Ask the Expert
July 6th, 2014
Suborbital: Industry at the Edge of Space by Erik Seedhouse; Springer/Praxis, New York /Heidelberg; $34.99; 2014. As the dawn of commercial suborbital flight draws closer, author Erik Seedhouse has written an informative book on the topic. The reader will find splendid accounts of such groups as Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, and XCOR […]
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Blog
March 6th, 2014
A top-notch team of MIT engineers has scoped out orbiting way stations – one such depot placed somewhere between the Earth and the Moon. Once in place, this type of filling station could reduce the fuel a spacecraft needs to carry from Earth. That means, with less fuel onboard, a rocket could launch heavier payloads, […]
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September 26th, 2013
Swiss Space Systems (S3) is on a quest to manufacture, certify and operate automated suborbital spaceplanes for small satellite deployment. S3 has announced they have partnered with Bauman Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU) adding to its cadre of technical advisors. The Cooperation with BMSTU will enable the exchange of academicals between Russia and Switzerland to […]
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September 14th, 2013
UPDATE: Launch date slip Following a launch review meeting held earlier this morning, Orbital’s Antares team has decided to postpone the launch of the COTS Demonstration mission from Wallops Island, VA by at least 24 hours. The combination of yesterday’s poor weather that delayed roll-out of the rocket to the launch pad and a technical […]
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Commercial Space
May 8th, 2013
Frederick “C. J.” Sturckow, a four time space shuttle commander and pilot, has become the first from NASA’s astronaut corps to join Virgin Galactic as a test pilot for SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft operations, the emerging commercial suborbital passenger launch service announced Tuesday. Sturckow and Michael “Sooch” Masucci, a former U.S. Air Force test […]
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April 13th, 2013
SpaceShipTwo progress is being made in the skies over the Mojave Air and Space Port in California – successful demonstration on April 12th of key components of the system. SpaceShipTwo carried out a “Cold Flow” flight. The test objectives were achieved, and the craft is advancing towards its first powered flight. In this latest milestone, […]
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