Axiom received a nearly $230 million task order to develop the AxEMU suit, which Artemis astronauts will test out on the lunar surface. The task order is part of a contract with NASA worth up to $3.5 billion that also includes Collins Aerospace, which earlier this year abandoned efforts to develop extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits under its own $100 million task order.

NASA’s current EVA suits are more than four decades old, and recent malfunctions have forced the space agency to postpone several spacewalks.

“We have broken the mold,” said Matt Ondler, president of Axiom Space. “The Axiom Space-Prada partnership has set a new foundational model for cross-industry collaboration, further expanding what’s possible in commercial space.”

Artemis III will land a crew at the lunar south pole, so Axiom’s suit is designed to withstand extreme temperatures in regions devoid of sunlight. Its portable life support system will keep astronauts safe on spacewalks for up to eight hours, the company says.

Axiom says its design is more flexible, efficient, and safe than NASA’s existing suits. The AxEMU boots, for example, are built to withstand rough terrain and the freezing cold, while the helmet and visor covering are designed to improve astronauts’ vision of their surroundings. The suit can accommodate crew of nearly all body types.

Several AxEMU systems are redundant, including an onboard diagnostic system that tracks the wearer’s vital signs. Astronauts can control its temperature using a carbon dioxide scrubber and cooling system. A 4G/LTE communications system allows them to keep in touch with the rest of the crew during excursions.

The outer suit material, which was designed in partnership with Prada, will reflect heat and protect against small projectiles like dust.

“I’m very proud of the result we’re showing today, which is just the first step in a long-term collaboration with Axiom Space,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, chief marketing officer and head of corporate social responsibility for Prada Group. “We’ve shared our expertise on high-performance materials, features, and sewing techniques, and we learned a lot.”

According to Axiom, the suit will be designed for missions on the moon as well as in low-Earth orbit. That could be enticing for non-NASA customers that have different missions in mind.

The firm on Wednesday said the AxEMU suit is close to the final stage of development, with a critical design review expected next year. Already, it has endured underwater, reduced gravity, and pressurized simulation testing at NASA facilities. In the coming months, the space agency will perform crewed underwater testing at its Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and gauge the suit’s fit with the prototype lunar rover the Artemis astronauts will drive.

Simultaneously, Axiom is developing the Axiom Station: one of several commercial space outposts that could replace the International Space Station (ISS) when NASA destroys it at the end of the decade. The firm has already completed three NASA-approved private astronaut missions to the ISS and is scheduled for a fourth in Spring 2025.

NASA’s largest commercial partner, SpaceX, meanwhile, has developed its own EVA spacesuit, which debuted during the first civilian spacewalk on September’s Polaris Dawn mission. The company claims it will one day manufacture thousands of suits for future astronauts to build and explore on Mars.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post NASA Astronauts Will Wear Prada for Artemis Moonwalk appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The mission lifted off October 14 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Roughly an hour later, the spacecraft separated from its launch vehicle, embarking on a cruise through the inner solar system. A pair of gravity assists will ultimately slingshot it to Jupiter. The spacecraft will travel some 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) over the next 5½ years and reach the Jupiter system in 2030.

Europa Clipper’s launch was originally scheduled for October 10, but that was delayed by Hurricane Milton. The craft rode out the hurricane’s destructive trek across Florida the night of October 9-10 safely ensconced in a hangar. After a damage assessment and recovery team surveyed the damage, Kennedy Space Center was declared safe and open, with only minor damage.

Enigmatic Europa

One of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, Europa has long fascinated scientists.

Some 90 percent the size of our own moon, the satellite is believed to host a global ocean of liquid saltwater twice the volume Earth’s oceans but locked beneath a water-ice crust some 2 to 20 miles (3 to 30 kilometers) thick. Not only that, the moon is heated through tidal flexing as it orbits Jupiter on an elliptical path, and also contains the chemical building blocks of life as we know it. 

• READ MORE:  NASA Awaits ‘All-Clear’ for Mission to Search for Life on Jupiter’s Moon

All these factors combine to create a compelling world where Earth-like life might find a way. In fact, when people think of the potentially habitable places within our solar system, Europa likely tops the list. 

“Europa Clipper is not specifically a life-search mission. [Instead], we’re going to understand the potential habitability of Europa,” said Europa Clipper project scientist Robert Pappalardo in a NASA video.

The mission will use nine instruments to study the moon’s interior and exterior, as well as the environment in which it sits, to learn about the ice shell and the ocean it hides, as well as the composition of the moon and whether it is geologically active.

A Dedicated Mission

Once it launches, Europa Clipper will complete a triad of Jupiter missions currently in action, joining NASA’s Juno, which has been orbiting Jupiter since July 2016, and ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), which launched in April 2023 and is also on its way to the gas giant. In fact, Europa Clipper, currently scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in April 2030, will beat JUICE to its destination by about a year thanks to differing trajectories.

But why send Europa Clipper at all, if Juno is already in orbit and JUICE is on its way? 

Juno is dedicated to studying Jupiter itself, although it’s certainly sent back some stunning imagery of the moons as well. Additionally, Juno’s mission is coming to a close, planned to end in September 2025. And after JUICE arrives in 2031, it will complete just two flybys of Europa in July 2032, before move on to concentrate the bulk of its mission on Ganymede and Callisto. Like Europa, these larger moons also presumably host liquid subsurface oceans, though farther beneath their own icy crusts. 

“For the first time ever, we’re sending a spacecraft completely dedicated to studying this moon,” said Tracy Drain, Europa Clipper’s lead flight system systems engineer. 

