A close-up shot of the nine Rutherford engines at the base of Rocket Labs Electron rocket. The flight marked the 50th launch of Electron since its debut in 2017. Image: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab successfully reached a milestone that few commercial rockets achieved and at a pace that outperformed its competition. The company launched its 50th Electron rocket to date just seven years after the vehicles debut in May 2017.

The instantaneous liftoff from Launch Complex 1 at New Zealands Mahia Peninsula happened at 6:13 a.m. NZST on Friday, June 21 (2:13 p.m. EDT, 1813 UTC on Thursday, June 20).

Onboard the rocket were five satellites on behalf of France-based internet of things company, Kinis. This was the first of five dedicated flights for the company to deploy its full constellation, consisting of 25 satellites. All five on this flight were successfully deployed.

The satellites will orbit at an inclination of 98 degrees with the five satellites deploying in a precise sequence in singles and as pairs to build out the constellation exactly as Kineis needs it, according to Rocket Lab.

The launch for Rocket Lab comes at a busy time for the business, which is pushing towards becoming an end-to-end space company. That includes multiple upcoming missions for U.S. agencies, like the National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. Space Force as well as preparing for a planetary mission to Mars with Blue Origins New Glenn rocket as the ride to space.

Prior to Electrons 50th launch, Sir Peter Beck, the founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, said he and his team are immensely proud of reaching this milestone in the time that they did.

Out of all the commercially developed rockets in the world, Electron reaching 50, we did it in the fastest amount of time. So, we scaled faster to 50 than anybody else, faster than the Falcon 9, faster than Pegasus, faster than anything else commercially, Beck said. And thats a really hard thing to do because whether its a giant rocket or a little rocket, the scaling element is the same and its super, super hard.

Beck said much of the Electron rockets flying today are quite similar to the rockets that kicked off their orbital launch business. He said in addition to their successes, theyve also taken away a great deal from their failures as well.

I prefer not to think about it because theyre such devastating moments. Theyre incredibly painful. And yes, its true that after those moments, you build a better vehicle, Beck said. But I always remind the team to never, never be happy, because if youre happy, the rocket gods will come down with a baseball bat and let you know whos in charge.

So, were always striving to improve the vehicle. Every opportunity we can to improve it or make it more reliable, we take. And its just the harsh reality of spaceflight: its incredibly difficult.

He noted that they are continuing to book more and more Electron flights each year as they progress with the program and prepare to bring the larger and reusable Neutron rocket to market by mid-2025. But he said their pace of launch will continue to be driven by customer demand.

Any CEO is going to say say that they want to see it scale vertically, right? The reality is, we scale with our customer demand. And the customer demand changes all the time, depending on geopolitical circumstances, where people are at in building their constellations and all the rest of it, Beck said.

What I will say is, this year, we sold more Electrons than weve ever sold before and next year is shaping up to be the same. So, we certainly hope that the scaling continues for the product, but its purely driven by market demand.

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Rocket Lab successfully launches its 50th Electron rocket Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaverals pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

SpaceX is preparing to launch its first Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in more than two weeks. The last time the company attempted to launch the Starlink 10-2 mission, it encountered a rare scrub as the Falcon 9s first stage Merlin engines began firing.

Liftoff of the rescheduled flight is set for 1:15 p.m. EDT (1715 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.

Activity in the tropics creates some uncertainty for the launch from a meteorological perspective. On Saturday, June 22, the 45th Weather Squadron issued a launch weather forecast that suggests just 50 percent odds of favorable launch weather at the opening of the launch window. That deteriorates to just 20 percent by the close of the window. Meteorologists are tracking cumulus clouds, anvil clouds and lightning probability as primary concerns.

Deep tropical moisture will remain entrenched across the Florida peninsula into early next week, and as a result, scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms can be expected each day, largely favoring the afternoon and evening hours, the forecast stated.

While atmospheric flow will remain weak enough to allow daily seabreeze development, an incoming trough will likely result in delayed formation and westward progression by Monday and Tuesday, with initial storm development closer to the coast on those days.

The 24-hour back-up launch opportunity is generally the same, but the opening of the launch window is 60 percent favorable for liftoff.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, B1078, will be launching for an 11th time. It previously launched the astronauts and cosmonaut of the Crew-6 mission, the USSF-124 mission and seven previous Starlink flights.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1078 will land on the SpaceX droneship, A Shortfall of Gravitas. This will be the 75th booster landing for ASOG and the 321st booster landing to date.

However, B1078 wasnt always the intended booster for this mission though. The original flight plan had B1073 as the first stage booster. However, the booster was swapped out following a last-second scrub on June 14.

SpaceX hasnt elaborated on the issue or issues that caused the scrub during engine ignition, but in a June 15 post on X (formerly Twitter), Kiko Dontchev, the vice president of Launch at SpaceX said: Tough week dealing with production challenges and then a rare scrub at engine startup yesterday on 10-2. Unfortunately there is a real issue so we need to go inspect the hardware in detail on this vehicle Painful, but safety and reliability are the priority.

This will be the 45th launch of Starlink satellites so far in 2024 with another planned for Sunday evening, which is set to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 8:45 p.m. PDT (11:45 p.m. EDT, 0345 UTC).

Starlink 10-2 will add another 22 satellites to the growing megaconstellation. Following the launch, SpaceX will have launched 1,007 Starlink satellites this year alone.

According to expert orbital tracker and astronomer, Jonathan McDowell, there are more than 6,000 active Starlink satellites on orbit.

While SpaceX is preparing to launch a pair of Falcon 9 rockets on both sides of the country, in Florida, its also working with NASA and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to launch a new weather satellite on June 25 at 5:16 p.m. EDT (2116 UTC).

NASAs Launch Services Program (LSP) contracted SpaceX to launch the final satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R (GOES-R) series. NOAA describes these as the Western Hemispheres most sophisticated weather-observing and environmental-monitoring system.

In an interview with Spaceflight Now on Friday NASAs launch director, Dr. Denton Gibson, said the launch team will be monitoring the weather over the next few days.

We have some planning to do or decisions to make in terms of when we roll the vehicle out and before we do all of our final preps for launch, Gibson said.

He said they would make a determination on whether a rollout of the Falcon Heavy rocket from the hangar to the pad would make more sense on Sunday or Monday.

The Falcon Heavy has a backup launch date of June 26, but if it slips beyond that, Gibson said there would need to be discussions with the Eastern Range before a new date could be booked.

Watch live views of the Falcon Heavy launch pad.

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Live coverage: SpaceX swaps Falcon 9 boosters ahead of Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX

Update 12:09 a.m. EDT: SpaceX launches the Starlink 9-1 mission.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday evening, following the scrub of a planned mission for satellite communications company, SES, from Florida. SpaceX sent another batch of its Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, which included another 13 with direct to cell (DTC) capabilities.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California happened at 8:40 p.m. PDT (11:40 p.m. EDT, 0340 UTC). This marked the 20th orbital launch from California in 2024 so far.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1082 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for a fifth time. It previously supported the launches of the United States Space Force-62 (USSF-62) mission and three Starlink flights.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1082 is set to land on the SpaceX droneship, Of Course I Still Love You. It marked the 93rd booster landing on OCISLY and the 319th overall booster landing.

Despite an unusually long period without launches (between June 8 and June 18), SpaceX is still confident that it will hit or exceed its orbital launch goals this year.

In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Jon Edwards, SpaceXs vice president of Falcon Launch Vehicles, said We still have a good shot at 148. In fact, we may even try to do a few more this year.

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SpaceX launches 20 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Station Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

Boeings Starliner spacecraft photographed through the window of SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule while both were docked to the International Space Station. Image: NASA

Boeings leak-prone Starliner capsule will remain docked to the International Space Station an additional four days, NASA announced Tuesday, returning to Earth with a pre-dawn landing at White Sands, New Mexico, on June 26 to close out an extended 20-day test flight, the first with astronauts aboard.

The additional docked time will give Starliner commander Barry Butch Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams more time to help out aboard the station while flight controllers and engineers continue scrutinizing telemetry and finalizing plans for re-entry with five known helium leaks in the capsules propulsion system and unexpected, presumably now-resolved issues with multiple maneuvering jets.

One jet will not be used for the remainder of the flight, but the other suspect thrusters were successfully hot fired during a test Saturday, giving managers confidence they will work as needed for post-undocking maneuvers and to drop the Starliner out of orbit for re-entry and landing.

As for the helium leaks, engineers say the spacecraft has more than seven times the amount needed for the remainder of the flight. During the hot-fire test Saturday the leak rates were less than what telemetry indicated earlier in the mission, but engineers are still assessing data to better understand the behavior of the system.

Weve learned that our helium system is not performing as designed. Albeit manageable, its still not working like we designed it, said Mark Nappi, Boeings Starliner program manager. So weve got to go figure that out.

As for the thrusters, theres some things about our flight profile and/or our parameters where our thrusters arent performing (as expected). So weve got to go figure that out. But he said Boeing intends to fully eliminate both issues, which he described as nuisances, before the Starliner flies again.

The good thing about the situation, he said, is that we can stay up on ISS a little bit longer and get as much data as we possibly can so that we can fully understand this to the best of our ability.

In the meantime, Steve Stich, NASAs Commercial Crew Program manager, said the Starliner can safely carry Wilmore and Williams back to Earth as is if some issue crops up that requires an immediate departure.

But as it now stands, Wilmore and Williams will undock from the space stations forward port at 10:10 p.m. EDT on June 25 and fire the ships aft-facing thrusters to drop out of orbit early the next day, setting up a parachute-and-airbag-assisted landing at White Sands, N.M., at 4:51 a.m. EDT.

The day before Wilmore and Williams depart, ISS astronauts Tracy Dyson and Mike Barratt plan to venture outside the station for a spacewalk, or EVA, to retrieve a faulty radio transmitter and to collect swabs near vents and the stations airlock to find out if any microorganisms have managed to make it outside and survive in the harsh environment of space.

During an initial attempt June 13, in what was to have been the first of three planned spacewalks, Dyson and Matthew Dominick, her original partner, never got out of the airlock. Dominick reported a spacesuit discomfort issue, and the EVA was called off.

Rather than take the time to investigate and correct the problem with Dominicks suit, and given the amount of airlock oxygen available, NASA managers decided to re-try the original spacewalk with Dyson and Barratt and to combine tasks planned for the second and third outings in a single excursion on July 2.

But the spacewalk schedule is dependent on the Starliner undocking, which is the top near-term priority.

Already running four years behind schedule, the Starliner was launched June 5, a month later than planned due to problems with its Atlas 5 rocket, trouble with a countdown computer and because of an initial helium leak in the system used to pressurize the capsules thrusters.

NASA and Boeing managers decided the leak was too small to pose a safety threat and the ship was cleared for launch. Once in orbit and on the way to the space station, however, four more helium leaks developed and the Starliners flight computer took seven maneuvering jets off line when the telemetry did not match pre-launch expectations.

Stich said the hot-fire test Saturday showed the jets needed for post-undocking maneuvers and the critical de-orbit burn will work as needed to take the ship out of orbit for re-entry. Likewise, he said engineers were confident the helium leaks can be managed even if one or more gets worse after undocking.

But the additional days docked with the space station will give engineers more time to review data and monitor telemetry from the Starliners service module, which is where the thrusters and the helium pressurization plumbing are located. Engineers will not be able to study the actual hardware because the service module is discarded prior to re-entry and will burn up in the atmosphere.

Were taking extra time given that this is a crewed vehicle, we want to make sure that we havent left any stone unturned, Stich said. We also want to look at the systems and potential interaction between the systems and make sure we havent missed something before we return.

I like the fact that the vehicle is staying a little longer. I like the fact that were watching how the vehicle performs thermally, how the space station charges the batteries. Were getting to see those kinds of cycles, which we absolutely need for the subsequent missions. So I think theres a silver lining in staying a little (longer at the space station).

Before launch, NASA managers had hoped the Starliner test flight would pave the way toward certifying the spacecraft for operational space station crew rotation missions starting early next year. But given the problems encountered earlier in the flight, certification could be delayed depending on what is required to address the issues identified to date.

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NASA moves Starliner landing to June 26 to collect more test flight data Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

Following two weather scrubs in as many days, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket on the SES Astra 1P mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Adam Bernstein / Spaceflight Now

Update 6:53 p.m. EDT: SpaceX deployed the Astra 1P satellite.

The third time turned out to be the charm for SpaceX as it was able to launch the Astra 1P satellite to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) on behalf of one of its oldest customers: Luxembourg-based SES. The mission came after two weather-related launch scrubs in a many days.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:35 p.m. EDT (2135 UTC) on Thursday, June 20.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1080 in the SpaceX fleet launched for a ninth time. It previously supported the launches of two private astronaut missions for Axiom Space (Ax-2 and Ax-3), the European Space Agencys Euclid observatory and four Starlink missions.

