Today’s Deep Space Extra… Stacking is now complete for NASA’s Space Launch System’s rocket boosters. Russia and China announce an agreement to lead the development of a research base at the Moon.
Human Space Exploration
SLS: NASA assembles twin boosters for its ‘megarocket’
Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman
BBC News (3/9): Stacking is complete for the twin Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters for the Artemis I mission. Prior to the arrival at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) of the rocket’s core stage, which is awaiting the last step in the Green Run test series at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, the team will finish installing electrical instrumentation and test the systems on the boosters.
It’s official, a NASA astronaut will be aboard next Soyuz launch
Coalition Members in the News – Axiom Space, Boeing
Spacepolicyonline.com (3/9): Working through Axiom Space as an intermediary, NASA and Roscosmos have agreed to provide U.S. astronaut Mark Vande Hei with a seat aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule heading for the International Space Station (ISS) on April 9. NASA’s goal is to have a continuous presence of at least one U.S. astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut aboard the ISS, which the agency is trying to ensure by flying on a Russian spacecraft to the ISS in addition to relying on its commercial crew providers.
China, Russia enter MoU on international lunar research station
SpaceNews.com (3/9): The heads of the space agencies of Russia and China signed an agreement Tuesday to pursue the development of an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a science facility that is to be assembled either in lunar orbit or on the lunar surface. The partnership will be open to all interested countries, according to the agencies.
Space Science
Meteor explodes over Vermont with the force of 440 pounds of TNTs
Space.com (3/9): A small but bright meteor estimated to weigh six pounds lit up the skies and exploded over Vermont on Sunday.
Other News
Space Force awards ULA, SpaceX contracts for four national security missions
Coalition Member in the News – United Launch Alliance
SpaceNews.com (3/9): The U.S. Space Force awarded United Launch Alliance (ULA) and SpaceX contracts for four National Security Space Launch Phase 2 missions scheduled for 2023. The two companies were selected in August 2020 as the two launch providers for Phase 2 of the National Security Space Launch program.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will give NASA a spin in lunar gravity on suborbital flight
Geekwire.com (3/9): Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket will be flown in ways to provide NASA and others a simulation of lunar level gravitational forces. The rocket’s spacecraft capsule can be spun to provide about two minutes of the lunar gravity experience beginning in 2022.