Following its launch, Europa Clipper’s journey will take it past Mars (2025) and Earth (2026) for gravity assists before reaching the Jupiter system. Once there, it will use the Galilean moons to slow and shape its orbit, aiming to enter resonance with Europa’s orbit and make its first flyby of the eponymous moon in early 2031. Shortly after, in May that year, the craft will begin its science campaign, focusing first on the anti-Jupiter side of the moon (the side of Europa facing away from Jupiter). 

• READ MORE: NASA Reveals Messages to Be Carried to Jupiter on Europa Clipper Orbiter

A second science campaign, which will send the craft past the Jupiter-facing side of the moon, will begin in May 2033. In all, Europa Clipper will make 49 Europa flybys, each passing over different terrain as it builds up a nearly complete global map of the surface. At its closest, it will skim just 16 miles (25 km) above the surface.

Throughout these campaigns, the spacecraft will plunge into one of the worst environments imaginable, bathed by the intense radiation that surrounds Jupiter. The massive planet supports an extensive magnetosphere—the region of space where its magnetic field dominates. Charged particles from both the Sun and Jupiter itself, as well as from the highly volcanic moon Io, are trapped by the planet’s powerful magnetic field and generate huge, intense radiation belts—belts that encompass Io, Europa, and Ganymede, with the two innermost moons orbiting in the worst of it. 

While there is no avoiding this environment if one wants to study Europa—and indeed, scientists think this unique environment has actively shaped Europa into the world we see today—the mission is taking precautions. First, the spacecraft will orbit Jupiter rather than Europa, meaning it will fly through—but not continually sit within—the worst of the radiation. Nonetheless, according to NASA, during each flyby, Europa Clipper will experience a dose of radiation equivalent to 1 million chest X-rays.

That’s why Europa Clipper is also taking a design note from Juno: The craft’s computer and sensitive electronics are locked within a sealed central vault, whose aluminum-zinc walls are some one-third inch (9.2 millimeters) thick. These walls will keep out enough of the punishing, fast-moving particle radiation to ensure the electronics within experience only “acceptable” levels of radiation and can function throughout the mission duration, according to NASA. 

In May, however, engineers brought up concerns regarding the spacecraft’s transistors and their ability to withstand the high-radiation environment they were traveling to. It appeared that the parts might be less resistant to radiation than expected, and some would fail prematurely. However, additional testing ultimately bore out that the transistors would support the intended mission duration. 

Additional Specs

Europa Clipper is the largest NASA spacecraft ever built for a planetary mission. It weighs some 13,000 pounds (5,900 kilograms) and, with its two wide, winglike solar arrays extended, spans more than 100 feet (30.5 meters)—roughly the length of a basketball court.

The mission carries visible-light and infrared cameras, as well as ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers to measure composition. Its magnetometer and plasma instrument will measure the moon’s magnetic field (generated by its motion through Jupiter’s changing magnetic field). These observations will confirm the presence of a subsurface ocean, as well as measure its salinity, depth, and even the thickness of the ice shell above it. A radar instrument will also help map the surface, determine the thickness of the icy crust, and even pick up subsurface liquid to confirm the presence and depth of the ocean.

Gravity science experiments will allow astronomers to evaluate how Europa Clipper’s flight path changes as it is influenced by the moon’s gravitational environment, which changes as it orbits Jupiter. This will, in turn, reveal how much the moon’s shape changes due to tidal forces—a factor inherently tied to its internal structure. 

Finally, the craft’s mass spectrometer and surface dust analyzer will explore the environment around the moon. In particular, they will analyze material vented by geysers, as well as surface ice particles knocked into space by micrometeorites. By studying the chemistry of Europa’s surface ice and subsurface water directly, scientists will be able to determine whether its ocean could indeed be hospitable to life. 

Answers Ahead

“All these worlds are yours—except Europa. Attempt no landing there,” reads the radio message beamed to Earth at the end of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel 2010: Odyssey Two.

Although fueled by the presence of fictitious plantlike creatures beneath Europa’s surface, the sentiment behind the message rings true in real life. After a little less than a year and a half of science, Europa Clipper will end its mission in September 2034 with a “deorbit” into its fellow Galilean moon, Ganymede. 

But Ganymede, like Europa, also harbors a subsurface ocean. So, why is it being targeted for the crash?

According to the ESA, whose JUICE mission will also end by impacting Ganymede: “Icy moon Europa is the only object that is considered to have the potential for harboring life, and that therefore needs to be protected.…But as it stands, planetary protection rules allow a crash onto Ganymede, because there are no indications that the deep subsurface ocean on Ganymede can be in contact with the icy surface. Crashing into Europa would not be allowed because Europa’s subsurface oceans are suspected to be less deep and therefore contamination from the surface to the ocean would in theory be possible.”

Despite the mission’s brevity, Europa Clipper has the potential to unlock one of the most mysterious and enticing worlds in our solar system. And it will certainly bring us one step—or perhaps several steps—closer to answering the question of whether Earth is the only solar system world hospitable to life.

“This mission has been a long time coming, and we’re so excited about what we’re going to see when we get there,” said Pappalardo.

This story was updated October 15 to include information about Europa Clipper’s launch and the status of recovery efforts at Kennedy Space Center.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Astronomy.

The post NASA’s Europa Clipper Sets Sail for Jupiter appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

But Isaacman—now a SpaceX “frequent flier” after also taking part in 2021’s Inspiration4 mission, the first all-civilian spaceflight—is just getting started.

“If we actually believe in the future that SpaceX is trying to create—where tens of thousands of people can be in space, on the moon, walking around on Mars—these kinds of capabilities have to exist within commercial industry,” Isaacman told FLYING at the 2024 UP.Summit.

Polaris Dawn was the first of three missions under Isaacman’s Polaris Program. The final mission, which does not yet have a target date, is expected to be the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship: the most powerful rocket ever built and the vehicle CEO Elon Musk believes will help humans colonize Mars.