About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1080 landed on the SpaceX droneship, Just Read the Instructions. This made the 84th booster landing for JRTI.

The launch snapped a rare stretch of almost 13 days without a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral, although two launches have occurred from the companys West Coast launch pad at Vandenberg in that time.

Following the last-second abort the Starlink 10-2 launch attempt on Friday, Kiko Dontchev, the Vice President of Launch at SpaceX, wrote on X (formerly Twitter): This will be the first week weve gone without a Falcon Launch in a long time. Unplanned downtime due to weather or unexpected issues happens, its how we respond that matters. The launch business takes grit and when things go wrong, our true form comes to life. Bring it on!!!

Onboard the SpaceXs 62nd Falcon 9 launch of 2024 was the Astra 1P satellite, which is also referred to as SES-24. The Luxembourg-based telecommunications company is a long-time customer of SpaceXs launch services.

In fact, the first payload that a Falcon 9 launched to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) was SES-8 on Dec. 3, 2013 on the seventh of the rocket.

The Astra 1P satellite continues a legacy of television satellites in the Astra 19.2E group that goes back to Astra 1A, which launched in 1988. There are currently four satellites in use within this orbital position: Astra 1KR, Astra 1L, Astra 1M and Astra 1N.

Astra 1KR and Astra 1L were manufactured by Lockheed Martin, while Astra 1M and Astra 1N were built by Astrium (now Airbus Defene and Space). In 2021, SES contracted Thales Alenia Space to manufacture Astra 1P and Astra 1Q.

Both Astra 1P and Astra 1Q will feature direct-to-home (DTH) functionality, but the latter will also be customizable on orbit and can be deployed easily to other orbital positions.

Our prime TV neighborhood at 19.2E is one of our most valuable assets and has been key to enabling renowned European broadcasters to grow their TV audiences in the last 30 years. These two satellites will have the resiliency, reliability and redundancy that our video customers need, and will be able to deliver continued premium services well into 2040, said Steve Collar, the former CEO of SES, in a 2021 statement. Additionally, thanks to advanced satellite technology, we will be future-proofing our investment and injecting a high degree of flexibility into ASTRA 1Q to ensure we are meeting the evolving needs of all the markets we serve.

Prior to launch, in a recorded statement, Adel Al-Saleh, the current CEO of SES, said Astra 1P is designed to replace the four satellites currently stationed at the 19.2E position.

This satellite will serve some of our largest media customers, like Sky, Canal+, Telefnica and RTL to deliver the valued, high quality content to their customers, Al-Saleh said. And it will also address the growing demand of sports and events, so that customers, like the NFL and various football leagues, can easily distribute their content across Europe.

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SpaceX launches SES's Astra 1P television satellite following two weather scrubs Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

With the dress rehearsal completed during Apollo 10 in May 1969, only a few weeks remained until Apollo 11, the actual Moon landing mission to meet President Kennedys goal set in 1961. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin and their backups James A. Lovell, William A. Anders, and Fred W. Haise entered the final phase of their training, rehearsing their mission in simulators and practicing for the lunar surface activities. Teams in Mission Control supported the simulations. A successful countdown demonstration cleared the way to start the actual countdown leading to launch. In the Pacific Ocean, U.S. Navy and NASA teams prepared for the recovery of the astronauts returning from the Moon, and for their postflight quarantine.

Apollo 10

After returning from their successful Moon landing dress rehearsal mission on May 26, 1969, Apollo 10 astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan passed on their knowledge and lessons learned to the Apollo 11 Moon landing crew during postflight debriefs. On June 8, they accepted Emmy Awards on behalf of all Apollo crews for their television broadcasts from space, with special recognition for Apollo 10s first use of color TV in space. On June 19, Stafford, Young, and Cernan returned to NASAs Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida to thank the employees there for getting them safely into orbit. On June 30, President Richard M. Nixon hosted them and their wives at a White House black tie dinner in their honor.

Left: Apollo 10 astronauts debrief their mission with the Apollo 11 astronauts. Middle: Apollo 10 astronauts John W. Young, left, Eugene A. Cernan, and Thomas P. Stafford hold their Emmy Awards. Right: At NASAs Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, Stafford, left, Young, and Cernan hold photographs of their launch presented to them by KSC Launch Director Rocco A. Petrone.

Apollo 10 astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, left, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan wave to employees as they ride in a convertible through NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Apollo 11

The document from NASAs Office of Manned Space Flight stating Apollo 11s primary objective.

On June 26, Samuel C. Phillips, Apollo Program Director, and George E. Mueller, Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., signed the directive stating Apollo 11s primary objective: perform a manned lunar landing and return. The focus of the crews training, and all the other preparatory activities happening across the agency, aimed at accomplishing that seemingly simple, yet in truth extremely complex and never before accomplished, task.

Left: Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, left, and Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin in the Lunar Module simulator at NASAs Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Right: Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins in KSCs Command Module simulator.

Apollo 11 Flight Directors Eugene F. Kranz, left, Glynn S. Lunney, Clifford E. Charlesworth, Milton L. Windler, and Gerald D. Griffin pose in Mission Control.

The final weeks leading up to the launch of their historic mission proved quite busy for Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin and their backups Lovell, Anders, and Haise, as well as the ground teams preparing their rocket and spacecraft for flight. To train for the different phases of their mission, the astronauts conducted many sessions in Command Module (CM) and Lunar Module (LM) simulators at both the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston, and at KSC. For many of these sessions, teams of operators in MSCs Mission Control monitored their activities as they would during the actual mission. Flight Directors Eugene F. Kranz, left, Glynn S. Lunney, Clifford E. Charlesworth, Milton L. Windler, and Gerald D. Griffin led the Mission Control teams.

Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, left, and Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin practice their lunar surface activities at the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston, left, and at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Apollo 11 would conduct the first spacewalk on another celestial body and only the second spacewalk of the Apollo program. At training facilities at MSC and KSC, Armstrong and Aldrin practiced setting up a television camera that would relay their activities back to Earth during the 2.5-hour excursion, deploying the three science experiments, and collecting rock and regolith samples for return to Earth.

Left: Apollo 11 Commander Neil A. Armstrong prepares to fly the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston. Middle: Armstrong airborne in the LLTV. Right: Apollo 11 backup Commander James A. Lovell following a flight in the LLTV.

On June 6, NASA managers approved the resumption of astronaut training flights in the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) at Ellington Air Force Base (AFB) near MSC. The LLTV simulated the flight characteristics of the LM and astronauts used it to train for the final 200 feet of the descent to the lunar surface. Managers reached the decision after reviewing findings from the Review Board headed by astronaut Walter M. Schirra that investigated the Dec. 8, 1968 crash of LLTV-1 as well as results from flights in LLTV-2 made by MSC test pilots Harold E. Bud Ream and Jere B. Cobb. Between June 14 and 16, Armstrong flew LLTV-2 eight times to complete his training program with the vehicle. He had previously completed 12 simulated Moon landings in the LLTV and its predecessor, the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV), narrowly escaping the crash of LLRV-1 in May 1968. Backup Commander Lovell completed four flights in the LLTV between June 19 and July 1. Armstrong, Aldrin, Lovell, and Haise also practiced landings in the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF) at NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Left: Senior NASA managers monitor the Apollo 11 Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT) in Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center at NASAs Kennedy Space Center. Right: The team of controllers in Firing Room 1 monitor the Apollo 11 CDDT.

Left: Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, front, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin about to board the transfer van to Launch Pad 39A for the Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT). Middle: Workers in the White Room assist Collins, left, Armstrong, and Aldrin to enter their spacecraft for the CDDT. Right: Armstrong, left, Aldrin, and Collins leave Launch Pad 39A at the conclusion of the CDDT.

At KSC, engineers completed the three-day Flight Readiness Test on June 6, ensuring the flight readiness of the Saturn V rocket and the Apollo spacecraft perched on Launch Pad 39A. On June 17, top managers from NASA Headquarters and the Directors of MSC, KSC, and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, held the Flight Readiness Review at KSC. The meeting reviewed all aspects of readiness for the launch and mission, clearing the way for the next milestone, the Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT). The CDDT, a full dress rehearsal for the actual countdown to launch, consisted of two parts. The wet test, conducted from June 27 to July 2, included fueling the rocket as if for flight, with the countdown stopping just prior to first stage engine ignition, and did not involve the flight crew. The dry test followed on July 3, an abbreviated countdown without fueling the rocket but with the astronauts boarding the CM as if on launch day. Controllers in Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center at Launch Complex 39 monitored all aspects of the CDDT as they would for an actual countdown. The successful test cleared the way for the start of the launch countdown at 8 p.m. EDT on July 10, leading to launch on July 16.

The three commemorative items carried aboard Apollo 11. Left: The Lunar Flag Assembly. Middle: The stainless steel commemorative plaque. Right: The silicon disc containing messages of goodwill from world leaders.

On July 2, NASA announced that Armstrong and Aldrin would leave three symbolic items behind on the Moon to commemorate the historic first landing an American flag, a commemorative plaque, and a silicon disc bearing messages from world leaders. The astronauts would plant the three-by-five-foot flag near their LM during their spacewalk. The stainless steel plaque bore the images of the two hemispheres of the Earth and this inscription,

HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH

FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON

JULY 1969 A.D.

WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND

The signatures of the three astronauts and President Richard M. Nixon also appeared on the plaque. Workers mounted it on the forward landing leg strut of the LM. The one-and-one-half-inch silicon disc contained messages of goodwill from 73 world leaders, etched on the disk using the technique to make microcircuits for electronic equipment. The crew placed the disc on the lunar surface at the end of their spacewalk.

Left: Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, left, Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins hold a copy of the commemorative plaque they will leave behind on the Moon and their mission patch. Right: The Apollo 11 astronauts in the glass-enclosed room at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory.

During a July 5 press conference in the MSC auditorium, the Apollo 11 astronauts revealed the call signs for their spacecraft. They named their CM Columbia and their LM Eagle. We selected these as being representative of the flight, the nations hope, said Armstrong. Columbia served as a national symbol represented by a statue atop the Capitol in Washington, D.C. They named the LM after the symbol of the United States, the bald eagle, featured on the Apollo 11 mission patch. In a second event, the astronauts answered reporters questions from inside a glass-enclosed conference room at MSCs Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL). After their mission, the returning astronauts completed their 21-day quarantine in the LRL to prevent any back contamination of the Earth by any possible lunar microorganisms.

NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston, workers simulate the arrival of the first Moon rocks and other items returned from Apollo 11. Middle: Workers practice docking the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) with the LRL. Right: In Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, workers barge the prime and backup MQFs to load them onto the U.S.S. Hornet. Image credit: courtesy U.S. Navy.

At the LRL, other preparations for the return of the Apollo 11 astronauts from the Moon included a simulation of the arrival and processing of the Moon rocks and other items following the mission. The rocks, crew biological samples, and film would be flown from the prime recovery ship to Houston ahead of the crew. Engineers and technicians also rehearsed the arrival of the crew with a dry run of docking a Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) to the LRLs loading dock. Following the test, workers loaded two MQFs, a prime and a backup, onto a cargo plane for transport to Hawaii and loading onto the prime recovery ship.

Left: Workers in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, prepare to lift a boilerplate Apollo Command Module onto the U.S.S. Hornet for splashdown and recovery rehearsals. Image credit: courtesy U.S. Navy Bob Fish. Middle: Crews from the U.S.S. Hornet practice recovery operations. Right: Recovery team members dry their Biological Isolation Garments aboard the U.S.S. Hornet following a recovery exercise.

On June 12, the U.S. Navy notified NASA that it had selected the U.S.S. Hornet (CVS-12) as the prime recovery ship for Apollo 11 to undertake the most complex recovery of an astronaut crew. The same day, with Hornet docked in her home port of Long Beach, California, its commanding officer, Capt. Carl J. Seiberlich, held the first recovery team meeting to review the Apollo Recovery Operations Manual, written by MSCs Landing and Recovery Division. Between June 12 and 25, Hornet onloaded NASA equipment required for the recovery. On June 27, Hornet left Long Beach for a three-hour stop in San Diego, where air group maintenance and support personnel embarked. The next day, after Hornet left for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, pilots flew the aircraft required to support the recovery onto the carrier. During the cruise to Pearl Harbor, Hornets 90-man team detailed for Apollo 11 recovery operations held numerous meetings and table-top simulations. After arriving in Hawaii on July 2, workers loaded a boilerplate Apollo capsule onto the aircraft carrier to be used for recovery practice. The NASA recovery team, the Frogmen swimmers from the U.S. Navys Underwater Demolition Team 11 (UDT-11) who assisted with the recovery, and some media personnel arrived onboard. For the recovery operation, Capt. Seiberlich adopted the motto Hornet Plus Three, indicating the goal of a safe recovery of the three astronauts returning from the Moon. On July 3, Capt. Seiberlich introduced the 35-member NASA recovery team to the Hornets crew. Donald E. Stullken, Chief of the Recovery Operations Branch at MSC and inventor of the inflatable flotation collar attached by swimmers to the capsule after splashdown, led the NASA team. His assistant John C. Stonesifer oversaw the decontamination and quarantine operations. Stullken and Stonesifer briefed Hornets Command Module Retrieval Team on all events associated with the recovery and retrieval of an Apollo capsule and its crew. On July 6, workers loaded the two MQFs aboard Hornet. The prime MQF would house the returning astronauts, a flight surgeon, and an engineer from shortly after splashdown until their arrival at the LRL in Houston several days later. The second MQF served as a backup should a problem arise with the first or if violations of quarantine protocols required additional personnel to be isolated. Along with the MQFs, Navy personnel loaded other equipment necessary for the recovery, including 55 one-gallon containers of sodium hypochlorite to be used as a disinfectant. Between July 7 and 9, the Hornet conducted nine Simulated Recovery Exercises in local Hawaiian waters. Lieutenant Clarence J. Clancy Hatleberg led the team as the designated decontamination swimmer with U.S. Navy Frogmen serving as stand-ins for the astronauts, all wearing Biological Isolation Garments as they would on recovery day. The Hornet returned to Pearl Harbor to pick up the rest of the NASA recovery team before setting sail on July 12 for its first recovery position.

