Greetings and salutations from TechCrunch Space again. Before we get started, let me just briefly mention our main event of the year, TechCrunch Disrupt. Some of the top personalities in the space industry will be featured in the half-day of programming we have arranged for you. See here for the whole schedule. Hopefully, some of you will be in October!
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Story of the week
I know I’m sick of hearing about Boeing’s Starliner, too, but the ship is still not home, and concerns about NASA’s openness are growing. Conspiracies thrive in an information vacuum, so it’s understandable that at this point many are beginning to wonder if Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will indeed be returning home on Starliner (or if a SpaceX Dragon would need to be deployed as a backup return spacecraft).
One “informed source” told Eric Berger of Ars that there was a better than 50/50 chance the crew would return on Dragon, while another stated that NASA would employ SpaceX’s vehicle was “significantly more likely than not.”
If this is the case, Starliner’s future seems bleak, even though Boeing has invested around $1.6 billion in the project in addition to the $4.2 billion contract it received from NASA to develop the capsule.
I know I’m sick of hearing about Boeing’s Starliner, too, but the ship is still not home, and concerns about NASA’s openness are growing. Conspiracies thrive in an information vacuum, so it’s understandable that at this point many are beginning to wonder if Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will indeed be returning home on Starliner (or if a SpaceX Dragon would need to be deployed as a backup return spacecraft).
One “informed source” told Eric Berger of Ars that there was a better than 50/50 chance the crew would return on Dragon, while another stated that NASA would employ SpaceX’s vehicle was “significantly more likely than not.”
If this is the case, Starliner’s future seems bleak, even though Boeing has invested around $1.6 billion in the project in addition to the $4.2 billion contract it received from NASA to develop the capsule.
I know I’m sick of hearing about Boeing’s Starliner, too, but the ship is still not home, and concerns about NASA’s openness are growing. Conspiracies thrive in an information vacuum, so it’s understandable that at this point many are beginning to wonder if Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will indeed be returning home on Starliner (or if a SpaceX Dragon would need to be deployed as a backup return spacecraft).
One “informed source” told Eric Berger of Ars that there was a better than 50/50 chance the crew would return on Dragon, while another stated that NASA would employ SpaceX’s vehicle was “significantly more likely than not.”
If this is the case, Starliner’s future seems bleak, even though Boeing has invested around $1.6 billion in the project in addition to the $4.2 billion contract it received from NASA to develop the capsule.
I know I’m sick of hearing about Boeing’s Starliner, too, but the ship is still not home, and concerns about NASA’s openness are growing. Conspiracies thrive in an information vacuum, so it’s understandable that at this point many are beginning to wonder if Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will indeed be returning home on Starliner (or if a SpaceX Dragon would need to be deployed as a backup return spacecraft).
One “informed source” told Eric Berger of Ars that there was a better than 50/50 chance the crew would return on Dragon, while another stated that NASA would employ SpaceX’s vehicle was “significantly more likely than not.”
If this is the case, Starliner’s future seems bleak, even though Boeing has invested around $1.6 billion in the project in addition to the $4.2 billion contract it received from NASA to develop the capsule.
Launch of the week
This week saw the launch of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft by SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS), which is Northrop’s 21st commercial cargo resupply mission for NASA. During a news conference last Friday, NASA officials revealed that Wilmore and Williams did not have additional spacesuits with them, which would have been necessary if they were to return on Dragon.
Even though the launch proceeded according to plan, astronauts on board the station appeared to be informed by NASA mission control that something was wrong with the spacecraft’s performance. The agency later released a statement claiming that Cynus’s propulsion system burn failed “due to a late entry to burn sequencing.” However, the organization also stated that in order for the spacecraft to arrive on schedule on August 7 at 3:10 AM EST, “Northrop Grumman engineers are working on a new burn and trajectory plan.”
This week saw the launch of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft by SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS), which is Northrop’s 21st commercial cargo resupply mission for NASA. During a news conference last Friday, NASA officials revealed that Wilmore and Williams did not have additional spacesuits with them, which would have been necessary if they were to return on Dragon.
Even though the launch proceeded according to plan, astronauts on board the station appeared to be informed by NASA mission control that something was wrong with the spacecraft’s performance. The agency later released a statement claiming that Cynus’s propulsion system burn failed “due to a late entry to burn sequencing.” However, the organization also stated that in order for the spacecraft to arrive on schedule on August 7 at 3:10 AM EST, “Northrop Grumman engineers are working on a new burn and trajectory plan.”
What we’re reading
Plans from Vast for what would be the first private microgravity laboratory in low Earth orbit thrilled me. Given the strong demand for doing research on the International Space Station, the business’s Haven-1 will house Redwire Space, the European space biotech company Yuri, and maybe other organizations as well. More space research equals a victory for humanity.
Plans from Vast for what would be the first private microgravity laboratory in low Earth orbit thrilled me. Given the strong demand for doing research on the International Space Station, the business’s Haven-1 will house Redwire Space, the European space biotech company Yuri, and maybe other organizations as well. More space research equals a victory for humanity.
Plans from Vast for what would be the first private microgravity laboratory in low Earth orbit thrilled me. Given the strong demand for doing research on the International Space Station, the business’s Haven-1 will house Redwire Space, the European space biotech company Yuri, and maybe other organizations as well. More space research equals a victory for humanity.
This week in space history
After nearly a year of journeying from Earth, the Mars Curiosity Rover touched down on the red planet on August 6, 2012. Enjoy this amazing video of the Mission Control room taken just moments before Curiosity touched down on the planet. Did I cry? I did, I promise.