For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA’s Orion crew spacecraft was moved this week to the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for stacking on top of the Space Launch System (SLS) mega rocket destined for launching the Artemis 1 mission to the Moon as soon as early 2022 from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Orion’s move
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Russia’s Pirs docking module was uncoupled from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, July 26, and decommissioned after 20 years of excellent service to the station – towed away by the Russian Progress 77 cargo ship to which it was joined in order to make way at the newly opened docking port
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA has completed the crew assignments for the SpaceX Crew-3 team by adding a fourth astronaut to the crew – namely rookie Kayla Barron to serve as a mission specialist for the agency’s mission to the International Space Station (ISS) targeted to launch no earlier than (NET) Oct. 23 from Florida’s Spaceport. Kayla
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – After completing a six month science stint aboard the International Space Station (ISS) the four person multinational astronaut team on the NASA Crew-1 mission departed aboard their commercial SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Saturday evening and safely splashed down overnight this morning making the first nighttime water landing of astronauts since NASA’s historic
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The quartet of multinational astronauts launched early Friday morning (April 23) on the NASA SpaceX Crew 2 mission from Florida’s Space Coast successfully docked to the International Space Station (ISS) some 23 hours later early Saturday morning (April 24) – flying inside the first ever recycled SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA and SpaceX announced they are GO for launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission with four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) following the successful conclusion of the joint Flight Readiness Review (FRR) held at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The NASA and SpaceX launch teams are
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
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Just a few Sols, or Martian Days, after the surviving the harrowing ‘7 Minutes of Terror’ on Feb. 18, NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover has been spotted and imaged at her landing site on the surface of the Red Planet by another Martian orbiter namely the ExoMars orbiter along with the parachute,
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have selected a trio of astronauts to fly on the SpaceX Crew-3 mission launching to the International Space Station in late 2021. The multinational trio consist of NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Tom Marshburn, who will serve as commander and pilot, respectively, and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer from Germany,
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – After years of hard work and long hours by many teams of dedicated workers NASA’s fully assembled James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has at last fully and successfully completed all of the very harsh prelaunch environmental stress testing involving acoustics and vibrations required to clear the mammoth observatory for a rocket launch to space