Apollo 12

Left: Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Pete Conrad, left, Alan L. Bean, and Richard F. Gordon prepare to enter their Command Module for an altitude test. Right: Conrad after completing a flight in the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle.

Left: In the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, workers finish attaching the landing gear to the Apollo 12 Lunar Module (LM). Middle left: Workers in the MSOB prepare to mate the Apollo 12 Command and Service Modules with the Spacecraft LM Adapter. Middle right: Workers move the assembled Apollo 12 spacecraft from the MSOB to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Right: In the VAB. workers lower the Apollo 12 spacecraft onto its Saturn V rocket.

With Apollo 11 on its launch pad, workers continued to prepare Apollo 12 for its eventual journey to the Moon, targeting a September launch should Apollo 11 not succeed. If Apollo 11 succeeded in its Moon landing mission, Apollo 12 would fly later, most likely in November, to attempt the second Moon landing at a different location. In KSCs Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the three-stage Saturn V stood on its Mobile Launcher, awaiting the arrival of the Apollo spacecraft. In the nearby Manned Spacecraft Operations Building, the Apollo 12 prime crew of Charles Pete Conrad, Richard F. Gordon, and Alan L. Bean and their backups David R. Scott, Alfred M. Worden, and James B. Irwin completed altitude chamber tests of the CM and LM during the first two weeks of June. Workers removed the spacecraft from the vacuum chambers, mated them on June 27, and transferred them to the VAB on July 1 for stacking on the Saturn V rocket. At Ellington AFB in Houston, Conrad completed his first flights aboard LLTV-2 on July 9-10.

Apollo 13

Left: In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, workers place the first stage of the Apollo 13 Saturn V rocket onto the Mobile Launcher to begin the stacking process. Middle: The Apollo 13 Command and Service Modules arrive at KSC. Right: The ascent stage of the Apollo 13 Lunar Module arrives at KSC.

In the event that neither Apollo 11 nor 12 succeeded in landing on the Moon, NASA stood prepared to try a third time with Apollo 13 in November or December, still in time to meet President Kennedys deadline. The Apollo 13 Command and Service Modules arrived at KSC on June 26, followed by the LM ascent and descent stages on June 28 and 29, respectively. The Saturn Vs S-IC first stage arrived on June 16 and workers placed it on its Mobile Launcher two days later. The S-IVB third stage and S-II second stage arrived June 13 and 29, respectively, and workers stacked the stages in mid-July.

To be continued

News from around the world in June 1969:

June 3 Eric Carle publishes childrens picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

June 3 The final episode of Star Trek airs on NBC.

June 5 The Tupolev Tu-144 became the first passenger jet to fly faster than the speed of sound.

June 10 The Nixon Administration cancels the U.S. Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory program.

June 15 Hee Haw, with Roy Clark and Buck Owens, premieres on CBS.

June 20 Georges Pompidou sworn in as the 19th President of France.

June 20 200,000 attend Newport 69, then largest-ever pop concert, in Northridge, California.

June 23 Warren E. Burger sworn in as U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice.

June 28 Police carry out a raid at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York, beginning the modern LGBT rights movement.

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55 Years Ago: One Month Until the Moon Landing - NASA

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Boeing and NASA have decided to delay the planned landing of its first Starliner astronaut test flight to no earlier than Wednesday, June 26, to allow "a little more time to look at the data" due to helium leaks and thruster issues on the spacecraft.

Starliner is now targeted to land at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 4:51 a.m. EDT (0951 GMT) on June 26, NASA officials said.

NASA and Boeing are holding a press conference now on Boeing's Starliner mission. You can listen live here:

NASA will talk about the delayed return to Earth of Boeing's Starliner capsule during a press conference today (June 18), and you can listen to it live.

NASA and Boeing representatives will discuss the progress ofStarliner's mission at theInternational Space Station(ISS), which docked June 6 after experiencing several helium leaks and issues with five onboard reaction control system (RCS) thrusters.

The press conference begins at 12 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) and you can listen to it live here at Space.com, via NASA Television.

Read more: NASA and Boeing will discuss Starliner's delayed ISS departure today, and you can listen live

The departure of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft from the space station, with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard, has been pushed back four more days, NASA announced Friday morning (June 14), in a blog post. Starliner's Crew Flight Test (CFT) is now set to return no earlier than (NET) June 22. The extra time, according to NASA, will allow mission teams to finalize departure details and continue to test the on-orbit capabilities of the spacecraft.

In the interim, CFT crew members Wilmore and Williams will perform additional checks on Starliner, including a "hot-fire" test of seven of the spacecraft's eight aft thrusters, hatch operations and "safe haven" drills to utilize Starliner in an emergency. NASA will hold a briefing Tuesday, June 18, to elaborate on Starliner's delay, flight status and landing details.

As NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams continue to run through planned systems checks of their Starliner spacecraft, the space agency is keeping a watchful eye on the capsule's helium leaks. One leak was detected before launch, but deemed minor enough to proceed with the mission. Now, since its time in space, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has sprung four more helium leaks, though they have also been deemed not to pose a risk to the crew or spacecraft through its return window June 18. "Engineers evaluated the helium supply based on current leak rates and determined that Starliner has plenty of margin to support the return trip from station," NASA officials wrote in aCFT update on Monday(June 10).

Related: NASA weighs potential impacts of helium leaks and more on Boeing's Starliner astronaut test flight

The first crew flight test of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft will last a little longer than planned.

Starliner is currently docked at the International Space Station (ISS) while its crew, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, are spending a week aboard the orbital lab testing out the new spacecraft and conducting scientific research in microgravity. A spacewalk planned for June 13 being performed by a different crew aboard the ISS would have overlapped with Starliner's originally scheduled departure time, so NASA has decided to push the mission's ISS departure to June 18.

"The additional time in orbit will allow the crew to perform aspacewalkon Thursday, June 13, while engineers complete #Starliner systems checkouts," NASA ISS officialssaid on Sunday(June 9) via X.

Read more: Boeing's 1st Starliner astronaut mission extended through June 18

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are starting their first full docked day at the International Space Station.

Among their tasks today is to unpack a new urine processing pump for a replacement, NASA officials said. The urine processor was a late addition to Starliner's cargo manifest after the unit on the space station failed earlier this month.

Wilmore and Williams will spend about eight days putting Starliner through a series of tests to help certify it for operational crew missions. "We're looking forward to staying here for a couple of weeks and getting all the things that we need to get done," Wilmore said during a welcome ceremony after Starliner's arrival on June 6.

Related: The ISS has a urine pump problem. Boeing's Starliner astronaut launch will flush it out.

About two hours following their successful docking, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were given the 'go' to open Starliner's hatch and enter the International Space Station. Wilmore and Suni opened the hatch from inside Starliner, and after some work to stow the spacecraft's hatch for egress, entered the ISS and were greeted by the ringing of a bell by the station's current crew as all seven members of Expedition 71 at 3:45 p.m. EDT (1945 GMT).

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has docked to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Soft capture occurred at 1:34 p.m. EDT (1734 GMT) with the forward docking port of space station's Harmony module. Starliner performed the docking autonomously. "At 12:34pm, Central time above the Indian Ocean, we have confirmation of contact and capture of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test and Starliner aboard the International Space Station. Butch and Suni, have made their arrival," NASA commentators said on the space agency's live stream. A series of docking procedures will now take place as movement between Starliner and the space station dissipates. Starliner's hatch is expected to occur in about an hour, with a short welcome ceremony from the current ISS crew.

After a test fire of some of Starliner's reaction control system thrusters (RCS), NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are now moving toward the forward docking port of the space station's Harmony module. The spacecraft's original docking attempt was waved off after an anomaly in those thrusters was detected, and after troubleshooting, it was determined to be safe to proceed with docking. Starliner is currently being operated autonomously, and will remain in that configuration through docking.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have waved off the first docking attempt of their Starliner spacecraft with the Internationals Space Station, due to an anomaly with at least two of the spacecraft service module's reaction control thrusters. The earliest scheduled docking was set for 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT), but that window is no longer available. The next available window begins at 1:33 EDT (1733 GMT). As Starliner remains in a 'hold' position, station-keeping with the ISS at about 200 meters distance, the astronauts continue to fly the spacecraft in manual mode, before switching to an automated maneuvering system ahead of docking procedures.

Related: Boeing Starliner astronauts wave off 1st ISS docking attempt amid thruster issues

Starliner is currently station-keeping with the ISS at a distance of about 200 meters away. They do not currently have the 'go' to enter the space station's 'keep-out sphere' and proceed with the docking process, as they troubleshoot an issue with the spacecraft's reaction control system thrusters on the service module, which experienced an anomaly during the manual fly-around maneuver.

Flying autonomously, Starliner is completing a series of burns to reach the ellipsoid of the International Space Station (ISS) for proximity operations. This boundary is a four kilometer by two kilometer by a two kilometer invisible sphere around the ISS, which acts as a safety buffer for all incoming and departing spacecraft.

Once the spacecraft has executed an approach corridor initiation burn, it will hold at around 850 feet (260 meters) away from the space station for manual piloting demo. Following, docking is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT), at the station's forward-facing node-2 docking port.

It's docking day for Boeing's first Starliner astronaut mission with the spacecraft due to arrive at the International Space Station at 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT) with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams aboard.

The astronauts awoke from their first night in space at 4:30 a.m. EDT (0830 GMT), with Wilmore asking Mission Control for a status on two new helium leaks detected overnight in Starliner's propulsion system.

"We're kind of curious where we stand as far as our leaks. And if we could get a summary on that, that'd be wonderful," Wilmore radioed to the Mission Control

"The big picture that it currently creates is that are we are going to be able to support a rendezvous today," Mission Control's Capcom radioed back.

Flight controllers detected two additional helium leaks to one already known about in Starliner's propulsion system overnight and closed manifolds associated with them. Mission Control reports that all three manifolds should be reopened in time for docking.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are hard at work performing initial tests on the Starliner spacecraft in orbit as they head to the International Space Station.

Butch Wilmore is performing a series of manual flight control tests to see how Starliner handles under astronaut control. Boeing and NASA have about 85 different demonstrations and test to perform over the course of their one-week flight.

"It's really a big checkout day," Steve Stich, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, said in a statement. "And really ,the purpose of this is to learn we can about Starliner."

NASA chief Bill Nelson told reporters that Wilmore and Williams will test Starliner "from izzard to gizzard" during their mission. Space.com Spaceflight editor has the full story in our Starliner post-launch wrap up.

NASA is holding a live press conference now about Boeing's Starliner astronaut mission. You can watch it live on NASA TV here.

Also, NASA's Media Channel is showing a live mission coverage of Starliner's progress to the International Space Station. You can follow that live here.

Starliner has completed its orbital insertion burn, placing the spacecraft in a stable low-Earth orbit (LEO). Aboard, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are now on a coarse to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS), pending minor trajectory burns. Starliner is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Thursday (June 6) around 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT).

The Starliner spacecraft has successfully separated from the Centaur upper stage o its Atlas V rocket, a critical milestone for this Crew Flight Test mission.

The spacecraft is technically not in orbit yet. That milestone will come after an orbital insertion burn scheduled for about 30 minutes after liftoff, or about 11:22 a.m. ET

ULA's Atlas V rocket has jettisoned its first stage and is now flying under the power of two Centaur upper stage engines as it continues toward orbit.

The protective aeroskirt and docking port cover on the Starliner spacecraft have also been jettisoned. The rocket continues to perform as planned on the trip to space.

Here's more photos of the launch.

