Orion splashes down to end Artemis 1
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-11 17:50
Orion spacecraft splashed down off the coast of Baja California at 12:40 p.m. Eastern Dec. 11. The splashdown took place near recovery forces led by the USS Portland. “This has been an extraordinarily successful mission,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.
Artemis 1 success earns widespread praise
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-12 10:37
Artemis 1 mission wraps up 25 and a half days after its liftoff on the inaugural flight of the Space Launch System. After post-splashdown tests and examinations, crews secured the capsule inside of the recovery ship USS Portland. The ship should arrive at the port of San Diego, California, Dec. 13.
Space Command promotes role in Artemis 1
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-11 16:39
Orion crew capsule is scheduled to splash down at 12:39 p.m. Eastern Dec. 11. It will be recovered by a joint NASA/U.S. Navy team using the ship USS Portland. The military forces involved in the recovery are coordinated by U.S. Space Command.
Falcon 9 launches ispace lander and NASA cubesat to the moon
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-11 09:45
SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral at 2:38 a.m. Eastern. Rocket's first stage lands at company's Landing Zone 2 about eight minutes after liftoff. HAKUTO-R M1 will attempt a soft landing in Atlas Crater, located on the edge of Mare Frigoris.
Europe celebrates performance of Orion service module
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-10 15:38
Artemis 1 mission is set to conclude Dec. 11 with the reentry and splashdown of the Orion crew capsule. The European Service Module provided power, propulsion and other services for the spacecraft. Some see the mission as a step towards a European crewed spacecraft. The Artemis 1 mission comes as some in Europe advocate for ESA to develop its own human spaceflight.
Japanese moon lander, NASA hitchhiker payload launched by SpaceX – Spaceflight Now
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-11 00:00
The commercial Hakuto-R moon lander, developed by a Japanese company called ispace, will attempt to become the first privately-developed spacecraft to accomplish a soft landing on the lunar surface. The launch occurred about 10 hours before the scheduled splashdown of NASA’s Orion crew capsule to wrap of a 25-day unpiloted test flight to the moon and back.
NASASpaceFlight.com
India launches a new ocean monitoring satellite on Saturday morning. The EOS-06 spacecraft was placed into a low Earth orbit. The mission, PSLV C54, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11:56 local time (06:26 UTC)
Commercial Archives
SpaceX has used its Falcon 9 rocket to send a privately funded mission toward the surface of the moon. HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) on Dec. 11.
International Archives
Orion spacecraft will splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the Baja Coast near Guadalupe Island. Final in-flight development test objectives were completed on Saturday, Dec. 10. The fifth and penultimate return trajectory correction burn was executed to continue aligning the spacecraft for its reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
ISS Updates – Spaceflight101 – International Space Station
A veteran NASA spacewalker and an EVA rookie from Japan ended their week with nearly six hours of work outside the International Space Station. The restoration of the Station’s Mobile Servicing System started last year and continued in January to provide Canadarm2 with a new pair of grappling hands.
Featured – Spaceflight101
SpaceX Falcon 9 takes to the skies over Florida’s Cape Canaveral Monday afternoon. First of at least six cargo ships inbound to the U.S. Segment of ISS this year. Dragon spacecraft will deliver science gear, supplies and maintenance hardware to the orbiting laboratory.
News – Spaceflight101
Russia's Rockot booster set to blast off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 17:57 UTC with the Sentinel-3B multi-function satellite. Sentinel-3B is Europe's next addition to the Copernicus satellite fleet. The satellite is part of the EU's Copernicus satellite network.
Re-Entry: Long March 11 Rocket Body – Spaceflight101
The CZ-11 fourth stage used leftover propellant for a partial de-orbit maneuver, lowering its perigee to 120 Kilometers to significantly accelerate its orbital decay. It is reportedly built around a YF-50 main engine and conducts the orbital circularization after the three CZ-11 stages finish their job.
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight Has Launched – Follow the Mission in Real Time
Lunar Flashlight will use a reflectometer equipped with four lasers that emit near-infrared light in wavelengths readily absorbed by surface water ice. The greater the absorption, the more ice there may be. The spacecraft’s avatar is an exact model of the real thing, down to its four solar arrays, science instrument, and thrusters.
Practice Makes Perfect for Student Inventions at JPL Competition
The Invention Challenge returns to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. This year's contest was dubbed the “Sticky Wicket Contest’ Teams created devices that launched bouncy rubber balls at five croquet-inspired targets. Hammers and mallets, giant rubber bands and bungee cords, PVC piping and lots of wood were used.
Water-Tracking SWOT Satellite Encapsulated in Rocket Payload Fairing
The SWOT satellite, or the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission, is now encapsulated in its payload fairing. The fairing protects the satellite from aerodynamic pressure and heating during ascent. Once in orbit, SWOT will measure the height of water in freshwater bodies and the ocean on more than 90% of Earth’s surface.
Water Mission to Gauge Alaskan Rivers on Front Lines of Climate Change
Swot is being jointly developed by NASA and CNES, with contributions from the CSA and the UK Space Agency. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, leads the U.S. Component of the project. “SWOT is going to allow us to see what’s going on in Alaska hydrologically in ways that we haven’t before,” says Tamlin Pavelsky, SWOT freshwater science lead.
NASA Press Events at 2022 Fall AGU Meeting
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter began the era of powered-controlled flight on Mars on April 19, 2021. OSIRIS-REx is on track to deliver a sizable sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023. Join experts at the NASA booth to hear hyperwall talks about Planetary Science.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Gets the Dirt on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover snagged two new samples from the Martian surface on Dec. 2 and 6. One of these two samples will be considered for deposit on the Martian surface sometime this month. Scientists want to study Martian samples with powerful lab equipment on Earth to search for signs of ancient microbial life.
NASA Sets Coverage for SWOT Water Survey Mission Launch
NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission. The mission is targeted for liftoff at 6:46 a.m. EST (3:46 a. M. PST) Thursday, Dec. 15, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Live launch coverage will begin at 6 a.m. ET (3 a.m. PST) on NASA Television, YouTube, Twitter, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.