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.

SpaceX Conducts Falcon 9 Static Fire Test Monday, Targets Next Starlink Launch Tuesday Night March 9: Watch Live/Photos

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM TITUSVILLE/CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  SpaceX successfully conducted a static fire test on a recycled Falcon 9 booster at dusk Monday, March 8, and is now targeting launch of the next batch of 60 Starlink broadband internet satellites for Tuesday evening March 9 from pad 40 on Florida’s Spaceport – and the weather looks great for both

NASA Perseverance Rover Completes 1st Test Drive on Mars Terrain

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA’s Perseverance rover performed its first test drive drive on Martian terrain on March 4, or Sol 14, the mission team announced with the release of a batch of dramatic new images captured at the landing site now bearing the name “Octavia E. Butler Landing” where the six wheeled robot touched down safely

Much Delayed Veteran SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches Overnight Carrying 60 Starlink Satellites and Disappears Behind Thick Clouds

TITUSVILLE, FL – The much delayed liftoff of a veteran SpaceX Falcon 9 booster finally took place overnight in the wee hours this morning Thursday March 4 and quickly disappeared behind a thick layer of low clouds and from Florida’s Spaceport and successfully delivered the next batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites to low Earth orbit. The middle-of-the-night blastoff of

Perseverance Rover Snaps 1st Mastcam-Z 360-Degree Hi-Def Pano of Dazzling Mars Landing Site

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  Three Sols, or Martian Days, after surviving the ‘7 minutes of Terror’ and accomplishing a safe touchdown NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover snapped her first high-definition 360-degree panorama around her Mars landing site and new home at Jezero Crater on Feb. 21, using the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument. NASA released the Mastcam-Z panorama on Feb.

NASA, JAXA Astronauts Capture Cygnus Commercial Resupply Ship at Space Station, Unload Science Gear

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Two days after the 15th Northrop Grumman Cygnus commercial resupply spacecraft flawlessly launched at 12:36 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 20 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the eastern shore of Virginia the vessel arrived at the International Space Station overnight Monday morning, Feb. 22 and was successfully captured by a team of NASA