Author: Ken Kremer

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news. Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics. Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events.

4x Flown SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink Booster Returns to Port Canaveral on Droneship from 1st Launch of 2022: Photos

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM PORT CANAVERAL/TITUSVILLE, FL – The now 4x flown to space and back SpaceX Falcon 9 1st stage recovered booster that launched over four dozen Starlink internet satellites to Low Earth orbit (LEO) last week on the 1st Space Coast liftoff of 2022, returned at last to Port Canaveral, Tuesday morning, Jan. 11, standing tall on the

NASA Webb Telescope Completes Deployments as Primary Mirror Unfolds to Unveil Universe 1st Light

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has at last fully unfurled from its origami like prelaunch state after engineers successfully completed the last major deployment Saturday, Jan. 8, and swung open the last of two three segment side wings to wholly unfold and lock in place its 21-foot (6.5 m) gold-coated primary

NASA Webb Telescope Successfully Deploys Secondary Mirror

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – In another major milestone NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the tripod assembly holding the observatory’s secondary mirror successfully unfolded and latched to deploy the 2.4-foot (0.74-meter) mirror into place – which is essential for reflecting light from the distant Universe gathered by the primary mirror into the powerful science instruments so

James Webb Space Telescope Completes Risky Deployment of Massive Sunshield

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Mission controllers with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have successfully completed the deployment, separation and tensioning of the observatory’s massive five-layered sunshield to pull them completely taut into final operational position on Tuesday, Jan. 4 – which is considered as the most riskiest of actions of the telescopes entire month-long extremely

James Webb Space Telescope Successfully Unfurls Massive Sunshield in Major Milestone

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Mission controllers with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have successfully commanded the full unfurling of the massive 5 layered sunshield on New Year’s Eve Friday evening. Dec. 31 – thereby accomplishing one of the most nail-biting operations of the entire high-stakes month long deployment sequence at a distance of some 400,000

Webb Telescope Starts High Stakes Sunshield Deployment Phase

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Mission controllers with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have successfully started the high stakes sunshield deployment phase of the mammoth observatory which is critical to cooling the probe to the utterly cold operating temperatures required so it can detect infrared light for which it was designed in order to carry out

Webb Telescope Completes Two Mid-Course Correction Burns and Deploys High Date Rate Antenna

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA’s mammoth James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has successfully deployed its high data rate antenna critical for transmitting the huge volumes to be collected by the observatory and also carried out its first two mid-course correction burns placing it on course for the voyage to its final operational destination at a unique