The Atlas V rocket carrying Boeing's first crewed Starliner spacecraft to orbit has jettisoned its twin solid rocket boosters as the rocket continues its uphill flight toward orbit.

Coming up next is main engine shutdown and first stage separation.

STARLINER AWAY! Boeing's first Starliner spacecraft to carry astronauts has lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and is headed to space.

Liftoff occurred on time at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT).

The Launch Director for today's Boeing Starliner astronaut launch has conducted final GO-NO GO poll for today's launch and it is GO across the board. Starliner is again ready for launch. Just minutes remain before launch.

"Starliner, Go," Crew Flight Test commander Butch Wilmore said from inside the capsule during the test.

"We all know that when the going gets tough, as it often does, the tough get going, and you all have," Wilmore said. "Let's get going, let's put some fire in this rocket. "

"Let's go Calyspo, take us to space and back," pilot Sunita Williams said, referring to the name of the Starliner capsule.

The Crew Access Arm has been retracted clear of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket as the countdown progresses for today's Starliner astronaut launch at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT).

Starliner is now on internal power for the mission. So far, no issues have affected the launch countdown.

Boeing's 1st Starliner launch is now just over 10 minutes away. If you're along the U.S. souteastern coast of Florida's East Coast, you may be able to see the launch.

Here's a map of visibility for the Starliner Crew Flight Test launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

NASA, Boeing and United Launch Alliance are now less than 30 minutes to Boeing's first Starliner astronaut launch and all systems continue to perform well for today's launch at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT).

In Houston, NASA's Crew Flight Test director Mike Lamers is preparing to call for a Go-No Go poll to ensure Mission Control is ready for the flight. In Florida, ULA and Boeing's launch director are preparing for their own final poll in the remaining minutes before launch.

Boeing is now T-1 hour away and counting toward the launch of its first Starliner astronaut test flight for NASA at 10:52 am. EDT (1452 GMT).

The countdown has been smooth so far, with the weather continuing to look good for launch.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams will spend 25 hours aboard Starliner after launch to reach the International Space Station. Once at the ISS, they'll spend about a week docked at the station performing tests on the spacecraft before returning to Earth for a land landing in the American Southwest. Check out this mission overview below.

The hatch to Boeing's Starliner Crewed Flight Test capsule has been closed for launch as the countdown continues for Boeing's historic first astronaut launch for NASA at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT).

Cabin pressurization is under way.

Boeing's Starliner close-out crew has fully strapped in NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams for today's launch at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

A weather briefing is under way ahead of hatch closure for the Starliner spacecraft. So far, weather has looked promising, with a pristine 90% chance of good conditions to launch.

Boeing's Starliner close-out crew is strapping NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore into the commander's seat of the Starliner Crew Flight Test capsule as the countdown continues for today's 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT) launch. Pilot Sunita Williams will follow Wilmore into the capsule from the White Room connected to the Starliner hatch shortly.

Starliner Crewed Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are headed to their Starliner Atlas V rocket launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The two astronauts walked out of NASA's Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center with broad smiles, waves and roses as they bid farewell to friends and loved ones ahead of their flight.

Before leaving for the pad, Wilmore (Starliner's commander) and Williams (the pilot) did battle with NASA Chief Astronaut Joe Acaba (a teacher-turned-spaceflyer) in a series of games. By tradition, astronaut crews have to beat the chief astronaut at those games before leaving for the pad. They appeared to tackle trials of arm wrestling and Rock, Paper, Scissors for this go around.

Starliner's CFT mission will be the third career spaceflight for both Williams and Wilmore.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are suiting up for their launch on Boeing's Starliner Crewed Flight Test mission today from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT). Wilmore (commander) and Williams (pilot) are donning their blue Boeing-issue spacesuits in NASA's checkout buidling.

Meanwhile, United Launch Alliance has completed the fueling operations for the Starliner crew's Atlas V rocket. Currently, all systems are operating as expected with a 90% chance of good weather, with cumulus clouds posing the only potential threat to launch.

The ULA team has begun filing the Centaur upper stage with liquid oxygen. About 4,150 gallons of liquid oxygen will be loaded into the Dual Engine Centaur for its mission to accelerate Starliner to space.

Starliner is scheduled to launch today at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT). You can watch it here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA.

The first crewed mission aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft is proceeding towards launch on Wednesday (June 5) after a computer issue in the ground launch sequencer system scrubbed the previous launch attempt with just minutes left in the countdown.

"Teams at NASA and Boeing Space confirmed on Monday that the Starliner spacecraft, ULA Atlas V rocket, and ground support equipment are healthy and ready for the 10:52 a.m. ET June 5 launch of the agency's Boeing Crew Flight Test," NASA's Commercial Crew program wrote on X on Monday (June 3).

The U.S. Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45 has predicted a 90% chance of favorable weather at launch, which occurs at 10:52 a.m. ET (1452 GMT). Watch it live here courtesy of NASA.

Related: Boeing's 1st Starliner astronaut launch aborted minutes before liftoff (video)

Boeing's next attempt to launch its first Starliner astronaut mission will occur no earlier than June 5, NASA officials said this afternoon.

In an emailed statement to reporters, NASA said that the agency, Boeing and the United Launch Alliance will skip a launch opportunity on June 2 and await the next window on June 5. Liftoff is now set for Wednesday, June 5, at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT).

"Saturday's launch was to carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to and from the International Space Station scrubbeddue to anobservation of a ground launch sequencer. The system was unsuccessful in verifying the sequencers necessary redundancy," NASA officials wrote in an update.

"NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) are forgoing a Crew Flight Test launch attempt Sunday, June 2, to give the team additional time to assess a ground support equipment issue at Cape Canaveral Space Force Stations Space Launch Complex-41 in Florida," NASA added. "ULA will assess the ground support equipment overnight, and NASA will provide an update June 2 on next steps for the flight.The next available launch opportunities are Wednesday, June 5, and Thursday, June 6."

Tory Bruno, CEO of the United Launch Alliance, told reporters that a faulty computer card appears to have led to today's Starliner launch abort minutes before liftoff. The card is in one of several computers that form the ground launch sequencersystem that governs the final phase of its Atlas V rocket countdown. Solving the problem may be as simple as just replacing the computer card, which can be done once pad crews can safely approach the pad after the Atlas V has been emptied of propellant and made safe, a process that will take several hours.

If the fix is that simple, then Starliner's next launch will be set for Sunday, July 2, at 12:03 p.m. EDT (1603 GMT), with NASA's livestream of the launch beginning around 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT). NASA's Steve Stitch said the agency will make an announcement later Saturday afternoon or evening on the launch plan.

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Boeing Starliner 1st astronaut flight: Live updates - Space.com

The return to Earth of Boeing's Starliner capsule will be delayed a few more days due to thruster troubleshooting and a scheduled spacewalk.

NASA announced today (June 18) that Starliner will conclude its first human mission to the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than June 26, nearly three weeks after it launched. Landing that day is scheduled to occur at White SandsSpace Harbor in New Mexico at 4:51 a.m. EDT (0851 GMT). We'll carry it live here at Space.com, via NASA Television.

The two-astronaut mission, known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), was originally supposed to spend about a week at the ISS, but its ISS departure has been pushed back considerably. NASA and Boeing are using the extra time to continue evaluating thruster issues that interfered with Starliner's first ISS docking attempt on June 6. Additionally, a postponed ISS maintenance spacewalk will now take place on June 24, two days before Starliner's scheduled departure.

"We want to give our teams a little bit more time to look at the data, do some analysis and make sure we're really ready to come home," Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said during a livestreamed teleconference with reporters today. Starliner can undock in case of emergency, but otherwise, testing is ongoing to learn more about the vehicle's systems.

Related: Thruster glitches and helium leaks can't stop Boeing's Starliner astronaut test flight but why are they happening?

Stich reiterated that five of Starliner's 28 reaction control thrusters failed during the final phase of the ISS rendezvous on June 6, though four of them eventually came back online. (Starliner succeeded on its second docking try, which occurred several hours later on June 6.) Evaluation of what happened is ongoing. As part of that effort, Boeing and NASA ground team members performed a thruster hot-fire test over the weekend alongside the astronauts, and, after that, Stich said, everyone "feels very confident."

One thruster was not fired during the test due to abnormally low pressure first observed during docking, and it will remain offline during the return to Earth. (Canadarm2, the robotic arm on the space station, was also used to view the thrusters via robotic camera, according to ISS Program Manager Dana Weigel, who also participated in the teleconference.)

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

CFT's docking was a bit more complex than the only other time Starliner approached the ISS, which was done during an uncrewed test flight in May 2022. That uncrewed mission, called Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2), also faced thruster issues that interfered with docking.

But "the rendezvous [for CFT] was a little bit more demanding on the propulsion system. In other words, it fired its thrusters a bit more frequently," Stich said. Additionally, teams are doing hardware simulations at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama to model ongoing helium leaks on Starliner.

A small helium leak in one of Starliner's reaction control system (RCS) thrusters was first discovered on the pad in early May, after a launch attempt was waved off due to a valve issue with the capsule's United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Several new helium leaks arose during the mission, and a fault tree analysis is ongoing to find out what happened. Stich said the helium leaks and RCS thruster issues appear to have different causes, while Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager ofBoeing's commercial crew program, said data review is continuing to reveal more about what is happening.

The helium leak on the launch pad was not an immediate safety issue, but in investigating it further, NASA and Boeing uncovered a design vulnerability in the RCS system that could affect Starliner's reentry. Agency officials subsequently certified a new reentry mode after testing the idea on the ground in simulations with the CFT crew, veteran NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams, both of whom are former U.S. Navy test pilots.

Wilmore and Williams have been testing Starliner's various systems in orbit, and ground teams have continued to analyze data to get a better handle on the thruster and helium-leak issues.

Stich emphasized that testing in orbit on Saturday (June 15) gave the team confidence that Starliner is recovering. "Saturday was a big day of understanding that helium leaks have gone down, and also understanding the thrusters have recovered, and that we can count on the thrusters for the remainder of the flight," he said.

Although evaluation of what is happening continues, he said the tone of the conversation has changed. "I think now we're doing the normal business we do of, What are the contingencies that could happen [with] the undock timeframe? And when we get to these, how we manage each of those contingencies, should something happen, and then look at the procedures we have in place. Are we ready to execute those?"

The delayed mission return also accommodates a planned June 13 spacewalk that was postponed due to a "spacesuit discomfort" issue during suit-up. NASA astronaut Matt Dominick, the ISS crew member experiencing discomfort, will not go outside during the rescheduled spacewalk on June 24 to prevent this from happening again, Weigel said during today's press conference.

Weigel told Space.com that, if the June 24 spacewalk is delayed again, Starliner's undocking would be the priority and spacewalking NASA astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mike Barratt would wait until after Starliner leaves to perform the extravehicular activity.

CFT is a developmental mission. Throughout the launch and flight campaign, Boeing and NASA have emphasized that mission timelines are therefore very much in flux as Starliner flies its first-ever mission with humans on board. Wilmore and Williams said much the same, based on their experience with the U.S. Navy flying complex aircraft.

"We've always said this is a test flight, and we're going to learn some things. So here we are," Nappi said during today's press conference. "We've learned that our helium system is not performing, albeit manageable. It's still working like we had designed it. So, we got to go figure that out."

Nappi emphasized that the performance of most of the RCS thrusters is good, trending toward nominal, while the helium leaks "show that they're stable and less than measured [before]." The team is working to learn more about Starliner while the service module, which provides most of the spacecraft's fuel and power, is still attached to the spacecraft, as it will be discarded just before landing.

"This is an opportunity to fully understand the system's performance and without the pressure of schedule or time," Nappi said. Aside from the technical issues, the mission has satisfied 77 of the original 87 flight test objectives, he noted; the remaining 10 will be evaluated during undocking and landing.

Related: NASA weighs potential impacts of helium leaks and more on Boeing's Starliner astronaut test flight

Starliner, along with SpaceX's Dragon capsule, are tasked by NASA to send agency-led crews to the ISS from American soil. (Russia also leads and launches cosmonaut-led crews on its long-running Soyuz spacecraft.) CFT aims to certify Starliner for the first operational ISS rotation mission, called Starliner-1, expected to launch in 2025.

Dragon and Starliner were first tasked in 2014 to send NASA astronauts aloft by 2017, but funding and technical issues extended the timeline by several years. SpaceX, whose Crew Dragon spacecraft is based on the company's ISS cargo capsule, launched its first astronaut test mission in 2020 following just one uncrewed test flight. Starliner's first human mission came four years after that and required two uncrewed tests, in part because the spacecraft is a new design.

Starliner's path to CFT was delayed after the capsule experienced problems on its first uncrewed test mission in December 2019 and failed to reach the ISS as planned. (Astronauts often say, however, that in developmental programs such as Starliner, timelines are difficult to estimate as the unexpected can always arise.)