Isaacman and crewmates Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, the first SpaceX employees to actually fly to space, sat down with FLYING for a mission debrief to highlight their favorite moments from Polaris Dawn—and talk about what comes next.

No Days Off

From the moment they lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, secured in a SpaceX Dragon capsule strapped to a Falcon 9 rocket, the Polaris Dawn crew got to work.

On the first day of the mission, for example, the crew reached an orbital apogee of 870 miles—three times higher than the International Space Station and the farthest humans have traveled from Earth since the Apollo era. Gillis and Menon now share the record for the furthest distance traveled from Earth by a woman.

At that altitude, the crew passed through the Van Allen radiation belts, a treacherous environment for humans. It conducted research that will help scientists better understand how to protect astronauts flying through that region.

“There’s micrometeoroid and debris that’s out there. A little millimeter piece of aluminum traveling at 8 kilometers a second will shred just about everything,” Isaacman said during a panel discussion at UP.Summit. “It’s a scary prospect. But we’ve got to travel through that if we’re going to get to the moon and Mars.”

Isaacman’s favorite moment of the mission, however, was the spacewalk he and Gillis performed. It was the first time civilian astronauts ventured outside a spacecraft. And because the Dragon capsule lacks an airlock, it was also the first time four astronauts were simultaneously exposed to the vacuum of space.

“That moment when Jared opened the hatch and there was the black beauty of space outside the hatch was a moment full of sensation, full of the awe that that evoked, as well as a cold rushing over your body,” Menon said. “It’s a full body experience.”

Traveling at 17,500 mph at an orbital altitude north of 450 miles, the astronauts were protected by SpaceX’s extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, which were specially designed for Polaris Dawn. The goal of the spacewalk was to perform mobility testing on the suits—a relatively simple objective compared to previous EVAs.

“The difference is—and this is so important—is all of those had the entire weight and resources of world superpowers behind them,” Isaacman said.

NASA’s budget peaked in the 1960s, when it was about 4.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).

For Gillis, a classically trained violinist, the highlight was her on-orbit performance of “Rey’s Theme” from the Star Wars franchise. Incredibly, Gillis said she had no prior practice playing in microgravity, where pushing on the violin’s fingerboard can move the entire instrument. She used a quarter-sized bow for greater control.

“It was three crewmembers in front of me with this tangle of cables, and the chaos of them trying to get the right angle as they’re floating away, and I’m floating away,” Gillis said. “It was just this total joy to try and record that.”

The performance, organized in partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and El Sistema USA, was a charitable effort to raise awareness and funding for cancer research and access to music education. But it was also a demonstration of SpaceX’s Starlink communications system. A Starlink module on Dragon used a beam of light to transmit the footage to another satellite while both were moving at orbital speeds.

How They Did It

Polaris Dawn was a private astronaut mission, meaning SpaceX was responsible for preparing the crew. Scott “Kidd” Poteet, the fourth crewmember and a retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot of two decades, said the training was more intense than anything he has ever experienced.

Gillis, a SpaceX astronaut trainer, said that while the crewmembers brought plenty of experience, combining their strengths was a learning curve. Early on, for example, they struggled through teamwork exercises in a simulator.

“We might have all of this expertise across the four of us, but we utterly failed that sim,” Gillis said. “Just because you have your own expertise doesn’t mean you are yet able to work in a team well.”

Added Menon: “It is really, really neat to see how the team develops together, how they learn to work together, and how they prepare for a mission. And it was really confidence inspiring, and really, to me, a very beautiful part of the development process getting us to launch.”

Isaacman said the training for Polaris Dawn was as special as the mission itself. The astronauts’ preparations took them scuba diving and skydiving, into the cockpit of fighter jets, and even to the top of Mount Cotopaxi in Ecuador. Each day was a new adventure.

“You came in one day and this development suit had a handful of different rotators or joints in it that we were testing out,” Isaacman said, “and then we come back the next week and it would be entirely different.”

In just two and a half years, SpaceX trained the crew, modified Dragon, and developed the EVA suits for Polaris Dawn. To put that into perspective, Menon’s husband, Anil Menon, was selected by NASA for an astronaut mission four days before Menon was picked by SpaceX—but she flew first.

Why It Matters

The technology and capabilities demonstrated during Polaris Dawn could alter human spaceflight as we know it.

The spacewalk, for example, was more than a flashy achievement. NASA’s current EVA spacesuits were designed four decades ago, and suit maintenance has forced the agency to postpone several spacewalks in recent months. Earlier this year, NASA and Collins Aerospace “mutually agreed” to end a $100 million contract that would see Collins deliver new suits by 2026.

NASA could spend billions of dollars on a suit redesign. SpaceX’s EVA suit, meanwhile, is designed to be manufactured at scale for thousands of people to build and explore on Mars, Isaacman said. The suit was designed for Polaris Dawn specifically, “but just like a lot of things that SpaceX works on, the utility is quite broad,” he said, implying that other astronauts will one day wear it.

The Starlink communications system showcased during the mission, meanwhile, could be a tool to ease demand on NASA’s Deep Space Network: an array of giant radio antennas that supports communications in the final frontier.

“We’re even hearing now, just even alleviating the demand over the [U.S. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System] and ground stations…as being a potential communication path to lunar missions, or potentially even Mars,” Isaacman said.

The altitude record, spacewalk, and symphony performance grabbed most of the Polaris Dawn headlines. But in between those objectives, the crew conducted an array of experiments to study the health of astronauts on long-duration spaceflight.

“There’s a lot of problems we have to solve if we’re going to have thousands of people living and working in space for really long periods of time and going really far from Earth,” said Menon.

