Splashdown and flight before it was test not only of spacecraft but of Nasa's plan for spaceflight, too
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It was not only a test of the capsule itself, but of Nasa's overarching Commercial Crew Programme. That has seen it turn to private companies – Elon Musk's SpaceX most famously, but others too – in an attempt to restore its former success in space travel.
In all, the mission marks a historic success: it is the first time that astronauts were sent from US soil since the Space Shuttle programme ended in 2011, and the first successful splashdown in 45 years, since the Apollo programme.
Check out this next:
Oh Great: Space Travel Makes Bacteria Even Deadlier
The long-term effects that microgravity — the almost-total weightlessness experienced during near-Earth space travel — have on the human body are still largely unknown.
On top of that, bacteria brought to space were able to quickly mutate and adapt to their surroundings, nixing hope that dangerous pathogens might die off in the extreme conditions of space travel. The cells become smaller, Minhas writes, but also more numerous.
Questions remain about how bacteria might fare in microgravity versus true zero-gravity conditions. Scientists haven't sorted out whether the changes are due to a specific, quantifiable change in gravitational pull or weightlessness in general. But they have figured out what changes are happening.
As if space wasn't dangerous enough, bacteria become more deadly in microgravity
China has launched its Tianwen-1 mission to Mars. A rocket holding an orbiter, lander and rover took flight from the country's Hainan province yesterday, with hopes to deploy the rover on Mars's surface by early next year.
Similarly, the launch of the Emirates Mars Mission on Sunday marked the Arab world's foray into interplanetary space travel. And on July 30, we expect to see NASA's Mars Perseverance rover finally take off from Florida.
For many nations and their people, space is becoming the ultimate frontier. But although we're gaining the ability to travel smarter and faster into space, much remains unknown about its effects on biological substances, including us.
No Phones in Space: Virgin Galactic Designs Cabin to Keep Passengers in the Moment - WSJ
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. on Tuesday revealed its design for the passenger cabin in SpaceShipTwo, the suborbital craft it is building to send tourists into space.
Safety fears have since been allayed, at least for some: Virgin Galactic said about 600 people have spent as much as $250,000 a ticket, though the timing of their trips is unclear: The company hasn't confirmed when it plans to begin launching tourists into space.
Now, for the first time, customers get to see where they will spend their 90-minute trip out of Earth's atmosphere. The designers said they spent years creating a cabin that balanced familiar elements from air travel with the considerations of a visit to space.
And here's another article:
NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance is all set to launch today — interesting facts you may
Even though the mission is planned for one Martian year — 687 Earth days — the new explorer comes strapped with a nuclear power source that will sustain for at least another 88 years.
Plutonium-238 has always been the ideal candidate for deep-space travel. As the pellets decay, the heat generated creates electricity when running through thermoelectric generators. The electricity is used to charge the Perseverance rover's lithium-ion batteries, which powers both the rover and all of its instruments.
Former NASA astronaut on how long term space travel affects the body
This Insane New Research Center Is Like an Underwater Space Station – Robb Report
Related: This NASA Astronaut Just Became the First Woman to Dive to the Ocean’s Deepest Point
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The pods jutting off from the main habitat are modular and have many different functions. Yves Béhar and fuseproject
Powering Perseverance: NASA's Mars 2020 Mission Fueled by DOE National Labs | Department of Energy
This week, I have the privilege of traveling down to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center to witness the historic launch of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover . NASA’s latest mission is of particular interest to the U.S. Department of Energy because it will be the first rover in more than 30 years to use domestically-produced plutonium created by our incredible national laboratories—successfully rebuilding the nation’s supply chain capability for future missions.
Happening on Twitter
BREAKING: @NASA and @SpaceX are targeting Pensacola as the primary return location for Crew Dragon w/ @Astro_Doug a… https://t.co/mSLj5WZHUJ JimBridenstine (from Washington, DC) Sat Aug 01 17:43:08 +0000 2020
Join us this morning at 9:10 a.m. ET for the @SpaceX Dragon Demo-2 Farewell Ceremony aboard the @Space_Station. 🚀🇺🇸… https://t.co/ZCSrnInWhn Commercial_Crew (from Kennedy Space Center) Sat Aug 01 12:26:59 +0000 2020
There's no place like home! 🌎 @AstroBehnken & @Astro_Doug are preparing to return to planet Earth aboard @SpaceX's… https://t.co/aH0aLdbg2G NASA Sat Aug 01 20:11:41 +0000 2020
🚀 @Astro_Doug & @AstroBehnken made history during our #LaunchAmerica mission that lifted off on May 30. Now that… https://t.co/EoKcFlmX5C NASA Sat Aug 01 15:06:01 +0000 2020
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