We're turning our eye to the skies above us: more specifically, to 400 km above Planet Earth, where a 27-hour voyage to the International Space Station is due to come to an end soon. In NASA's first fully crewed space mission to be launched from US soil in nine years, four astronauts are heading to the ISS to join two Russians and one American who flew out there last month from Kazakhstan.
The mission is significant for a number of reasons: not least because it is a rare piece of exciting, uplifting news in what has been a difficult year for so many of us, but also because it is the first of a series of taxi flights conducted for NASA by a private company: namely SpaceX, which is owned by the Tesla founder Elon Musk.
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Mic check: Listen to NASA's Mars rover traveling through space
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More than halfway to the red planet after launching from Florida in July NASA's Mars rover Perseverance is coming in hot -- on the microphone.
Perseverance, also known as Mars 2020, launched from Cape Canaveral on a ULA Altas V rocket this July.
The robot may look like NASA's well-known rover, Curiosity, currently roving around on Mars but this bot has a whole new suite of instruments, cameras and two microphones on board. One mic is designed to listen to the pew-pew sounds from the rover's laser on the SuperCam instrument, another will listen to the Mars atmosphere entry, descent down to the surface and touchdown.
Commercial space travel takes flight
SpaceX's first manned commercial flight is underway after a successful launch from Kennedy Space Center on Sunday evening.
Thousands turned out to watch this weekend's follow-up launch from the Space Coast. Some came from across the country.
Rich Sirois drove down from Virginia to snap a few shots with his camera. He was excited to witness history despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and officials urging people to watch online.
Station astronauts begin space travel - now space travel
Two Russian astronauts suitable for a space outside the International Space Station on Wednesday began preparing the Birs aircraft and docking box for next year’s disposal to create a way to connect the new laboratory module.
Starting at 9:30 a.m. EST, it will be valid as an aircraft to future Russian space routes after removing its old number using the go-dock on the opposite side of the station from Birz.
The space shuttle comes two days after the arrival of four astronauts aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon merchant ship, which will be carried out by Expedition 64 Commander Sergei Ryzykov and Sergei Kut-Sverkov, both making their first missions outside the space station.
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Elon Musk: Commercial Space Travel Will Be Less Than $1M In The Future | Science Times
With SpaceX's Starship as the spacecraft of choice, Elon Musk plans to be the world's commercial space transport service in the future, taking people with less than $1 million in costs to a city on Mars. The SpaceX CEO claims the Spaceship is the best-suited vessel to fly with human travelers to the Red Planet for many months.
Using the groundbreaking Starship line-up, the Californian aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services, SpaceX, will soon introduce humans to space especially on the planet right next to Earth. In a report from INC.com , Elon Musk aims to cut off 99 percent off the price of space travel.
6 Companies That Are Taking Tourists Into Outer Space
With no concrete end in sight to this pandemic (thanks anti-maskers), we're forced to think about what the future of travel may hold. And by the time we're actually able to leave the country and explore our beautiful world, there may be an even wilder option for the adventure seekers out there—space travel.
That's right, in the next few years, multiple companies are gearing up to take you to space. You'll be able to float in zero gravity, marvel at our beautiful blue ball from afar (flat earthers be damned), and see more stars than you could ever imagine. This isn't a giant hoax (like the idea that masks don't work), this is a real thing that you'll really be able to do—that is, if you have the money.
Launching the Next Generation | NC State News
NASA astronaut Christina Koch, a three-time graduate of NC State, knows how to thrive working from home, which she did flawlessly during a record-breaking 328 days in space. She'll share her message of how NC State helped prepare her to become NASA's most accomplished female astronaut on Dec. 4 as the featured speaker at the university's first virtual commencement.
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The three-time NC State graduate and NASA astronaut knows what it's like to be isolated, apart from friends and family, unable to go about a regular routine, unable to even step outside for a breath of fresh air.
Tiny Spacecraft is 'Solar Sailing' in Orbit Using Only Sunlight, a Revolution in Space Exploration
An American astronomical society is proving that, like the Vikings of old, exploration of foreign shores—in this case foreign planets—is possible if you but master the use of the humble cloth sail.
LightSail 2, designed and crowd-funded by the Planetary Society, is a small spacecraft that has been moving around at high-speeds in Earth’s orbit, and turning direction by capturing solar photons with a square sail the size of a boxing ring.
Having launched in July 2019, the vessel has spent over a year meandering about 186 miles (300 kilometers) above the International Space Station, at 460 miles above Earth, it has produced a trove of scientific data which mission engineers at the Planetary Society will use to advance humanity’s understanding of solar sailing—potentially, it will be a very important and reliable form of space travel in the decades to come.
Happening on Twitter
The start of a new era in space! Congratulations @NASA and @SpaceX on a successful docking! https://t.co/4Y2fUJt0P8 TheRealBuzz Wed Nov 18 18:22:07 +0000 2020
BREAKING: @BorisJohnson will announce the biggest investment in defence since the Cold War, saying the UK has a cha… https://t.co/tVXAELnSWn haynesdeborah (from London) Wed Nov 18 22:55:10 +0000 2020
Congratulations to the men & women of @SpaceX & @NASA on the successful launch of the Crew-1 mission on a Falcon 9… https://t.co/6Fisg1AWa4 SenTedCruz (from Houston, Texas) Mon Nov 16 16:38:48 +0000 2020
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