Jared Isaacman, the billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut, said on the All-In Podcast June 4 that he believes his nomination to lead NASA was withdrawn by the White House due to his connections with Elon Musk. Isaacman said he was informed on May 30 that President Trump had decided to “go in a different direction,” ending his nomination as NASA administrator—a move made public the following day. This interview marked Isaacman’s first detailed public comments on the matter beyond brief social media posts. “I got a call Friday of last week that the president decided to go in a different…
Author: Oliver Walker
Blue Origin successfully launched six passengers on a suborbital flight aboard its New Shepard vehicle from Launch Site One in West Texas. The NS-32 mission lifted off at 9:39 a.m. Eastern and reached an apogee of 105 kilometers before safely returning the crew and booster to Earth about 10 minutes later. The six passengers on board included Aymette (Amy) Medina Jorge, a Texas teacher sponsored by Mexican healthcare company Farmacias Similares; Gretchen Green, a doctor and entrepreneur; Jaime Alemán, a Panamanian lawyer and former ambassador to the United States; Jesse Williams, a Canadian entrepreneur and adventurer; Mark Rocket, a New…
SpaceX’s Starship vehicle experienced a loss of attitude control after reaching space during its May 27 test flight, resulting in an uncontrolled reentry and the third consecutive failure to achieve a controlled splashdown. The vehicle lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas at 7:36 p.m. Eastern time. The launch was briefly delayed due to an issue with ground equipment that required a countdown reset. Designated Flight 9, the mission aimed to address engine issues that had affected the vehicle’s previous test flights. Starship’s six Raptor engines performed nominally during a burn lasting approximately six and a half minutes, placing…
The U.S. Space Force has awarded Raytheon a $379.7 million contract extension to continue work on the overdue Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX), a critical upgrade to the Global Positioning System (GPS) ground control infrastructure that is now more than eight years behind schedule. The contract extension, disclosed on May 21, adds another year of development following a $196.7 million award in November 2023. The Department of Defense (DoD) said the cumulative value of the OCX contract has reached approximately $4.6 billion, up from its original $1.5 billion value when Raytheon was selected as prime contractor in 2010. Designed…
In 2024, global orbital launch activity reached a new milestone, with 259 launch attempts, marking a 17% increase from the previous record of 221 launches set in 2023. The surge in launches was largely driven by SpaceX, which accounted for the majority of this growth. According to SpaceNews analysis, the increase in launches was primarily attributed to SpaceX’s expanded operations, which included 134 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches—significantly more than any other organization globally. SpaceX’s dominance was especially evident in the U.S., where the company performed 88 out of 93 launches from the Eastern Range in Florida, and 46…
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station early Wednesday morning, carrying 20 Starlink satellites, including 13 equipped with direct-to-cell (DtC) capabilities. The launch, initially delayed by technical issues, lifted off at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 UTC) following a two-hour postponement. “The Falcon 9 rocket carrying 20 Starlink spacecraft, including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 UTC) on Wednesday,” SpaceX confirmed in a mission description. https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1808442201850179591/ The mission marked the 67th Falcon 9 launch of 2024, highlighting SpaceX’s ongoing efforts to expand its Starlink megaconstellation,…
Airbus has commenced the journey of the Sentinel-2C satellite, the third in the Copernicus Sentinel-2 series, from its production site in Friedrichshafen to Bremen on July 2, before embarking on a maritime voyage to the European spaceport in French Guiana. The satellite container was loaded onto Canopée, a sail-assisted cargo ship designed for transporting Ariane 6 rocket components to the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, where it is expected to arrive in approximately two weeks. The Sentinel-2 mission operates with a constellation of two identical satellites, Sentinel-2A (launched in 2015) and Sentinel-2B (launched in 2017), orbiting the Earth 180° apart…
NASA and SpaceX are evaluating modifications to the reentry process of the Dragon spacecraft to mitigate debris from its trunk section reaching the ground, Reuters reported. Recent incidents involving debris from several missions have prompted a reevaluation of existing procedures. Previously, debris from Dragon spacecraft trunks has been found on land, including fragments from missions such as Crew-1 in Australia and Crew-7 in North Carolina. Despite initial expectations that the trunks would fully burn up during reentry, recent incidents have highlighted the need for improvements. “We did analysis back before Demo-2 and clearly the models don’t deal with the trunk…