The Atlantic
‘‘We hope pirates don’t take it,” one astrophysicist said.
Getty / NASA / Adam Maida / The Atlantic
NASA’s new space telescope has had a rough go. Name a problem, and this telescope meant to be the most powerful of its kind, a worthy successor to the famous Hubble hasfacedit: poor management, technical errors, budget overruns, schedule delays, and a pandemic. So, naturally, the people responsible for the telescope’s safety are now thinking about pirates.
Yes, pirates.
The topic came up at a recent meeting about NASA’s James Webb space telescope, named for a former administrator of the space agency. Later this year, the telescope will travel by ship to a launch site in South America, passing through the Panama Canal to reach French Guiana. Webb, with a mirror as tall as a two-story building and a protective shield the size of a tennis court, is too large for a plane. Its departure date will be kept secret, someone said at the meeting, to protect against
Starship SN11 arrives at Pad B as SpaceX plans for the future
March 7, 2021
Just days after SN10 completed the first – albeit hard – Starship prototype landing, SN11 rolled out to the launch site for its own attempt. Incremental progress is being made with the test flights, with another tweak to the landing sequence set to be implemented, based on data gained from SN10. Meanwhile, the first Super Heavy prototype continues stacking operations while parts for up to Starship SN20 are being staged at the Production Site.
These future vehicles are set to take up residence at a launch site SpaceX plans to expand, per updated documentation.
Feb. 25—The Federal Aviation Administration's decision whether to grant a launch site operator's license for a proposed spaceport in Camden County is due in the coming weeks. While it's uncertain how the FAA will rule, it is certain the decision will determine if the debate has ended or if a prolonged legal battle is just getting started. Athens lawyer Kevin Lang said approval of a launch site .
DART delayed to November launch as environmental testing begins
February 19, 2021
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft has been moved to its secondary launch window as it begins thermal and environmental testing. The new launch date of November 24, 2021 is a delay from an original target of July 21.
DART is NASA’s first planetary defense demonstration, planned to change an asteroid’s orbit by a kinetic impact. DART is a simple technology demonstrator which will attempt to impact Dimorphos, a moonlet of the asteroid Didymos.
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) senior leadership requested a risk assessment to determine the viability of the primary and secondary launch windows. After this assessment was completed, teams determined the primary launch window was no longer viable and the DART team was told to pursue the secondary date.
RACHAEL JOY
NASA engineer Roland Norris onboard his sailboat Captiva docked in Merritt Island, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 13, 2021, where he wrote a book about his career. He says the chapter about the Challenger astronauts was the hardest to write. It took him seven years to finish his nearly 200 page memoir “My Path to a Career in Aerospace and an Out of This World Job with NASA.” (Rachael Joy/Florida Today via AP)
MELBOURNE, Fla. When engineer Roland Norris set out to write down the stories of his career spanning 40 years at NASA, he had one regret.
“I wish I’d kept a journal or made notes. Instead I wrote it all from memory,” Norris told FLORIDA TODAY.