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On Thursday, June 3, the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship was launched in one of Falcon 9 rockets from Kennedy Space Center carrying around 7,300 pounds of new solar arrays and scientific experiments, including glowing squids and tardigrades, Science Times previously reported.
The uncrewed SpaceX Dragon cargo ship marks the 22nd commercial resupply mission by SpaceX. Currently, there are two SpaceX Dragon spacecraft onboard the International Space Station (ISS), according to Space.com.
(Photo : Wikimedia Commons) This artist s concept shows a SpaceX Crew Dragon docking with the International Space Station as it will during a mission for NASA s Commercial Crew Program. NASA is partnering with Boeing and SpaceX to build a new generation of human-rated spacecraft capable of taking astronauts to the station and expanding research opportunities in orbit.
Сенат США попытается заставить NASA заключить контракт с Blue Origin на создание лунного корабля
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TechShout - May 4, 2021
Amid protests from Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin, the US space agency has suspended work on the $2.9 billion lunar lander contract given to Elon Musk-owned SpaceX.
Blue Origin had filed a protest with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) against NASA for awarding $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX for landing astronauts on the Moon by 2024.
The US space agency was expected to pick two lunar lander prototypes (including one of Blue Origin’s) but funding cut from US Congress led the agency to select SpaceX over Blue Origin.
“Pursuant to the GAO protests, NASA instructed SpaceX that progress on the HLS contract has been suspended until GAO resolves all outstanding litigation related to this procurement,” NASA spokeswoman Monica Witt said in a statement, reports The Verge.
Thanks to protests by two commercial space companies, NASA’s plans for sending American astronauts back to the moon by 2024 have been put on hold at least temporarily.
The National Team, a multi-company partnership spearheaded by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, and Alabama-based defence contractor Dynetics are both crying foul about a contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX last month for $2.9bn.
Both Dynetics and Blue Origin have filed protests with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) against NASA, with Bezos’s company accusing the space agency of having “moved the goalposts at the last minute”.
The highly coveted contract is for a Human Landing System (HLS) that will ferry astronauts to the lunar surface for NASA. But the pending litigation has forced the United States space agency to put the brakes on any work related to the contract until the GAO issues its ruling, which is expected to be announced by August 4.
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The unsuccessful bidders in NASA’s lunar lander contract have protested the award to SpaceX so the process is on hold until the Government Accountability Office assesses the protests. NASA announced two weeks ago that SpaceX had been awarded a $2.9 billion contract to build the vehicle that will return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1974. The contract award became immediately controversial, largely because the contract was expected to go to two of the three bidders. The two companies left out, Dynetics and Blue Origin, cried foul.
“Pursuant to the GAO protests, NASA instructed SpaceX that progress on the HLS contract has been suspended until GAO resolves all outstanding litigation related to this procurement,” NASA spokeswoman Monica Witt said in a statement. Bid documents revealed that SpaceX vastly undercut its competitors’ prices and offered flexibility on the payment terms. The suspension means SpaceX won’t get its first draws o
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