Boeing addressed those glitches, which took time. The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020 delayed the launch of the second uncrewed ISS mission further, pushing it into May 2022. CFT was next expected to launch in 2023, but that flight was delayed after issues with parachute loading and flammable tape were uncovered last year.

CFT then underwent two scrubs on the pad due to issues with the Atlas V and ground equipment. The first, on May 6, occurred roughly two hours before launch due to a "buzzing valve" that required rolling back to a company facility for replacement. The second launch attempt on June 1 was scrubbed due to an issue with a ground launch sequencer less than four minutes before liftoff.

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NASA, Boeing delay Starliner astronaut landing to June 26 amid thruster issues - Space.com

Hayley Arceneaux is hardly the picture of a traditional astronaut. The 32-year-old physician assistant has a metal rod inserted into her leg to replace cancerous bone segments removed in a brawl with the disease as a child.

But in September 2021, she became the youngest American civilian to orbit the Earth as a member of SpaceXs Inspiration4 mission. Led by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, the trip was the first to carry an all-civilian crew of four people to space and opened a unique opportunity to investigate how spaceflight changes our bodies and mindsnot for trained astronauts, but for everyday people. The crew agreed to have biological samples taken before, during, and after the three-day flight. They also tested their cognition throughout the trip.

In over 40 studies released last week, researchers found that radiation and low gravity rapidly changed the bodys inner workings. After just three days, the immune system and gene expression were out of whack, and cloudy thinking set in.

The good news? Upon returning to Earth, most of these troubles eased.

Together, the package of data is the largest to date detailing spaceflights impact on the body. This is the beginning of precision medicine for spaceflight, Christopher Mason at Weill Cornell Medicine, who co-authored some of the papers, told Nature. This is the biggest release of biomedical data from astronauts, he added when speaking to Science.

All the data acquired from the crew during and after their mission is publicly available in NASAs Open Science Data Repository.

Were in a new space race, with multiple countries sprinting to revisit the moon and beyond. At the same time, commercial spaceflight for those eager to see Earth-rise and experience the mind-boggling effects of zero gravity is becoming more common.

From NASA studies, we already know spaceflight changes the body. For the past six decades, NASA has carefully characterized impacts such as increased long-term cancer risks from radiation exposure, changes in vision, and muscle and bone wasting. Comparative data from twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kellywith one twin on Earth and the other in orbitfound more specific biological changes relating to spaceflight.

However, most studies follow highly-trained astronauts. They often have a military background and are in tip-top physical shape. Their missions can last months in zero-gravityobviously far longer than a three-day jaunt.

To make spaceflight available to the rest of us, analyzing biological changes in civilian astronauts could better represent how our bodies react to space. Enter Inspiration4. The lead sponsor, Isaacman, recruited three everyday people to go on the first commercial trip to orbit the Earth. Arceneaux and Isaacman were joined by Sian Proctor, a lecturer who teaches geoscience, and an engineer, Christopher Sembroski. Their ages ranged from 29 to 51 years old.

The crew agreed to take blood, saliva, urine, and feces samples during their three days in space. They also wore fitness trackers and took cognitive tests. All this information was processed and added to the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA). The database includes the volunteers genomes, gene expression, and an atlas of proteins that make up and control bodily functions.

Inspiration4 orbited Earth at a much higher altitude than the International Space Station, where astronauts usually reside, so the new dataset captured biological changes on short-term, high-altitude missions with samples from a wider range of demographics. Up to 40 percent of the findings are new, Mason told Science.

Surprisingly, the samples reflected bodily changes that have previously only been seen on long-term spaceflights. The most prominent was an increase in telomere lengththe protective end caps that keeps our genetic code intact. When cells replicate, these protective caps erodea biological signature thats often associated with aging.

However, during Kellys year in space, his telomeres actually grew longer, suggesting that in a way his cells were made biologically youngernot necessary a win, as abnormally long telomeres have been linked to cancer risk. Once he returned to Earth, however, his telomeres returned to their normal length.

Like Kelly, the Inspiration4 crew also experienced a sudden lengthening and shortening of their telomeres, despite only three days in space, suggesting fast-acting biological changes. Digging deeper, one research team found that RNAthe messenger molecule that helps translate DNA into proteinswas rapidly altered in the crew, similar to changes observed in people climbing Mount Everestanother extreme scenario where there is gravity, but limited oxygen and increased radiation.

To study author Susan Bailey at Colorado State University, the cause of telomere lengthening may not be weightlessness per se; rather, its likely due to radiation at high altitudes and in space.

Another study found that space stressed the crews immune system at the gene expression level in a group of white blood cellsthose that tackle infections and cancers. Some parts of the immune system seemed to be on high alert; but the stress of spaceflight also affected genes that battle infections, suggesting a decreased ability to fight off viruses and pathogens. Using multi-omics data, the team found a spaceflight signature of gene expression related to immune system function.

The crew also showed signs of cosmic kidney disease. Molecular signals highlighted a potential increased risk for kidney stones. While not a problem for a three-day flight, for a longer missionsay, to the moon or Marskidney problems could rapidly escalate into a medical crisis.

The civilian astronauts cognition also faltered. Using iPads, the crew tackled a slew of mental tasks. These included, for example, the ability to focus and maintain attention in several standardized tests or to press a button when a stopwatch suddenly popped onto a screen. Within three days, their performance declined compared to when they were on the ground.

Our speed response was slowerthat surprised me, Arceneaux told the New York Times. However, rather than reflecting cognitive problems due to space travel, it could also be because the crew were distracted by the sight of Earth right out the window.

With data from just four people, its hard to draw conclusions. Most tissue samples were compared to previous data from NASA astronauts or the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. That said, when you see the same protein or genetic signatures changing across different missions and people, thats when you start believing it, co-author Afshin Beheshti at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science told Nature.

All the data was gathered into the SOMA database for other scientists to explore, and tissue samples were stored in a biobank. As commercial spaceflights become more common, scientists may have the opportunity to collect data before, during, and after a mission to further grasp what traveling beyond Earth means for the rest of us. For example, are there any triggers for severe motion sickness while being shot into space?

These insights could also give us time to develop potential treatments to ward off the negative effects of spaceflight for longer trips across the solar system.

Inspiration4 was just the first commercial sprint into space. Several other missions are on the books, including Polaris Dawn, which is set to launch as early as next monthwith the goal of attempting the first commercial spacewalk.

Soon well have more data from multiple missions and multiple crews. Im optimistic about the future, said study author Mason.

As for Arceneaux, since landing back on Earth shes continued her work as a physician assistant at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. Remembering her view from orbit, she told The New York Times, We are all one on this beautiful planet.

Image Credit: Inspiration4 crew in orbit / Inspiration4

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Here's How Much Spaceflight Changes the Body's Biology in Just Three Days - Singularity Hub

Credit: Isar

German rocket builder Isar Aerospace has announced that it has extended its Series C funding round by more than 65 million, bringing its total funding to over 400 million.

Isar was founded in 2018 and is developing its two-stage Spectrum rocket, which it is currently preparing to debut from the recently inaugurated Andya Spaceport in Norway. Once operational, the 28-metre rocket will be capable of delivering payloads of up to 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit.

The company originally closed its Series C funding round in March 2023, securing $165 million (155 million). On 20 June, Isar announced that it had extended its Series C funding round, which now totals more than 220 million. The funding round extension received significant involvement from the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), a venture capital fund backed by 24 NATO allies focused on addressing challenges in defence, security, and resilience.

The investment by the NATO Innovation Fund in Isar Aerospace is a strong sign of confidence in our approach and underlines the fundamental role of space technologies for our economies and societies, explained Isar CEO Daniel Metzler in a statement. Even more, it shows that European governments need to promote and leverage private innovation and products to keep up globally.

In addition to NIF, the funding round included contributions from G3T, 10x Group, Besant Capital, Finadvice Med HOLDINGS, LP&E, and existing investors Lakestar, Earlybird, Airbus Ventures, Bayern Kapital, and UVC Partners.

According to Isar, the new funding will enable the company to continue investing in the build-up and equipment for its series production.

In May, Isar signed a contract with commercial real estate developer VGP Group to build its new headquarters on a 40,000-square-metre plot in an industrial park near Munich. The company has stated that the new facility will be the worlds most modern production facility for orbital launch vehicles. Once fully operational, the facility will have the capacity to produce up to 40 Spectrum rockets per year.

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Isar Aerospace Extends Series C Funding Round to 220M - European Spaceflight

China has selected 10 new astronauts for training as part of its goal to put a crew on the moon by 2030, the country's human spaceflight agency announced last week.

The latest batch includes eight pilots and two payload experts, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO). They are set to receive about two years of training at the Astronaut Center of China (ACC) in Beijing, after which they will become eligible for crewed missions to the Tiangong space station in low Earth orbit.

The newly selected astronaut candidates will be tasked with conducting science experiments inside the Tiangong station and also "fulfilling the nation's manned missions to the moon," Huang Weifen, chief trainer of the astronauts, told the state-run outlet China Daily.

While all 39 of China's previously selected astronauts were former air force pilots, the latest batch for the first time includes pilots from the ground force and navy wings of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The newly selected 10 were picked from a pool of 120 applicants following three rounds of tests related to physical and psychological skills, according to China Daily.

The two payload specialists, one each from Hong Kong and Macao, marked the first time astronauts were selected from the two "special administrative regions" (SARs). Hong Kong media reported the expert from the city to be Lai Ka-ying, a chief inspector with the Hong Kong Police who worked in the force's secret technical services division. John Lee Ka-chiu, who is the Current Chief Executive of Hong Kong, said Ka-ying's selection "writes [a] glorious history for [Hong Kong] and makes the whole of Hong Kong proud," according to the Hong Kong Free Press.

The details of the second payload expert, who's from Macao, were not made public. "It is an honor for [Macao] and sends a strong message of encouragement to Macao young people," a statement by the Macao government read.

Details of the remaining eight crew members were not revealed, as is the protocol of the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). For example, the agency tends to announce the identities of astronauts flying to Tiangong only a day before launch.

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The news comes shortly after the launch of the three-person Shenzhou 18 mission to Tiangong, including China's first civilian astronaut. The three astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu recently completed strength tests using the station's bicycle and treadmill, data from which will guide the exercise plan to minimize muscle loss in the microgravity environment, CSMA said on Monday (June 17).

The agency added that the newly selected astronauts are among those who may set foot on the moon by 2030. In February, Ji Qiming, assistant to the director of CMSA, told local media that the technical proposal for the launch and lunar landing site, and the development of the Long March 10 rocket, Mengzhou crew spacecraft, Lanyue lander and spacesuits were ready.

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China selects 4th batch of astronaut candidates as part of 2030 moon landing goal - Space.com

Boeings Starliner spacecraft, which was supposed to remain docked to the International Space Station for about a week, is getting some extra time in space, NASA said Tuesday, as officials troubleshoot helium leaks and study why some thrusters failed during the test flight.

The capsule is now scheduled to fly a pair of NASA astronauts, Suni Williams and Barry Butch Wilmore, back to Earth and land in the New Mexico desert at 4:51 a.m. Eastern time June 26, which would mark a 20-day mission. The return leg, with a fiery plunge through the atmosphere, is a key part of the test flight that will stress the spacecrafts heat shield with temperatures reaching about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Officials will also be examining whether the parachute system, which Boeing had to redesign after an earlier test flight without anyone on board, provides a safe landing in what would be the final act of Starliners first flight with humans on board.

After delays caused by a faulty valve on the rocket and helium leaks in the spacecraft, Starliner launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. on June 5 and reached the station a day later. As Starliner approached the station, five of its thrusters, used to make small adjustments to its trajectory, went offline, forcing Boeing to back the vehicle away from the station and troubleshoot the issue.

NASA and Boeing were able to bring four of the five back online and dock successfully.

The teams test fired the thrusters on Saturday while the spacecraft was attached to the station, and all of them worked well, NASA said. They did not try to test fire the one thruster that didnt come back online during the flight and wont try to use it during Starliners return flight out of an abundance of caution, Steve Stich, NASAs commercial crew program manager, said during a briefing Tuesday.

In addition to the thruster problems, Starliner has suffered a series of helium leaks in its propulsion system. NASA and Boeing discovered a new one the fifth since Starliner has been on the station. That leak is small and wont pose a problem for the return, NASA said. Helium is used to pressurize the propellants through the propulsion system.

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NASA originally said Starliner would come home June 18, then pushed the landing back to June 22. The thruster problems and helium leaks are contained in the spacecrafts service module, which is used to maneuver the capsule during flight. Before the capsule reenters Earths atmosphere, the service module is jettisoned and burns up. That means engineers wont be able to study it after the flight, which is one of the reasons they said they were taking more time to understand the issues now.