For example, crewmembers stuck a device called an endoscope down their noses to image their airways, the first time that has been accomplished in space. They also researched spaceflight associated neuro ocular syndrome (SANS), a condition developed in microgravity that can impair astronauts’ vision. Other experiments focused on motion sickness, which according to Menon affects about 6 in 10 people when they first reach space.

“If you have 100 people in a spacecraft going up at the same time, and 60 of them are vomiting, that’s a big problem,” she said.

Data from these experiments will be entered into a database that is accessible to the wider space community, allowing non-SpaceX researchers to learn for years to come.

“If we want to have a future among the stars, if we want to have many people living and working there, we need these solutions,” Gillis said. “We need a new communication system. We need EVA suits so people can actually go and explore the surface of Mars. We need to understand the health implications so by the time we get there, they haven’t lost their vision and they aren’t sick.”

The crew also spent plenty of time studying problems back on Earth.

Isaacman’s Inspiration4 crewmate, St. Jude physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux, became the first human to fly to space with a prosthesis after recovering from childhood bone cancer. That mission raised more than a quarter of a billion dollars for the charity, which signed on as a partner for Polaris Dawn.

“You’ll continue to see [St. Jude] play a huge part in all of our missions until their work is done,” Isaacman said.

The astronauts traveled the world visiting hospitals and meeting children, medical professionals, and researchers who helped inform some of their experiments. They installed Starlink connections at many facilities, providing access to the Internet and education. The work was part of St. Jude’s effort to create cancer treatment programs, educate oncologists, and provide access to safe chemotherapy treatment worldwide.

“Right now, depending on where you’re born, you either have an 80 percent chance of survival, or you have a 20 percent chance if you’re not born in the U.S.,” Gillis said. “So [St. Jude has] pioneered extraordinary outcomes for children. But if you aren’t born here, you don’t benefit from that.”

One of the mission’s most special moments was Menon’s on-orbit reading of a children’s book she authored, Kisses from Space, to her two children and St. Jude patients. Proceeds from the book will go to St. Jude, and the charity will auction off the copy that traveled to space.

“It was ultimately the story of the power of love to overcome any distance, and I think, hopefully, sharing space but also sharing human connection and the power of that through this space story,” Menon said. “Reaching kids around the world was a powerful moment.”

What’s Next?

Isaacman said the Polaris Dawn crew still has a few weeks of debriefing, and he has yet to fully turn his sights to the next Polaris mission.

“We are still very on-mission,” he said. “We really need to understand everything we got right and could have done better on this one, things we got wrong and certainly could improve upon, before you even get to what’s in the realm of possibility for Mission Two.”

Isaacman couldn’t say much about the next mission. But some time next year, he said, the Polaris team will come together to determine what they can pull off.

For example, SpaceX could improve its EVA suit with added mobility, a portable life support system, or increased pressure, which would eliminate the “prebreathe” process Polaris astronauts used to remove nitrogen from their bodies before the EVA. Chances are the next mission will feature another spacewalk.

“It would be such a travesty if [SpaceX] didn’t take what they learned and take another giant leap in a good direction,” Isaacman said. “So I would fully expect EVAs are on the horizon for the next go.”

Mission Two will set the stage for the final Polaris mission, which is expected to be the debut crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship. Both Starship and the Super Heavy booster are designed to be fully reusable, and SpaceX plans to fly them hundreds of times before adding crew. Musk in September said the company could launch uncrewed Starships to Mars within two years.

If SpaceX can successfully validate Starship, it could usher in a new era of civilian spaceflight. Gillis and Menon, for example, were the first two SpaceX employees to reach the final frontier, but they may not be the last.

“If you have a propulsion engineer, you have the interior engineer, the suit engineer on that spaceship, it makes a lot of sense to bring the expertise with you when you’re going to Mars,” Menon said. “I don’t think I ever thought it would happen this soon—and I definitely didn’t think it would be me.”

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post Polaris Dawn Crew Talks Mission Highlights, Next Steps appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In a rare news release about the hyper-secret mission of the X-37B, the Space Force said it will employ aerobraking to rapidly change orbits using the drag of the atmosphere and only a little fuel. The spaceplane needs to get closer to Earth to jettison equipment it no longer needs. If it dumped the space junk at higher orbits, it would remain there for years, but dropping closer to the planet assures speedy and fiery reentry.

• READ MORE: U.S. Space Force’s Secret Robot Spaceplane Could Be Headed to Deep Orbit

Presumably the maneuver will have other uses beyond taking out the garbage, and the Space Force seems pretty excited about it.

“This first-of-a-kind maneuver from the X-37B is an incredibly important milestone for the United States Space Force as we seek to expand our aptitude and ability to perform in this challenging domain,” said chief of space operations General Chance Saltzman. “The success is a testament to the dedication and perseverance of the team.”

The X-37B is testing “Space Domain Awareness technologies” on its seventh mission.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

The post Spaceplane to Test Orbit Change Maneuver appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

On Sunday, Starship and the Super Heavy booster lifted off around 8:25 a.m. EDT from SpaceX’s Starbase launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, on the rocket’s fifth suborbital test flight. But rather than splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, as it did on the previous flight, Super Heavy was caught in midair by a pair of metal “chopstick” arms the company refers to as “Mechazilla.”

It is the first time such a maneuver has been successfully completed and represents the program’s most ambitious milestone to date.

“The entire SpaceX team should take pride in the engineering feat they just accomplished,” the company said in a postlaunch update. “The world witnessed what the future will look like when Starship starts carrying crew and cargo to destinations on Earth, the moon, Mars and beyond.”

