Dream Chaser, the crewed orbital and suborbital vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing lifting-body vehicle, has been delivered to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California as of May 15. The vehicle, being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems, will undergo a series of tests on its flight and runway landing system. “This will be the first full scale flight test [...]
Post Tagged with: “Boeing”
Boeing Completes Launch Vehicle Adapter Review
Source: NASA The Boeing Company of Houston, a NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partner, has successfully completed a preliminary design review (PDR) of the component that would connect the company’s new crew capsule to its rocket. The review is one of six performance milestones Boeing has completed for NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, which is intended to make [...]
SLS External Tank Reverts to Hard Alloy
NASA is reverting to hard aluminum-copper alloy Al 2219 for use in the core stage of America’s next heavy-lift launch vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS), reports NASASpaceflight.com. The change is a move away from more recent super lightweight aluminum-lithium alloy Al 2195 that the Agency used in manufacturing the lightest external tank design of the Space Shuttle, also known as the [...]
ISU International Symposium on Tele-Reach
Last week saw the 17th annual International Space University Symposium, held at the ISU main campus in Strasbourg, which ran from 5th-7th March. The title of this year’s symposium was “Space Technology and Tele-reach: Benefiting Humanity on Earth and Beyond.” Tele-reach, according to the symposium program’s definition, is a term used to refer to technologies and applications which allow remote [...]
News Shorts: New Problem for Sea Launch, Bigelow Reveals Pricing for Space Station, Satellite To Be Stored During Merger
No Rest For Sea Launch After the failing of the Zenit 3SL rocket, which resulted in a Boeing-built satellite plunging into the Pacific Ocean, Boeing has filed suit against its Sea Launch partner. Boeing has postulated that its partners had failed to pay more than $356 million owed after the joint venture went into bankruptcy in 2009. The lawsuit, filed [...]
Zenit Launch with Intelsat 27 Ends in Ocean
At 06:56 GMT on Friday, February 1, a Zenit-3SL rocket lifted off from Sea Launch’s platform in the Pacific Ocean, carrying the 6215 kg Intelsat 27. Forty seconds later, the rocket and its payload had crashed into the water. “We are very disappointed with the outcome of the launch and offer our sincere regrets to our customer, Intelsat, and their [...]
Dreamliner Battery Woes Have ISS Implications
On January 16, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplanes pending investigation into the safety of its batteries. Poland followed suit, quickly joined by the rest of Europe by decree of the European Aviation Safety Administration. Japan’s fleet had already been voluntarily suspended. India and Ethiopia joined the ban within hours. “Before further flight, operators [...]
X-37B Delayed as Investigation Continues; May Soon Have Company
The US Air Force’s third classified X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission has been delayed for a second time, and is now scheduled to launch on November 27, a month after its original launch date. The delay is due to an ongoing investigation into an engine glitch that occurred on an October 4 flight of a closely related vehicle to the Atlas [...]
Classified Spaceplane Prepares for Third Test Flight
The US Air Force spaceplane X-37B is being readied for its third Orbital Test Vehicle flight (OTV-3) on October 25. The vessel, which will launch aboard an Atlas-Centaur rocket, carries a classified payload like its predecessors. “As with many other advanced technology test programs, some details of the mission and test requirements are classified or sensitive,” said Air Force spokesperson [...]
Endeavour’s Final Journey Marred by Tree Chopping Controversy
Since the ending of NASA’s Space Shuttle program in 2011, the remaining shuttles and their test models have been dispersing to final resting places in museums across the United States. In April, Discovery flew in to Virginia’s National Air and Space Museum aboard a modified Boeing 747. In June, replica Explorer made its way to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas [...]