Were taking our extra time given that this is a crewed vehicle, and we want to make sure that we havent left any stone unturned, Stich said. We also want to look at the systems, and potential interaction between the systems, and make sure we havent missed something before we return. And were getting a lot of great data while were at the space station for not only this flight but for the next flight.

NASA and Boeing think the thrusters went offline because of the extreme heat generated while they were firing in rapid succession to keep the capsule on course with the space station, Stich said.

In some cases, we think the heating may have caused the propellants to vaporize a little bit and we didnt get good mixing [of the propellants], and thats why the thrust was a little bit lower, he said. Engineers still dont understand what is causing the helium leaks, he said.

While on the station, Williams and Wilmore have prepared for their return, as well as rehearsed using Starliner as a safe haven in the event of an emergency on the space station. Theyve also worked alongside the other astronauts installing research equipment, maintaining the labs hardware, and helping station crew members Matt Dominick and Tracy Dyson prepare for a spacewalk, NASA said in a statement.

Despite the problems, NASA expressed confidence in Starliner. Officials said they expected to discover issues during the mission, a test flight designed to see how Starliner operates with humans on board.

Weve always said this as a test flight and were going to learn some things, said Mark Nappi, a Boeing vice president who oversees the Starliner program. So here we are. Weve learned that our helium system is not performing as designed, albeit manageable. So weve got to go figure that out.

Once the mission is complete, NASA would certify Starliner for regular crew rotation flights of a full contingent of four astronauts to the space station. SpaceX, the other participant in NASAs commercial crew program, which outsourced human spaceflight to the private sector after the space shuttle was retired, has been flying astronauts for NASA since 2020.

Given the problems Starliner has faced on this test flight, its not clear when Boeing, which was awarded a $4.2 billion NASA contract in 2014, would fly its first regular crew rotation mission.

Weve got to go address the helium leaks, Stich said. Were not going to go fly another mission like this with the helium leaks. The teams also need to find out whats causing the thrusters to have low thrust, he added. So weve got some of that work to do after this flight.

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NASA says Boeing Starliner spacecraft return delayed to June 26 - The Washington Post

The Starliner spacecraft on NASAs Boeing Crew Flight Test is pictured docked to the Harmony modules forward port as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above the Mediterranean Sea. Credit: NASA

Boeings Starliner spacecraft is stuck at the Space Station for now as NASA and Boeing have adjusted the return schedule to address issues within the propulsion system while managing conflicts with planned spacewalks at the International Space Station.

This delay allows for comprehensive reviews and system checks, paralleling procedures from previous missions. While these evaluations occur, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams remain active aboard the ISS, equipped with ample supplies and no pressing need to return to Earth soon.

Leadership at NASA and Boeing have again adjusted the return to Earth of the Starliner Crew Flight Test spacecraft with agency astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS). The move off Wednesday, June 26, deconflicts Starliners undocking and landing from a series of planned International Space Station spacewalks while allowing mission teams time to review propulsion system data. Listen to a full replay (embedded below) of the June 18 media briefing where NASA and Boeing leadership discussed the ongoing efforts.

We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process, said Steve Stich, manager of NASAs Commercial Crew Program. We are letting the data drive our decision-making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking. Additionally, given the duration of the mission, it is appropriate for us to complete an agency-level review, similar to what was done ahead of the NASAs SpaceX Demo-2 return after two months on orbit, to document the agencys formal acceptance on proceeding as planned.

A media telecon with mission leadership will follow the readiness reviews conclusion, and the agency will share those details as they are solidified. Boeings Starliner spacecraft remains cleared for return in case of an emergency on the space station that required the crew to leave orbit and come back to Earth.

Mission managers are evaluating future return opportunities following the stations two planned spacewalks on Monday, June 24, and Tuesday, July 2.

An aurora streams below Boeings Starliner spacecraft docked to the forward port on the Harmony module as the International Space Station soared 266 miles above the Indian Ocean southwest of Australia. Credit: NASA

Starliner is performing well in orbit while docked to the space station, said Stich. We are strategically using the extra time to clear a path for some critical station activities while completing readiness for Butch and Sunis return on Starliner and gaining valuable insight into the system upgrades we will want to make for post-certification missions.

NASAs Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Stations Harmony module and Boeings Starliner spacecraft. Credit: NASA

Wilmore and Williams remain integrated with the Expedition 71 crew, assisting with station operations as needed and completing add-on in-flight objectives for NASA certification of Starliner.

The crews feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and they know that every bit of learning we do on the Crew Flight Test will improve and sharpen our experience for future crews, said Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, Boeings Starliner Program.

The crew is not pressed for time to leave the station since there are plenty of supplies in orbit, and the stations schedule is relatively open through mid-August.

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Boeing's Starliner Stuck at Space Station: Unraveling Helium Leaks and Thruster Troubles - SciTechDaily

Rocket Lab plans to launch its Electron vehicle for the 50th time today (June 20), and you can watch the milestone moment live.

An Electron rocket topped with five small satellites for the French Internet of Things (IoT) company Kinis is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site today at 2:13 p.m. EDT (1816 GMT; 6:13 a.m. local New Zealand time on June 21).

Rocket Lab will webcast the launch live, beginning 30 minutes before liftoff. Space.com will carry the feed, courtesy of Rocket Lab.

Rocket Lab calls today's mission "No Time Toulouse," a nod to the French city in which Kinis is based.

If all goes according to plan, the five satellites will be deployed into low Earth orbit, 395 miles (635 kilometers) above Earth. They're the first members of Kinis' planned 25-satellite IoT constellation, the other 20 of which will also go up on Electron rockets.

"Kinis new constellation will connect any object anywhere in the world and guarantee the transmission of targeted and useful data to users, in near-real time, with low energy consumption with more powerful 30kg-class [66 pounds] nanosats that integrate IoT technology," Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description.

"The constellation also includes a second mission: a ship-tracking Automatic Identification System (AIS)," the company added. "Once deployed, these technologies will allow Kinis to expand across multiple industries and scale from 20,000 devices connected to millions."

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The 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron debuted in May 2017, on a test flight that ended in failure. The rocket has flown 48 orbital missions to date, 44 of which have been successful.

Electron's suborbital variant, known as HASTE ("Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron") also has one mission under its belt, a successful test flight that launched in June 2023.

If all goes according to plan, Electron's 50th flight will come seven years and one month after its debut even faster than SpaceX's Falcon 9, which took seven years and nine months to hit the 50 mark. The Falcon 9 has ramped up the pace considerably since then, of course; it has already launched more than 60 times in 2024.

Excerpt from:

Watch Rocket Lab launch its Electron vehicle for the 50th time today - Space.com

As the frequency of space travel increases, its crucial to understand the effects of altered gravity on the human body. Dr. Ana Diaz Artiles and her team at Texas A&M University are investigating the impact of space flight on eye health, particularly the consequences of gravitational changes.

During space travel, shifts in bodily fluids due to altered gravity can affect the cardiovascular system, potentially leading to changes in the vessels around the eyes.

As space travel becomes more accessible to individuals outside of traditional astronaut training, such as commercial space travelers, its essential to recognize the potential impact on cardiovascular and eye health, especially for those who may not have the same level of physical fitness as professional astronauts.

When we experience microgravity conditions, we see changes in the cardiovascular system because gravity is not pulling down all these fluids as it typically does on Earth when we are in an upright position, said Diaz Artiles, an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and a Williams Brothers Construction Company Faculty Fellow. When were upright, a large part of our fluids are stored in our legs, but in microgravity, we get a redistribution of fluids into the upper body.

The intriguing phenomenon of Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS) has drawn significant attention due to its impact on astronauts eye health during space missions. Researchers, led by Diaz Artiles, are unraveling the underlying mechanisms of SANS in hopes of developing effective countermeasures.

A recent study explored the potential of lower body negative pressure (LBNP) as a promising intervention to mitigate the adverse effects of microgravity-induced fluid shifts. This research holds promise for ensuring astronauts ocular health and overall well-being during prolonged space missions.

While the exact role of ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) in the development of Spaceflight-associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS) is still uncertain, Diaz Artiles and her team have suggested that exposure to microgravity might result in a slight but persistent increase in OPP compared to upright postures, potentially contributing to the development of SANS.

However, their recently published study found that lower body negative pressure (LBNP), while successful in shifting fluid towards the lower body, did not effectively reduce OPP. If elevated OPP is indeed linked to SANS, it suggests that LBNP may not be an effective countermeasure for this syndrome. The team underscores the need for future research to better understand the relationship between OPP and SANS, as well as the impact of LBNP on these ocular responses, for the development of effective countermeasures.

This research is just one experiment of a three-part study to better understand the effects of fluid shift in the body and its relationship to SANS. Previous experiments in this study included the use of a tilt table for researchers to understand the cardiovascular effects of fluid shifts at different altered gravity levels, recreated by using different tilt angles, said Diaz Artiles.

The current study and ongoing research are dedicated to developing effective countermeasures for the fluid shift phenomenon, primarily focusing on lower body negative pressure. In the near future, the researchers plan to assess the effectiveness of using a centrifuge to address the fluid shift and its associated effects.

Diaz Artiles and her team are determined to gather comprehensive data on cardiovascular responses to each countermeasure and compare their impact on ocular perfusion pressure and other crucial cardiovascular functions affected by microgravity environments. As these studies are conducted on Earth, the researchers anticipate that gravitational variations in space may yield different results. As a result, they are eager to conduct future studies in true microgravity conditions, such as parabolic flights.

Journal reference:

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Researchers investigate impacts of space travel on eye health - Tech Explorist

NASA will talk about the delayed return to Earth of Boeing's Starliner capsule during a press conference today (June 18), and you can listen to it live.

NASA and Boeing representatives will discuss the progress of Starliner's mission at the International Space Station (ISS), which docked June 6 after experiencing several helium leaks and issues with five onboard reaction control system (RCS) thrusters. The press conference begins at 12 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) and you can listen to it live here at Space.com, via NASA Television.

Starliner's first docking attempt was waved off due to the RCS thruster issues, but the rendezvous was accomplished successfully on the second try a few hours later on June 6. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have since done testing of the thrusters to evaluate the issues and the spacecraft's performance.

Starliner was expected to spend about a week at the ISS, but NASA and Boeing have extended the capsule's orbital stay until at least June 22. During the extended mission, "the crew will perform additional hatch operations to better understand its handling, repeat some 'safe haven' testing and assess piloting using the forward window," Steve Stich, manager of NASAs Commercial Crew Program, said in a recent agency statement.

Related: Thruster glitches and helium leaks can't stop Boeing's Starliner astronaut test flight but why are they happening?

Starliner and SpaceX's Dragon capsules are the two private vehicles NASA picked to ferry agency astronauts to and from the ISS. (Russia's venerable Soyuz spacecraft also provides this service, on missions led by cosmonauts.) Starliner is on a test mission right now, known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), aiming to certify the capsule before the first operational mission, called Starliner-1, which is expected in 2025.

CFT has the flexibility to stay for months if needed. The crew and NASA have repeatedly said that safety always trumps any previously stated timeline for launching, docking, landing or other mission events.

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Both Starliner and Dragon were funded by NASA in 2014 for expected missions no earlier than 2017, although technical and funding issues delayed that timeline by years. SpaceX, basing its design on its own robotic ISS cargo spacecraft, sent its first crewed Dragon mission to space in 2020 after a single uncrewed test flight to the orbiting lab.

Starliner, a new spacecraft design, required much more work. Its December 2019 uncrewed test mission did not reach the ISS as planned after computer glitches stranded Starliner in the wrong orbit. The next uncrewed mission did not launch until 2022, after the glitches experienced on the first flight were addressed and the coronavirus pandemic broke out. While that second mission went to plan, new problems with flammable tape and parachute loading delayed CFT to 2024.

CFT's launch was set for May 6, but that day's try was scrubbed just two hours before launch due to a valve issue on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

NASA and Boeing then uncovered a small helium leak on Starliner that affected one of its thrusters, which required lengthy evaluation. Team members then also found a design issue potentially affecting reentry that required certifying a new mode of coming back to Earth, which the astronauts tested on the ground before leaving home. The mission ultimately launched June 5, on its third launch day attempt.

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NASA and Boeing will discuss Starliner's delayed ISS departure today, and you can listen live - Space.com

For the entirety of the 20th century, from Yuri Gagarin to Alan Shepard to Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, humans that traveled outside of Earths atmosphere did so in spacecraft owned and created by a government. Spanning NASA heroes to the pioneers of Roscosmos to the CNSA in China, before 2004, boldly going into space was in many ways an act of statecraft. Although civilians joined the various space agencies over the decades, the earliest astronauts were rooted in a military tradition.

Twenty years ago, all of that changed, as a new spaceflight era was sparked by the launch of SpaceShipOne, the first private sub-orbital spacecraft ever. Today, non-government space launches and independent aerospace companies are the norm from Elon Musk launching cars into orbit with SpaceX to William Shatner hitting the final frontier with Blue Origin. In short, were in the midst of a new space race. And it all started twenty years ago with SpaceShipOne.