Built to Last

As SpaceX alluded to, Starship—which stands nearly 400 feet tall when stacked on Super Heavy—is being designed to one day ferry humans around the solar system.

The firm is also working under a $4 billion NASA contract to develop two human landing system (HLS) variants of Starship that will return Americans to the moon for the first time since the Apollo missions. The HLS will first fly on Artemis III, which is tentatively scheduled for September 2026 and will land NASA astronauts at the lunar south pole.

To develop such a vehicle, SpaceX will need to launch Starship hundreds of times. And to do that, both the rocket and booster will need to be turned around quickly. SpaceX therefore designed both components to be fully reusable. That makes Sunday’s mission—which returned Super Heavy to its launch pad intact—a key piece of validation.

“Congratulations to @SpaceX on its successful booster catch and fifth Starship flight test today!” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a post on X. “As we prepare to go back to the Moon under Artemis, continued testing will prepare us for the bold missions that lie ahead—including to the South Pole region of the Moon and then on to Mars.”

Following liftoff, Super Heavy separated from Starship and reversed course back to Earth, descending at supersonic speed. The booster then fired a handful of engines to apply the brakes, slowing to a hover before Mechazilla snared it from the sky about seven minutes into the mission. It was a bull’s-eye landing and the first time the booster had launched and returned to the same pad. SpaceX captured the moment in real time.

“Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to a return and catch attempt of the Super Heavy booster, which will require healthy systems on the booster and tower and a manual command from the mission’s flight director,” SpaceX said in a post on X.

Super Heavy is significantly larger than SpaceX’s ubiquitous Falcon 9 rocket, which it has successfully landed hundreds of times both on land and at sea. And because it lacks landing legs, SpaceX was forced to get creative.

The company achieved its goal remarkably quickly. Flight 4 was a huge step, as the booster splashed down “with half a centimeter accuracy,” according to Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX. Previous missions, however, lost the booster entirely.

According to Dan Huot, a SpaceX communications manager on Sunday’s live feed, “We’re going to start looking real soon at when we can catch a [Starship].”

Starship, meanwhile, completed its own objectives, executing hot-stage separation, ignition, and ascent to outer space. It coasted about halfway around the planet before reentering the atmosphere, flipping itself around, and making a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. A camera buoy captured that moment as well.

Like Super Heavy during Flight 4, the rocket tipped over and sunk into the ocean. This time, though, SpaceX upgraded Starship’s thermal systems for reentry, where conditions are hot enough to envelop the rocket in plasma. The upgrade appeared to prevent the loss of flaps and other hardware that were jettisoned previously.

“We were not intending to recover any of the ship’s hardware, so that was the best ending that we could have hoped for,” said SpaceX engineer Kate Tice during Sunday’s live stream.

Under Scrutiny

SpaceX says it intends to churn out thousands of Starships per year at its one million-square-foot Starfactory plant. But the company is frustrated by the pace of the FAA launch licensing process, even going so far as to air its grievances publicly.

The FAA took extra time to review the Flight 5 mission profile.

“SpaceX’s current license authorizing the Starship Flight 4 launch also allows for multiple flights of the same vehicle configuration and mission profile,” an agency spokesperson told FLYING last month. “SpaceX chose to modify both for its proposed Starship Flight 5 launch which triggered a more in-depth review.”

The FAA evaluated a new splashdown site in the Gulf of Mexico as well as what it predicted would be an unusually large sonic boom during the booster landing, prompting respective 60-day consultations with the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It has also proposed more than $630,000 in fines against SpaceX for allegedly violating the terms of its license during two previous missions, neither involving Starship.

According to FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, the measures are “necessary” for safety. SpaceX takes a decidedly different perspective. It claims the agency communicated a September timeline for Flight 5 that was later revised to late November. Saturday’s approval of a launch license therefore came as a bit of a surprise.

“We continue to be stuck in a reality where it takes longer to do the government paperwork to license a rocket launch than it does to design and build the actual hardware,” SpaceX said in a September update. “This should never happen and directly threatens America’s position as the leader in space.”

SpaceX also faces scrutiny for failing to contain a liquid oxygen spill at Starbase in violation of the Clean Water Act, the EPA told FLYING last month. The company ate a $150,000 fine but denied it expels anything other than regular drinking water.

What’s Next?

If it sticks to the Flight 5 mission profile for the next Starship test, SpaceX will be able to launch under its current license.

But if the firm makes significant modifications—as it is prone to do, given that each mission has been more ambitious than the last—it could become entangled in another FAA feud.

Starship’s debut crewed flight is intended to be the third mission of the Polaris Program—a series of private flights purchased from SpaceX by billionaire CEO Jared Isaacman, the first of which concluded last month. Before then, SpaceX plans to fly hundreds of missions without crew. CEO Elon Musk even said last month that the firm intends to launch routine, uncrewed Starship missions to Mars within two years.

NASA has estimated that the spacecraft will require about 15 test flights before the Starship HLS is ready to put humans back on the moon. The next step for SpaceX will be to validate orbital flight (all Starship missions so far have been suborbital) and demonstrate orbital maneuvers like propellant transfer. That’s exactly what the firm plans to do as early as next year, launching twin Starships that will mate and transfer fuel from one to the other.

Starship is loaded with about 10 million pounds of propellant, generating some 17 million pounds of thrust from its 13 Raptor engines. It boasts greater fuel capacity than any modern technology. But to give it enough juice to fly to the moon and back, it will need to fuel up at an orbital propellant depot. To hit its Artemis III deadline, NASA will need Starship to complete several missions to stock up that fuel supply. Officials are contemplating alternative mission profiles in case there isn’t enough time..

“The pacing item is the rate at which SpaceX can launch the systems that can fuel the depot,” said Lori Glaze, acting deputy associate administrator of NASA’s exploration directorate, earlier this month.

