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.

Nine Finalists Selected for NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover Naming Contest

SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – After conducting a nationwide contest where kindergarten through 12th grade students across the United States submitted essays to “Name the Rover” NASA has selected 9 candidate names as finalists “to come up with a fitting name for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover.” The nine candidate names were selected from over 28,000 essays submitted after

NASA Mars 2020 Rover Arrives at Kennedy Space Center Launch Base for July Blastoff

SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA’s Mars 2020 rover has arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida launch base for final processing ahead of blastoff slated for July – after departing the only home she has ever known and where she was lovingly created by engineers working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The

Beautiful Blastoff SpaceX Falcon 9 with 5th Batch Starlink Broadband Satellites, Misses Booster Landing: Photos

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL – Under foggy skies that enveloped the launch pad in the hours leading up to launch and for a time threatened to postpone liftoff, and after days of delays due to poor weather and technical problems with the SpaceX rocket, a quadruple recycled Falcon 9 booster blasted off successfully into

Solar Orbiter Streaks to Space on ULA Atlas V to Explore Sun’s Polar Region and Space Weather: Photos

ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter mission to study the Sun streaks to space atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11:03 p.m. EST on Feb. 9, 2020 – in this long duration exposure taken from the roof of NASA’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) with photographers in the foreground. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Despite Hard Droneship Landing SpaceX Retracts All 4 Recycled Falcon 9 Starlink Landing Legs, Lowered Horizontal for Cape Transport: Photos

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM PORT CANAVERAL, FL – Despite a hard landing on the OCISLY droneship minutes after last weeks Starlink mission blastoff on Jan. 29, SpaceX workers were able to successfully retract all four of the recycled Falcon 9 landing legs without too much hardship in Port Canaveral on Monday, Feb. 3 although they were significantly deflected at touchdown

Under Gloomy Skies Recovered SpaceX Starlink Booster Sails Triumphantly into Port Canaveral: Photos

For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM PORT CANAVERAL, FL – Under gloomy and rainy Space Coast skies the triply launched and recovered Falcon 9 1st stage booster triumphantly sailed into Port Canaveral atop the OCISLY droneship Saturday morning Feb. 1, at the channel entrance past Jetty Park Pier – nearly three days after the oft weather delayed but nevertheless spectacular launch of