Billionaire Richard Branson holds a model of SpaceShipOne.

Today, we tend to think of SpaceShipOne as the first ship in mogul Richard Bransons growing Virgin Galactic fleet. But, at that time, SpaceShipOne was created by Scaled Composites, aerospace engineering legend Burt Rutans private aerospace firm, which was partially funded by Microsofts Paul Allen. Both Allen and Rutan also co-founded Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which managed the basic logistics of SpaceShipOne. Based in Mojave, California, Rutan and Allens goal was relatively simple: Use existing flight technology to allow suborbital spacecraft to launch from the back of a conventional airplane.

Because it launched from a plane (White Knight) and landed like a plane, in a way, SpaceShipOne was a kind of spiritual step-cousin NASAs space shuttle, though not focused on actually entering orbit. Thats because everything about SpaceShipOne was focused on creating a passenger-oriented experience. As Rutan put it in an op-ed for National Geographic in 2004 he wanted to prove that privately built spaceships could achieve what the U.S. government has not: develop technology to make spaceflight affordable and safe for the masses.

After the third manned flight flown by self-taught pilot Mike Melvill on October 4, 2004, Rutan secured $10 million from the Ansari X Prize. Shortly thereafter, Richard Bronson acquired the venture, and Virgin Galactic was born. At that point, SpaceShipOne turned the tinkering of billionaires into a viable movement that changed the landscape of spaceflight. As Michael Lopez-Alegria, former president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation told Space.com in 2014, I would not be surprised if, 50 years from now, people look back and that will be identified as the moment that the era of commercial spaceflight started.

Echoing that sentiment, Mike Moses the current president of Spaceline at Virgin Galactic tells Inverse, SpaceShipOne heralded a new era of human spaceflight that still inspires us today.

SpaceShipOne ascending on June 21, 2004 in Mojave, California.

While it may be hard for the average person to get too excited about billionaires throwing a bunch of money to figure out how to get into space, one thing that remains inspirational about SpaceShipOne is its unique out-of-the-box approach to suborbital flight.

It was a pioneering feat of engineering, Moses tells Inverse.That same sophisticated design even today has some influence in our next generation of Delta spaceships, which will set the bar for repeatability, accessibility, and experience for generations to come.

The feat of engineering Moses refers to is twofold. First, SpaceShipOne used hybrid rocket motors to leave the atmosphere, but, like a painting out of some kind of pulpy science fiction magazine, its fuel tank was integrated fully into its fuselage. This elegance and simplicity means that with SpaceShipOne form and function were the same thing. Unlike the NASA capsules of the 20th century, SpaceShipOnes short-term purpose meant that its design and appearance oddly resemble our shared visions of what a spaceship should look like.

Adding to its sci-fi mystique, SpaceShipOne used a feather system with its rear wings. Basically, this means that in order to safely reenter the atmosphere after its brief flights (and not burn up), SpaceShipOne rotated its rear wings to optimize its aerodynamic shape. This idea came from Rutan who was inspired by the shape of a shuttlecock from badminton.

An illustration of the VSS Enterprise, the first SpaceShipTwo spaceplane.

In addition to inspiring competition from other space agencies like Blue Origin and SpaceX, the Virgin takeover of Scaled Composites and Mojave Aerospace Ventures has resulted in its own self-sufficient space empire. As Moses says, Two decades later, the core principles behind SpaceShipOnes innovation and design can be seen in SpaceShipTwo Virgin Galactics pathfinding spaceship VSS Unity.

Moses points out that the VSS Unity has, to date, taken 37 passengers to space. Presumably, this number will continue to grow as the technology becomes more affordable to those of us who arent investors in major tech companies or happen to be sitting on billions of dollars.

Cynicism aside, for those who love real-life spaceships, there remains something unique about the way SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo look something that stands in stark contrast from what had come before. When the original SpaceShipOne made it into the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in 2005, it stood out.

White Knight and SpaceShipOne.

Unlike the stark gunmetal military feeling of a Mercury capsule or the spider-like Lunar Module of the Apollo landing, SpaceShipOne looks like a childlike dream of a spaceship, a notion of what human ingenuity can accomplish when it doesnt have a political agenda. SpaceShipOne may not be the best or most famous spaceship in the history of spaceflight, but in a hundred years, we will continue to look back on this as a moment of divergence when space wasnt claimed in the name of a nation. In 2004, Mike Melvill held a sign that triumphantly declared SpaceShipOne, Government Zero.

Twenty years later, weve seen various governments around the world become reliant on private spacecraft for various space missions great and small. This is the world that SpaceShipOne built. Were just living in it.

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20 Years Ago, One Moment Changed Spaceflight Forever - Inverse

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is holding a virtual public meeting this evening (June 17) about the potential environmental impact of SpaceX's Starship operations in Florida, and you can participate online.

SpaceX wants to launch its giant Starship megarocket from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Florida's Space Coast. The FAA announced recently that it plans to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) about these proposed operations, and this evening's meeting gives regular folks a chance to learn more and to weigh in.

The meeting will be held on June 17 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EDT (2200 to 0000 GMT) via Zoom. You can find the link here.

SpaceX is developing the fully reusable, 400-foot-tall (122-meter-tall) Starship to help humanity settle the moon and Mars, as well as carry out a variety of other more prosaic spaceflight tasks.

The giant vehicle has launched on four test flights to date, most recently on June 6. All of these liftoffs have occurred from Starbase, SpaceX's site in South Texas, which is currently the center of Starship manufacturing and flight operations.

SpaceX intends to fly Starship very frequently in the near future, however, so the company wants to get multiple launch sites up and running. Pad 39A is a natural choice for SpaceX, given that the company already launches its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets from the site.

Related: SpaceX's Starship 4th flight test looks epic in these stunning photos

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The Pad 39A plan has been in the works for a while. In 2019, for example, a NASA-led environmental assessment (EA) concluded that Starship operations at KSC wouldn't significantly affect the Space Coast ecosystem.

But things have changed since then, the FAA has stressed. The plan examined by the 2019 EA envisioned about 24 Starship launches per year from Pad 39A, for instance, whereas SpaceX now plans to fly the huge rocket about 44 times per year from the site. So, the FAA decided to prepare an EIS, which is a more in-depth review than an EA.

This evening's virtual public meeting follows two in-person gatherings about the Pad 39A Starship plan, which were held on the Space Coast on June 12 and June 13.

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Join the FAA's virtual public meeting about SpaceX's Starship this evening - Space.com

Earlier today (June 20th), the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a sweeping report on the status of the largest NASA programs which are currently in development [1].The report itself was not unexpected; the GAO produces similar documents on an annual basis.However, this report provided unique insights into the challenges which NASA is encountering as it attempts to implement Artemis, the most ambitious human spaceflight initiative in half a century.Many of these pieces of information had not been previously released to the public.Most notably, the report disclosed one probable root cause for the unexpected behavior of Artemis 1s heat shield: the low permeability of its ablative material.It also revealed that NASAs internal baseline target date for Artemis 3, the programs first lunar landing, is February of 2028.This casts doubt on the feasibility of a lunar landing in 2026, as is publicly planned.Finally, the report stated that Axiom Space is facing challenges with recruiting engineers to develop the lunar EVA suits which astronauts will wear during Artemis 3.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency, butit provides a crucial service for NASAand other federal agencies.Its mission is to investigate allegations of corruption and to verify that taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently and responsibly by the government.For the past 16 years, the GAO has produced annual reports on NASAs major projects.This responsibility was created at the behest of the House Appropriations Committee in its 2009 appropriations bill [2].In this context, major projects are defined as missions which costs at least 250 million dollars, take multiple years to complete, and are in development rather than operations.

The GAOs most recent assessment began in April of 2023 and continued through June of 2024.Cost overruns and schedule slips (if any) were documented for 36 major projects.In addition, the report contained information on pending issues which could potentially impact the schedule and budget for each mission in the future.Broadly, NASA is improving its management of its portfolio.In aggregate, the missions which were audited this year have produced $4.4 billion in cost overruns and 14.6 years of delays.This is an improvement over last years report, which documented $7.6 billion in cumulative cost overruns and 20.9 years of delays.This is largely due to the fact that the SLS rocket, NASAs largest single program,graduated from development to operations with the launch of Artemis 1and is therefore no longer under the GAOs purview.

Beyond these top-level statistics, the report contained several noteworthy details on the status of the Artemis program.Three programs which are required for Americas return to the Moon on Artemis 3 were assessed by the GAO:the Orion crew capsule,the Starship lunar lander, and the AxEMU space suit.The agencys concise summaries disclosed key pieces of information which were not previously disclosed in public circles.

First and foremost, the report appeared to disclose the probable root cause for the unexpected damage to Artemis 1s heat shield.Since the middle of last year,the performance of the heat shield has been NASAs most persistent concernin the lead-up to Artemis 2, the programs first crewed mission.Orions heat shield is coated in an ablative material called Avcoat, which must contend with the unique thermal stress of a lunar reentry.When it enters Earths atmosphere, Orion will be travelling at Mach 38, with 2.3 times the kinetic energy of an equivalent capsule in low Earth orbit.

As it is heated, an ablative heat shield is supposed to slowly char, liberating microscopic flakes and gases; these products then carry thermal energy away from the spacecraft.Instead, Artemis 1s heat shield lost numerous large chunks of Avcoat in a process known as spallation.In post-flight imagery of the heat shield, released by NASAs Office of the Inspector General (OIG) last month, over 100 pits are visible [3].Since these observations did not match the Orion programs predictions about the heat shield and because a more damaging incarnation of this behavior could put the crew at risk, NASA would like to understand the root cause of the spallation before launching Artemis 2.

The heat shield anomaly investigation was conducted using the world-class arc jet facilities at NASAs Ames Research Center.The tests wrapped up last year, but as of this writing, NASA has not publicly disclosed the root cause of the spallation.According to the GAO, the Orion program plans to brief NASA leadership about their findings this month; the investigation should be closed out this summer [4].An independent review board led by former Space Shuttle Flight Director Paul Hill is concurrently verifying the NASA teams conclusions.

We would be remiss if we did not note that the investigation is still in its final stages, and that some analyses may still be underway.However, the Orion programs leaders evidently felt comfortable enough to disclose the most likely root cause of the anomaly to the GAO.According to officials, analysis indicated that the permeability of the material was lower than their models had indicated, the auditors wrote [1].Due to its broad scope, the report did not elaborate on this observation, and it did not discuss the physical mechanism which links the low permeability to the spallation.If the outermost layer of the heat shield was not sufficiently permeable to oncoming plasma, it would have led to a sharper thermal gradient across its surface, but it is unknown whether this alone could result in the observed loss of Avcoat.

The GAO confirms that NASA is investigating whether they can modify Artemis 2s reentry trajectory to reduce the magnitude of the spallation.These options were previously described in detail byArtemis 2 Pilot Victor Gloverin an interview with Ars Technicas Stephen Clark [5].As for future missions, the GAO noted, Officials said an option for Artemis III and beyond may be to modify their manufacturing process to increase and optimize the permeability in heat shield materials.

The audit also included a major clarification about the schedule for Artemis 3.Since January, NASAs leadership hasconsistently claimed that the mission will take place in September of 2026, one year after Artemis 2.SpaceX is signed up to land in September of 2026, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told Congress on April 30th[6].While SLS, Orion, Starship, and the AxEMU must all be available prior to Artemis 3, the lander is currently expected to be the pacing item due to thecomplex series of ship-to-ship cryogenic refueling operationswhich must be conducted in orbit prior to the mission.

According to the GAO, achieving the 2026 goal is unlikely; in fact, the Human Landing System program has a different internal schedule estimate for human lunar return.In December 2023, NASA established cost and schedule baselines for the HLS Initial Capability at the 70 percent joint cost and schedule confidence level, as required by NASA policy, the report stated [1].The cost baseline is $4.9 billion, and the schedule baseline is February 2028 for the lunar orbit checkout review.Currently, there is a 17-month gap between the official Artemis 3 launch date and this internal baseline target date.

Establishing 70 percent confidence levels following a spacecrafts Preliminary Design Review is standard practice for any NASA program.For HLS, this metric essentially states that there is a 70% probability that Artemis 3 will be completed prior to February of 2028, and that there is a 30% probability that the landing will happen after this date.As one might expect, there is a large amount of uncertainty in this schedule due to the unforeseen challenges which will inevitably arise in the construction of a machine which is as complex as a crewed lunar lander.However, the 70 percent joint confidence level is still valuable, as it allows NASA to set realistic and reasonable deadlines for its workforce.For large and ambitious projects, these estimates have proven to be correct more often than they are not.In 2014, the SLS program projected that Artemis 1 would launch in November of 2018 with 70% confidence [7]; in reality, the mission flew four years later.The James Webb Space Telescopehad a baseline launch date of July 2021, and it launched in December of that year [8].