In furtherance of that objective, SpaceX is developing a second launch pad at Starbase. The company also seeks to launch and recover rockets from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which could increase Starship’s cadence.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX Achieves Historic Booster Catch During Starship Test appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The spacecraft had been scheduled to launch Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The highly anticipated mission is seeking to find out whether Europa and its subsurface ocean could support life.

But on Sunday, NASA and SpaceX announced they would be standing down the launch attempt “due to anticipated hurricane conditions in the area.”

Workers have secured the Europa Clipper craft in SpaceX’s hangar at Launch Complex 39A at KSC, NASA said, and the center began preparing for Hurricane Milton that day.

“The safety of launch team personnel is our highest priority, and all precautions will be taken to protect the Europa Clipper spacecraft,” said Tim Dunn, senior launch director at NASA’s Launch Services Program, in a statement.

The announcement came as Milton was rapidly intensifying from a tropical storm into one of the strongest hurricanes on record. On Monday evening, the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center reported Milton was a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 165 mph (270 km/h), threatening the northern coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

NASA’s Crew-8 mission has also been impacted by Hurricane Milton. The SpaceX Dragon capsule was scheduled to splash down Tuesday off the Florida coast carrying three NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut, all of whom have completed a crew rotation at the International Space Station that began in March. The Crew-8 undocking has now been postponed to no earlier than Sunday.

KSC Will Face Weakened Milton

Milton’s winds are forecast to ease slightly before making landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast as a still-deadly Category 3 hurricane late Wednesday or early Thursday. Storm surge warnings are in effect for much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, with water rising potentially by as much as 15 feet (4.6 meters) in the Tampa Bay area.

However, by the time Milton crosses the peninsula and reaches the Space Coast, the storm is expected to have weakened significantly to a Category 1 hurricane, the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron reported on Monday. A Category 1 hurricane has sustained winds between 74 and 95 mph (119 and 153 km/h).

Although KSC lies in roughly the center of the cone of possible paths, it is not under a mandatory evacuation order. Still, “we do expect downed trees, power outages, possible cell service outages, and localized flooding,” said the 45th Weather Squadron, which is responsible for KSC’s launch forecasts.

All of KSC’s original major facilities—including the massive Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and the launch pads—were designed to withstand winds of at least 104 mph (167 km/h). And every facility at KSC built after 1992’s Hurricane Andrew was built to a higher standard of 130 to 135 mph (209 to 217 km/h).

But that doesn’t mean the center is immune to wind damage. In 2004, Hurricane Frances ripped over 800 exterior panels off the south side of the Vehicle Assembly Building, leaving gaping holes requiring years of repairs—even though ground-level winds at KSC never reached hurricane strength.

How NASA Battens Down the Hatches

NASA has a well-defined hurricane preparation plan at KSC that it is currently carrying out.

On Monday night, KSC was at HURCON 3, or Hurricane Condition III, a status activated when surface winds of over 58 mph (93 km/h) could arrive within 48 hours. At HURCON 3, KSC’s protocol calls for securing facilities, property, and equipment.

HURCON 3 is also when NASA briefs and deploys the ride-out team (ROT)—a core team of around 100 to 120 essential personnel that will ride out the storm at KSC while all other workers are offsite. As the storm nears, KSC will go to HURCON 2 and eventually HURCON 1, with the ROT hunkered down and the facility closed.

During the storm, the ROT’s job is to keep essential infrastructure running. After the storm passes, the ROT will perform an initial damage assessment from a vehicle and do what it can before handing off to another team for a fuller assessment and to start recovery efforts.

When the facility is deemed safe, the rest of the center’s staff can return to work, including launch teams, who will assess launch pads and processing facilities for storm damage. Only then will NASA be able to set a new timeline for Europa Clipper’s launch.

“Once we have the ‘all-clear’ followed by facility assessment and any recovery actions, we will determine the next launch opportunity for this NASA flagship mission,” said Dunn.

The mission has daily launch opportunities during a window that runs through November 6.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Astronomy.

The post NASA Postpones Europa Clipper Launch as Hurricane Milton Takes Aim at Cape Canaveral appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The agency on Sunday stood down from Thursday’s scheduled Europa Clipper launch due to the approaching Hurricane Milton. But crews on Friday completed one of the final steps in the prelaunch checklist, moving the spacecraft to the hangar at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch window remains open until November 6.

“Once we have the ‘all-clear’ followed by facility assessment and any recovery actions, we will determine the next launch opportunity for this NASA flagship mission,” said Tim Dunn, senior launch director for NASA’s Launch Services Program.

Europa Clipper will fly nearly 1.8 billion miles to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, to study whether the rocky satellite could support life. The mission will produce the first detailed investigations of the moon and is expected to enter Jovian orbit in 2030.

Scientists believe Europa may hold an ocean beneath its icy surface that contains twice as much liquid water as all oceans on Earth, despite it being about the same size as our moon. NASA will perform nearly 50 close-proximity flybys to explore its composition and geography, coming as close as within 16 miles of the surface. The goal is to produce a scan of the entire moon.

NASA selected Europa Clipper in 2017 and began building the eponymous spacecraft in 2019. With its massive solar arrays unfurled, the vehicle is about 100 feet long, about the size of a basketball court. The spacecraft’s large solar panels will power it as it cruises through a portion of space more than five times as far from the Sun as Earth.

The robotic craft will weigh nearly 13,000 pounds at launch, about half of which comes from the weight of propellant. Adding to that is an array of nine dedicated science instruments, which are shielded by a vault made of titanium and aluminum to protect against radiation. Spectrometers will produce high-resolution maps of Europa’s surface and atmosphere, and ice-penetrating radar will scan for water below the surface. Other tools will be used to locate warmer pockets of ice, for example.

