Spaceflight & Cosmology

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SKB
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Michael Collins (1930-2021).
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Michael Collins (31 October 1930 – 28 April 2021) was an American astronaut who flew the Apollo 11 command module Columbia around the Moon in 1969 while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, made the first crewed landing on the surface. He was also a test pilot and major general in the U.S. Air Force Reserves.

Collins graduated from the United States Military Academy with the Class of 1952. He joined the United States Air Force, and flew F-86 Sabre fighters at Chambley-Bussières Air Base, France. He was accepted into the U.S. Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in 1960, also graduating from the Aerospace Research Pilot School (Class III).

Selected as part of NASA's third group of 14 astronauts in 1963, Collins flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was on Gemini 10 in 1966, in which he and Command Pilot John Young performed orbital rendezvous with two spacecraft and undertook two extravehicular activities (EVAs, also known as spacewalks). On the 1969 Apollo 11 mission he became one of 24 people to fly to the Moon, which he orbited thirty times. He was the fourth person (and third American) to perform a spacewalk, the first person to have performed more than one spacewalk, and, after Young, who flew the command module on Apollo 10, the second person to orbit the Moon alone.

After retiring from NASA in 1970, Collins took a job in the Department of State as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. A year later, he became the director of the National Air and Space Museum, and held this position until 1978, when he stepped down to become undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1980, he took a job as vice president of LTV Aerospace. He resigned in 1985 to start his own consulting firm. Along with his Apollo 11 crewmates, Collins was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2011. He died of cancer on 28 April 2021, at the age of 90.


(NASA) 28th April 2021

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SKB
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SpaceX Starship SN15 launch and landing test successful

(SpaceX) 13th May 2021
On Wednesday, 5th May 2021, Starship serial number 15 (SN15) successfully completed SpaceX’s fifth high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. SN15 ascended, transitioned propellant, and reoriented itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent. The Raptor engines reignited to perform the landing flip maneuver before touching down for a nominal landing on the pad.
The four previous high altitude launches of SN8, SN9, SN10 and SN11 all had successful launches, but had failures during descent. SN8 and SN9 had engine problems and crashed on the landing pad. SN10 did land (sort of...), but it had a hard landing which caused SN10's structure to fail and leak propellants and it blew up on the landing pad about ten minutes after landing. SN11 had a successful launch (in thick fog!), but it blew up on descent before touching down.

Videos of the four previous Starship launches:
CLICK:
SN8 (9th December 2020)


SN9 (2nd February 2021)


SN10 (3rd March 2021)


SN11 (30th March 2021)
Starship prototypes SN12, SN13 and SN14 were not completed and scrapped in favour of an improved SN15 design. Which apparently works!


Since the landing, SN15 has been craned up, had its six feet removed (for replacement - some sustained bending damage) and Elon Musk seems to want to relaunch SN15 for another test flight soon....

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So excited for the Orbital flight planned for july ... but seeing the whole starship together will be AWSOME !!!

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Virgin Galactic Completes First-Ever flight from New Mexico

(Virgin Galactic) 23rd May 2021
On May 22, 2021, Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spaceship completed the first-ever human spaceflight from Spaceport America, New Mexico, with two pilots reaching apogee at 55.45 miles (292,776 feet, or 89.2 km) above ground. The flight is a meaningful step toward the opening of commercial space travel.
Not space. Didn't get to 100km (Karman line).

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Re: Spaceflight & Cosmology

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SKB wrote:Not space. Didn't get to 100km (Karman line).
Debatable. The Kármán line is only one definition of space (and not a very precise one at that). The US military definition of space is 50 miles/80km altitude so VG did achieve space flight, in US eyes at least.

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Amazon's Jeff Bezos delivers himself to space!

(Blue Origin) 20th July 2021 (Takeoff at 1:43:18. Landing at 1:51:00)
On 20th July 2021, Blue Origin flew its 16th New Shepard flight to space, and its first with astronauts on board.
The flight, carrying Jeff Bezos (57), Mark Bezos (53), Wally Funk (82) and Oliver Daemon (18) successfully reached a sub-orbital altitude of 351,210 feet (107.048 km) exceeding the internationally recognised Karman Line (100 km) of "space".

:clap: :thumbup:

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A tour of space x with Elon musk talking challenge requirements delete and optimise and the manufacture process


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SW1 wrote:
Here's part 2.

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SN20 stacked on top of BN4 for the first time
Timelapse:

(NasaSpaceflight) 7th August 2021
SpaceX stacks Ship 20 on top of Super Heavy Booster 4, creating the first fully stacked Starship ever. Standing 120m tall, Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever to be assembled. After stacking, crews lowered Ship 20 back to the ground and rolled it back to the Production Site.
Seems to have been done as a fit test of the two stages, as well as making a good photo opportunity.

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SW1 wrote:
Part 3 of 3.

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Star Trek's William Shatner to go boldly into space!!!

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Shatner, aged 90 will become the oldest person to reach space.


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There are many OLD MEN and many BOLD MEN. OLD AND BOLD MEN are much fewer in number. :lol:

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William Shatner's space flight has been delayed by a day to the 13th October due to strong winds forecast for the 12th October.

The 13th.... :?

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Re: Spaceflight & Cosmology

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William Shatner goes boldly into space!


William Shatner after landing: 2:45:00 ^

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James Webb Space Telescope


Launched Christmas Day 2021 by ESA on a Ariane 5 rocket.


Seperation from Ariane 5 on Christmas Day 2021.


Thermal sunshield deployments, January 2022.

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TWOSDAY 22/2/2022!
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Interest tweet on cyber defence
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Ruskie rockets...


Counter embargo: no more rocket engines either... no idea who uses them
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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A discarded 3 ton Chinese rocket stage is expected to hit the Moon today - at 5,800 mph! The Chinese deny the rocket stage is theirs.

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Starlink in Kyiv

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Ukrainian president thanked Elon Musk by phone and according to AP 'joked' about space co-operation when 'this' is over
- well, the North Korean rocket designs were obtained from a factory in the so-called rebel 'states'. Perhaps with no Russian rockets going forward (nor engines to use in other models) that joke may become reality
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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https://spacenews.com/u-s-general-starl ... ns-can-do/

What we’re seeing with Elon Musk and the Starlink capabilities is really showing us what a megaconstellation or a proliferated architecture can provide in terms of redundancy and capability,” Gen. James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command, said during a hearing the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Dickinson’s comments were in response to questions from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who noted that Starlink’s ability to deliver communications from space over Ukraine is “positive news” and also an example of “private actors in space entering into contested environments.”

“Russia has been trying to jam the signals and block coverage, and that’s made me wonder,” Kaine said. He asked Dickinson if there is a “legal framework” for U.S. commercial space companies that become involved in contested situations.

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Did not expect that


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NASA's Perseverance Rover Sees Solar Eclipse On Mars

(NASA/JPL) 20th April 2022
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera system to shoot video of Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons, eclipsing the Sun. It’s the most zoomed-in, highest frame-rate observation of a Phobos solar eclipse ever taken from the Martian surface.

Several Mars rovers have observed Phobos crossing in front of the Sun over the past 18 years. Spirit and Opportunity made the first observations back in 2004; Curiosity in 2019 was the first to record video of the event. Each time these eclipses are observed, they allow scientists to measure subtle shifts in Phobos’ orbit over time. The moon’s tidal forces pull on the deep interior of the Red Planet, as well as its crust and mantle; studying how much Phobos shifts over time reveals something about how resistant the crust and mantle are, and thus what kinds of materials they’re made of.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

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