Watch ULA stack Atlas V rocket ahead of Starliner launch | Orion heat shield poses 'significant risks' to Artemis crew | Eta Aquariid meteor shower 2024: When and how to see it
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A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket is scheduled to launch Starliner with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on a shakedown mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 6. This will be Starliner's third flight, but the capsule's first with a crew aboard. With the spacecraft day's away from its crewed debut, ULA has released a short video highlighting how Starliner's Atlas V launch vehicle was stacked and integrated with the spacecraft.
NASA's moon program still has some work to do before it can put human boots back on the lunar surface. The agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report on Wednesday (May 1) titled "NASA's Readiness for the Artemis 2 Crewed Mission to Lunar Orbit," which aims to determine how ready NASA is to launch its Artemis 2 moon mission, currently scheduled for late 2025. The inspector general writes that the Artemis 1 test flight of the Orion spacecraft "revealed anomalies with the Orion heat shield, separation bolts, and power distribution that pose significant risks to the safety of the crew."
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower 2024 is active between April 15 and May 27 and this year peaks on the nights of May 5 and May 6. The peak of the Eta Aquarids is around the time of the new moon, therefore moonlight will provide minimal interference to meteor hunters, unlike the fully illuminated moon in 2023.
Astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams will be the first NASA crew to fly to space aboard Boeing Starliner. Their mission, known as Crew Flight Test, will run for about a week at the International Space Station (ISS) to certify Starliner for future missions to last six months or so.
(B612 Asteroid Institute / University of Washington DiRAC Institute / OpenSpace Project)
More than 27,000 asteroids in our solar system had been overlooked in existing telescope images -- but thanks to a new AI-powered algorithm, we now have a catalog of them. The scientists behind the discovery say the tool makes it easier to find and track millions of asteroids, including potentially dangerous ones that might strike Earth someday. It is for those threatening space rocks that the world would need years of advance warning before trying to deflect them away from our planet.
The Starlink launch was SpaceX's second of the day. A Falcon 9 already lofted two Earth-observation satellites for the company Maxar from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base earlier Thursday afternoon.
Things are getting busy in a galaxy far, far away ahead of the May the 4th celebrations, and that includes video games. We've just learned that Star Wars: Hunters is finally launching on Nintendo Switch and mobile phones next month, right alongside The Acolyte. Now, we also know that Fortnite and (for those who don't like the regular game) Lego Fortnite are also bringing back the Star Wars collaboration just as Tales of the Empire drops six shorts on Disney Plus this weekend.
Here we are then, the other side of the halfway mark of the very last season of "Star Trek: Discovery." Will the plot actually advance any further? Or does the chase across the galaxy for the Progenitors MacGuffin continue, offering another chance to insert a stand-alone, episode-length adventure along the way?
How to watch Boeing's 1st Starliner astronaut launch live | Space Quiz! When was the last solar maximum? | NASA astronauts excited for 1st crewed Starliner launch
Created for znamenski.spacecom@blogger.com | Web Version
Space fans will be glued to their screens for the historic liftoff, which will send NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams toward the International Space Station (ISS) atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. But there will be other events to take in, both in the leadup to launch and in its aftermath. Here's a guide to the upcoming webcasts that will highlight the Starliner mission, which is known as Crew Flight Test (CFT). You'll be able to watch all of them here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA.
"It almost feels unreal," Williams, who will serve as the mission pilot, said of the launch date during a livestreamed press conference at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The discussion was conducted remotely because both Williams and Wilmore are currently quarantining for the impending journey.
A new telescope billed as the world's highest astronomical site is officially open for business. The Japanese University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory, or TAO, which was first conceptualized 26 years ago to study the evolution of galaxies and exoplanets, is perched on top of a tall mountain in the Chilean Andes at 5,640 meters (18,500 feet) above sea level. The facility's altitude surpasses even the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, which is at an elevation of 5,050 meters (16,570 feet).
NASA and Boeing teams recently cleared for liftoff the Crew Flight Test (CFT) of Boeing's Starliner, which is set to launch on May 6. Starliner will be the second spacecraft funded by the agency's commercial crew program to carry astronauts, following SpaceX's Crew Dragon, which made its crewed debut in May 2020. "We are really excited to have this second transportation system up and available to us," Steve Stich, program manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said
Solar activity has been gradually gaining strength during its current Solar Cycle 25, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) estimates that solar maximum will occur between late 2024 and early 2026.
The Dragon, named Endeavour, is scheduled to undock from the forward-facing port of the station's Harmony module on Thursday at 7:45 a.m. EDT (1145 GMT), then autonomously dock with Harmony's space-facing port at 8:28 a.m. EDT (1228 GMT). You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA. Coverage will begin at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT). The maneuver will open up Harmony's forward-facing port for Boeing's Starliner capsule, which is scheduled to launch on its first-ever crewed mission on Monday (May 6).
You may wonder what tales of dystopia, space, time hopping, and otherworldly beings can secure such a rating across the board. Luckily, you're in the right place to find out. We've a list full of exactly that set on a backdrop of adventure and spanning a real expanse of time, from the 1900s to the present day. Proving, well and truly, that age is just a number.
Lego is releasing seven new Lego Star Wars sets today (May 1) to celebrate Star Wars Day. On top of the new Lego sets, a coffee table book will also be released as the company continues to celebrate 25 years of Lego Star Wars. There will be plenty of new models for you to spend your credits on and celebrate Star Wars Day on May 4 in style. They include a new TIE Interceptor, Mos Espa Podrace diorama, Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator and more. We have the specs of what Lego is releasing below but this is great news for fans of Star Wars, Lego and both.