Europa Clipper will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39-A at Kennedy. En route to Europa, it will perform a pair of “gravity assists,” using the pull of both Earth and Mars to propel itself further.

The spacecraft is expected to enter Jupiter’s orbit in April 2030 and perform its first flyby of Europa the following spring. Science instruments will begin collecting data in May 2031. The mission is scheduled to conclude in September 2034 when Europa Clipper smashes into Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede.

NASA will provide live prelaunch and launch coverage on its website and social media channels. Members of the public can also register to attend the launch virtually.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post NASA Awaits ‘All-Clear’ for Mission to Search for Life on Jupiter’s Moon appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Still, SpaceX is not without competition. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ own private space company, Blue Origin, has been slowly racking up successes. Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard rocket (named for Alan Shepard, the first American in space) has launched 26 times (with 25 successes), including eight crewed missions. Blue Origin has also been making steady progress on its own next-generation orbital booster, which the company has named New Glenn (after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth). 

In recent weeks, and after keeping a relatively low profile for years, Blue Origin has been keen to let the world learn a lot more about its new rocket. 

Under the Hood

New Glenn is Blue Origin’s heavy-lift booster rocket, which the company plans to use for placing crewed and uncrewed payloads into Earth orbit and beyond.

Like SpaceX’s Falcon 9, New Glenn is a two-stage booster with a reusable first stage that, mission planners hope, will land vertically after stage separation. It’s worth noting that New Shepard rockets have successfully landed and been reused many times, so Blue Origin has some experience in this realm already. 

• READ MORE: U.S. Program to Fly Citizens From India, Nigeria, Island Nations to Space

The first stage is powered by seven BE-4 engines (which use liquid oxygen and methane for propellant), while the second stage utilizes two smaller BE-3U engines (powered by liquid oxygen and hydrogen). If all goes as planned, New Glenn will be able to place a 100,000-pound (45,360 kilograms) payload into Earth orbit and a 15,000-pound (6,800 kg) payload on a trajectory to the Moon. 

New Glenn is similar to its main competitor, Falcon 9, with some differences. Like Falcon 9, New Glenn’s first stage contains engines that can be re-lit during descent to allow a soft landing, and the rocket has six extendable landing legs that deploy just before touchdown (Falcon 9’s first stage has four legs). Blue Origin also plans for New Glenn to land on a mobile, sea-based platform — SpaceX currently lands their rockets on drone ships. The current New Glenn landing platform ship, Jacklyn (named for Bezos’ mother), measures an impressive 380 feet by 150 feet (115 meters by 45 meters) in size, larger than the platforms used by SpaceX. This ship replaces an earlier version of the Blue Origin mobile sea-based landing platform, also named Jacklyn. 

New Glenn’s first stage, unlike Falcon 9, is outfitted with four movable, aerodynamic control surfaces referred to as fins, which allow for attitude adjustment during the descent and landing of the first stage. Below these fins, the first stage is also adorned with four strakes. Strakes are long, winglike projections that control airflow and provide stabilization. The strakes on New Glenn will provide some lift during flight of the first stage, and strakes in general are used to increase the stability of both rockets and aircraft in flight. The fins and strakes give New Glenn a very different profile than the streamlined Falcon 9.  

Launch Delays

New Glenn has experienced a slow development and manufacturing process that has led to significant delays. These delays have thus far kept its first flight from becoming a reality. For the past five years, Blue Origin has announced that New Glenn would fly its first mission that year, but these dates have all come and gone without a launch. 

These launch delays have had several repercussions. Of key importance, NASA was slated to launch two identical so-called “smallsats” to Mars aboard New Glenn’s inaugural flight in October 2024, but NASA recently pulled them from the flight. The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) smallsats were due to be finalized for flight and fueled with nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine propellants for a mission that would study the martian atmosphere, but this critical step was recently canceled. NASA feared that if New Glenn was not ready for the planned launch window, the fuel would have to be drained from the two spacecraft, which is undesirable, given the cost and the potential risk of damaging the spacecraft in the process. NASA is now eyeing a potential new launch window for the two spacecraft in mid-2025 or even 2026, possibly aboard a future New Glenn flight. 

• READ MORE: A Brief History of Astronauts Stuck in Space

Given the loss of the ESCAPADE mission, Blue Origin is now planning for the inaugural flight of New Glenn to carry hardware related to its Blue Ring project. Blue Ring is described as a platform for launching hardware into specific orbits, satellite orbital adjustment and refueling, and even cloud-based computing in orbit. This takes some pressure off of Blue Origin, as the payload will be of the company’s own design and development, and therefore does not tie it to any outside, third-party customer with their own deadlines to meet.

To be fair, designing, building, testing, and launching a new rocket capable of reaching orbit is no easy task. Delays such as those Blue Origin is experiencing are not uncommon in the history of spaceflight. And the company appears to feel that it is better to launch later, with a higher chance of success, than to launch earlier if the rocket is not truly ready for flight.  

SpaceX is still the dominant force in private orbital spaceflight, but Blue Origin hopes to share the launch pad with them someday soon.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Astronomy.

The post A Look at New Glenn: Blue Origin’s Heavy-Lift Booster Rocket appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The firm is preparing for the Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which will culminate in the long-awaited return of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in February. Wilmore and Williams hitched a ride to the ISS on Boeing’s Starliner in June and have remained there as engineers contended with several issues on the spacecraft.

Crew-9 will be the first human spaceflight to launch from Space Launch Complex-40. Initially scheduled to fly in August, the mission was pushed back to give NASA and Boeing more time to analyze and eventually undock Starliner, freeing up space for Dragon to dock.

