D engines fully exposed.   From May 23 SpaceX Starlink 1 launch.  Credit:

NASA Selects 3 Companies to Build Commercial Lunar Landers Advancing Artemis Moon Landing Program

Commercial landers will carry NASA-provided science and technology payloads to the lunar surface, paving the way for NASA astronauts to land on the Moon by 2024.  Credits: NASA Ken Kremer — SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 31 May 2019 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced today the selection of the first 3 American companies contracted to build commercial robotic