The flight is NASA’s ninth Commercial Crew mission with SpaceX, the agency’s sole active contractor for that program. Boeing, the other contract recipient, is still developing Starliner but hopes to fly an inaugural astronaut rotation mission late next year. The program seeks to maintain a continuous human presence on the ISS, which in 2025 will enter its 24th consecutive year of occupation.

Crew-9 was originally slated to be a four-person mission. But only NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will fly up to the space station, meaning Dragon will launch with a pair of empty seats. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson were taken off the flight to make way for Williams and Wilmore but are eligible for reassignment.

Hague was chosen due to his experience. Gorbunov, who has never flown to space, remains on the manifest because NASA is required to send a Roscosmos cosmonaut on the mission.

After liftoff, Dragon will accelerate to 17,500 mph before docking autonomously with the space station. Upon arrival, they will join the crew of ISS Expedition 72, which includes Wilmore, Williams, NASA astronaut Don Pettit, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.

Over the course of about five months, the crew will perform station maintenance via spacewalk and conduct more than 200 scientific research experiments, intended to prepare humans for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit as well as solve problems back on Earth. Among other things, they will study the physics of supernova explosions, the behavior of cells and platelets during long-duration spaceflight, and methods to reduce changes to astronaut brain and ocular structure due to low gravity.

NASA will provide live streaming coverage of the Crew-9 prelaunch, launch, postlaunch, and docking on NASA+ and the agency’s website, starting Friday afternoon. It will also maintain a live video feed of the launchpad in the hours leading up to liftoff and provide blog updates. Spaceflight enthusiasts can register to attend the launch virtually.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post What to Watch: SpaceX Crew-9 Scheduled for Saturday Launch appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

During a committee hearing focused on FAA oversight of Boeing amid the manufacturer’s recent safety woes, Kiley squeezed in a few questions about Starship, which according to SpaceX has been bogged down by licensing issues “ranging from the frivolous to the patently absurd.”

“America is being smothered by legions of regulators, often inept & politically-driven,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X on Thursday.

The largest rocket ever built, Starship so far has made four suborbital test flights. SpaceX will attempt a unique maneuver during Flight 5, using a pair of “chopstick” arms to catch the rocket’s Super Heavy booster in midair. But while Musk had hoped to launch this month, the FAA told the company its license would be ready no earlier than late November.

“I think the two-month delay is necessary to comply with the launch requirements, and I think that’s an important part of safety culture,” Whitaker said.

According to the FAA leader, SpaceX has failed to provide a sonic boom analysis for the upcoming mission, which will have a larger sonic boom radius than previous flights. That brought a 30-day delay to give the FAA time to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Whitaker said the analysis is “safety related.”

Starship faces further delays because SpaceX filed a launch application without disclosing it was in violation of Texas law, Whitaker said. The Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month told FLYING the company violated the Clean Water Act by failing to contain a liquid oxygen spill at its Starbase launchpad, prompting a $150,000 fine. SpaceX denied that it violated any laws at Starbase but ate the fine to avoid any consequences.

SpaceX also faces more than $630,000 in proposed fines from the FAA for allegedly failing to adhere to launch requirements on two previous missions. Whitaker said the fines are unrelated to the Flight 5 setback, but the agency claims the company’s unauthorized use of a new control room and fuel farm raised safety concerns. Musk, in response, said SpaceX will fight the penalties in court.

“I think safety is in the public interest, and that’s our priority focus with the proposed civil penalty,” Whitaker said, adding that fines are the “only tool” the FAA has to ensure compliance.

When asked how SpaceX could speed up the licensing process, the administrator responded, “Complying with the regulations would be the best path.”

SpaceX, however, did not take kindly to Whitaker’s comments. The company on Tuesday sent a letter to Kiley claiming that Whitaker “made several incorrect statements today regarding SpaceX,” bringing the feud between the company and the agency further into the public eye.

“In fact,” the company wrote, “every statement he made was incorrect.”

Whitaker twice said SpaceX “launched without a permit,” which as the company pointed out is not true. As the FAA notes, the firm faces penalties for “allegedly failing to follow its license requirements,” necessitating the existence of a license.

The company claimed its new fuel farm was approved by Federal Range Safety officials and analyzed by the FAA, which “required no changes to the previously approved Federal Range configuration.” The agency additionally “was on console and did not stop the countdown” for that launch, SpaceX said.

The firm further alleged that the revised sonic boom analysis for Flight 5 “has nothing to do with safety” and is a simple paperwork issue. It said USFWS officials previously determined the booms have no environmental impact and that the slightly larger impact area won’t change things.

“SpaceX submitted new information in mid-August detailing how the environmental impact of Flight 5 will cover a larger area than previously reviewed,” the FAA told FLYING earlier this month. “This requires the FAA to consult with other agencies.”

The agency did not immediately respond to FLYING’s request for comment on SpaceX’s letter to Kiley.

SpaceX has grand ambitions for Starship, with Musk earlier this week saying it would begin routine missions to Mars within two years. The company argues that scrutiny from the FAA is not in the public interest, and delaying Flight 5 due to what it believes is not a safety issue could hurt U.S. leadership in human spaceflight.

Kiley agreed, asking whether the FAA “needs to be reformed in a way that is better suited toward the type of innovation that we should be moving toward in the commercial space industry.”

“I agree that this is a vital mission, and I think SpaceX has been a very innovative company,” Whitaker said. “But I think they’re also a mature company. They’ve been around 20 years, and I think they need to operate at the highest level of safety, and that includes adopting a [safety management system] program. That includes having a whistleblower program.”

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX Starship Launch Delay ‘Necessary,’ FAA Administrator Tells Congress appeared first on FLYING Magazine.