SpaceXs HLS contract hasa total value of 2.9 billion dollars.It is worth noting that this contract has a fixed price and that it did not grown as Artemis 3 was delayed beyondits aspirational 2024 launch date.Rather, the $4.9 billion also includes NASAs contributions to the development of HLS.While the agencys involvement in commercial programs is often overlooked, the development of Starship is a true partnership between SpaceX and NASA, combining the formers innovative culture and rapid iteration with the latters meticulous analysis and six decades of heritage.

According to the GAO, NASAs engineers have made substantial contributions to the Starship program.In December 2023, the program reported that SpaceX used significant NASA technical expertise to support its technology development. SpaceXs second integrated flight test incorporated NASA technology for accurately estimating propellant mass in space, according to HLS program officials. Further, the HLS program tested large propellant valves at Marshall Space Flight Center, and generated independent models to assess propellant aggregation, usage, and storage.

The report also touched on sources of uncertainty for the sustainable HLS, which will be leveraged for Artemis 4 and subsequent missions.It noted, The program found significant issues with SpaceXs supporting evidence that its mission can be achieved within schedule and acceptable risk. HLS officials noted that SpaceXs schedule lacked sufficient detail to assess progress, and, as a result, SpaceX agreed to provide more detailed schedule data for its SLD (Sustaining Lunar Development) lander.It is unclear whether these risks will also impact Artemis 3.The Starship vehicles which will land astronauts on the Moon during Artemis 3 and 4 share numerous common systems, including propellant tanks, engines, landing gear, and elevators.However, the sustainable lander may feature enhancements to its life support system, its autonomous landing software, its power storage, and other components [9], which might be driving the risks which are cited by the GAO.

Finally, the report documented an evolving issue concerning the development of the space suits which the Artemis 3 astronauts will wear on the lunar surface.The Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) is being developed by Axiom Space under a contract with NASA.While Axiom is a young company, it is a capable organization which wasfounded by a group of former NASA engineersled by former ISS program manager Mike Suffredini.The suit is heavily based upon the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU), a prototype lunar space suit developed by NASA.

However, like many start-ups, Axiom is still filling out its ranks.This poses challenges for the AxEMU program.According to the GAO, Axiom is working to address workforce gaps in its specialized technical disciplines. NASA and Axiom established meetings between contractor and NASA subject matter experts to cover gaps in technical expertise. Axiom is still working to establish hiring plans for the additional personnel it needs.It is unclear if or how this will impact the development schedule for the EVA suit.

The GAO report provides unique insights into the current status of the Artemis program.It is noteworthy that many recent issues with Artemis hardware have only been disclosed thanks to government watchdogs; for instance, the first photographs of the Artemis 1 heat shield were released by the OIG in May.While it appears that astronauts will not return to the lunar surface until the final years of this decade, setbacks are to be expected.Artemis is an immensely complex national effort which requires close cooperation between multiple programs and companies, as well as novel technologies such as segmented lunar heat shields and orbital refueling.

With Artemis, NASA is trying to rebuild a foundation for the human exploration of another world which was lost with the termination of Apollo.The next few years will be critical for the program as it attempts to close its technology gaps, fly astronauts safely, and set a realistic schedule.However, to invokethe words of President John F. Kennedy, these challenges are worth facing not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.

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GAO Discusses Orion Heat Shield Anomaly Root Cause, Artemis 3 Internal Schedule - AmericaSpace

Multiple frailty related biomarkers are differentially expressed in rodent muscles during spaceflight

To determine the impact of frailty during spaceflight, we constructed, based on previous literature19,20,21,22, a list of putative frailty biomarker genes for humans and mice (Supplementary Data 1). Mouse (OSD-21, 99, 101, 103, 104, 105) datasets from OSDR were analyzed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in flight versus control condition with a statistical cut-off of adjusted p-value<0.5. In mice, altered expression of frailty-related genes in the following tissues were identified: gastrocnemius (34 genes in OSD-21 and 8 genes in OSD-101); extensor digitorum longus (EDL) (45 genes in OSD-99); quadriceps (26 genes in OSD-101); soleus (36 genes in OSD-104); tibialis anterior (32 genes in OSD-105) (Fig.2A). A maximum number of four frailty-related genes was also found to be unique to each tissue type and a maximum number of 4 was common between the different datasets (Supplementary Data 2). Hierarchical clustering of the overlapping gene expression across muscle types revealed a bias towards the up-regulation of frailty-related genes (Fig.2B). As an example, the extensor digitorum longus had several upregulated genes (EGLN3, PTGS2, VDR, FREM2, KRT18, BCL2L1, LGALS3, CXCL10, CX3CL1, FNDC5, TGFB1, CAN, and PPARGC1A). Whereas the soleus (OSD-104) had relatively few downregulated genes (GDF15, PTGS2, BDNF, PAX5, CX3CL1, FNDC5, VCAN, CALU, and SESN2).

Frailty-related biomarkers are differentially expressed in rodent muscles during spaceflight. Putative frailty linked genes from NASA Open Science Data Repository (former GeneLab). The transcriptomic signature of spaceflight is investigated with differential expression analysis in multiple tissues. (A) Upset plots of overlapping differentially expressed frailty genes in rodent and human samples. (B) Heatmap of differential expression analysis for the frailty gene in human and rodent samples. Rodent samples comprise spaceflight skeletal muscle. Heatmap considers only DEG with adjustedp-value<0.5. Black color indicates no value.

To determine overall frailty impact of spaceflight on tissues Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA)23 analysis was performed on specific aging-related pathways (selected from the Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB)23 (Supplementary Data 3). Rodent datasets showed a general enrichment of the pathways with an overall upregulation in EDL and tibialis anterior, downregulation in quadriceps, and a mixed regulation in gastrocnemius soleus (Fig. 3A,B). Summary themes of each functional cluster are displayed by the external color panel at the right side of sub-figure B and C. Despite a mixed direction of regulation, a clear enrichment of these pathways in the spaceflight group when compared to the control was evident across the datasets. The soleus muscle revealed an increase in the innate immune response inflammatory signature and concomitant downregulation of the IGF-1 pathway (Fig.3B). Previous literature showed that the soleus muscle is the first to be impacted by spaceflight and also known to experience a significant dysregulation of mitochondrial and immune functions in space24. Immune response can downregulate IGF-1 anabolic activity, promoting muscle wasting16. Of note, this muscle shows the largest decline in mass in the RR1 mission and IGF-1 pathway might be involved25. Several putative aging-related pathways were enriched in human datasets (Fig.3C), showing up-regulation in the majority of cases. Of note, interferon alpha and gamma response pathways are upregulated in all the datasets investigated. The increase in immune and inflammatory signatures we identified is consistent with various reports that associate chronic inflammation with frailty, although causality has yet to be established8,26. Nonetheless, our results could be useful for biomarkers related to spaceflight risk and consistent with clinical correlations of increased low-grade inflammation and muscle wasting16.

Inflammatory response pathways are enriched in rodent muscles during spaceflight. The transcriptomic signature of spaceflight is investigated with gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) for putative aging-related pathways in multiple tissues. (A) Percentage of the differentially expressed genes which are stable, increased or decreased in rodent samples. (B) and (C) Heatmap of the normalized enrichment score for the enriched aging-related pathways in rodents and human samples. The dark gray locations in the heatmap indicate missing values for the NES, resulting from off-range adjusted p-values (padj) of the analysis. The assumed range is padj<0.3.

Sarcopenia is a condition associated with frailty. In our analysis,the best predictors of sarcopenia were genesthat are part of autophagic and protein degradation processes. After studying databases from 118 people with and without sarcopenia (GSE111006, GSE111010, and GSE111016)27, 6,892 DEGs were identified by performing MannWhitney U tests28 on gene expression data for every single gene (i.e., 65,217 genes) in a pair-wise manner across samples from both sets of patients (Supplementary Data 4). A simple classifier (i.e., k-nearest neighbors) was then used to estimate individual predictive power for that condition29. Next, via co-expression network analysis upon these DEGs, the most highly correlated module (i.e., BROWN=0.93) to sarcopenia was found. We used a pathway and gene ontology analysis upon BROWN to curate a list of 21 genes that were significantly enriched in biological processes related to sarcopenia30.

Here, we found that the frailty biomarkers list was enriched in Biological Processes Gene Ontology (BP GO) terms in a very similar manner to those found with sarcopenic biomarkers alone (Fig.4A)29. In addition to BP GO, the same was true for molecular functions (MF) GO term enrichment (Fig.4C). Interestingly, we found that eight of the biomarkers identified for frailty had the ability to predict sarcopenia in GSE111006, GSE111010, and GSE111016 with a Mean Accuracy Score (MAS) of>0.65 (RP1L1, SH3GL3, HIF1A, FGF23, FASLG, MAS1, PAX5, and REV1) (Fig.4B,D).

Evidence of shared catabolic pathways between sarcopenia and frailty markers and their differential expression in space-flown mice. (A) Significantly enriched Biological Processes using a curated biomarker gene list obtained by the overlap of three gene sets studying sarcopenia (superseries GSE111017: GSE111006, GSE111010, and GSE111016) defined through a Mann- Whitney analysis. (B) The frailty biomarkers found to be part of ten GO Biological Processes terms, from which R1PL1 had the highest Mean Accuracy Score (MAS) score. (C) Significantly enriched Molecular Functions using a curated biomarker gene list. (D) Similarly, three GO Molecular Function terms were found to be a shared pathway with the defined frailty biomarkers from which SH3GL3 had the highest MAS score. (E) Schematic of the data utilized for the heatmap showing the four genes out of the 21 sarcopenia frailty genes that were present in the murine data sets. Heatmap considers only DEG with p<0.05.

Using the sarcopenia gene expression classifier we hadestablished above, we re-examined the existing datasets for alterations in the 21 genes. To do so, we took the expression data from the murine datasets (EDL (ODS-99), left gastrocnemius (ODS-101), quadriceps (ODS-103), soleus (ODS-104), and tibialis anterior (ODS-105)) and evaluated the expression of our sarcopenia classifier (Fig.4E). We found that only GJB4, HNRNPCL1, GOLGA2 and POMC were DEGs in at least one of the datasets. GJB4 is a connexin (Cx) gene encoding the gap junction protein CX30.331. HNRNPCL1 plays a role in consolidating the nucleosome and neutralizing core hnRNPs proteins32. GOLGA2 encodes the GM130 protein necessary for the assembly of the Golgi apparatus. Interestingly, mutations in GOLGA2 lead to neuromuscular disorders and muscular dystrophy33. POMC codes for the precursor protein proopiomelanocortin producing active peptides generating melanocyte stimulating hormones (MSHs), corticotropin (ACTH) and -endorphin. POMC deficiency leads to adrenal failure and obesity34. Of note, the dataset from the soleus muscle in mice (OSD-104), demonstrated to have a significant overexpression of GJB4, POMC and significant downregulation of HNRNPC (p<0.05).

We applied the same list of putative frailty biomarker genes (Supplementary Data 1) to investigate differentially expressed genes in Open Science Datasets human samples as in Fig.2. OSD-52 and 195 were analyzed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in flight, on random positioning machine or in bed rest versus control condition with a statistical cut-off of adjusted p-value<0.5. Vastus lateralis muscle (OSD-52), cardiac progenitors (OSD-127) and endothelial cells (OSD-195) showed 22, 2 and 4 frailty-related genes, respectively (Fig.5A).

Frailty-related biomarkers are differentially expressed in humans during spaceflight and ground-based spaceflight simulated conditions. Putative frailty linked genes from NASA Open Science Data Repository (former GeneLab). The transcriptomic signature of spaceflight is investigated with differential expression analysis in multiple tissues. (A) Upset plot of overlapping differentially expressed frailty genes in human samples. (B) Venn diagram of differentially expressed frailty genes in rodent and human samples shows the common differentially expressed genes between the two species. (C) Heatmap of differential expression analysis for the frailty gene in human samples. Human samples comprise spaceflight human umbilical vein endothelial cells, bed rest skeletal muscle cells and cardiac progenitors differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells in 3D culture under simulated microgravity. Heatmap considers only DEG with adjustedp-value<0.5. Black color indicates no value.

We compared the differential expression profiles between mice and human dataset. Approximately a third of the frailty genes were conserved between humans and mice, which suggests that the murine models can provide good translation to human biology (Fig.5B). Out of 73 differentially expressed frailty-related genes, 22 (32%) were common in humans and mice (Fig.5B). Forty-three (62%) were unique to mice and 4 (6%) were unique to only humans. In humans, 9 frailty genes were upregulated and 13were downregulated in the vastus lateralis muscle (Fig.5C and Supplementary Data 2).

Several downregulated genes were associated with immunity-related pathways, while most upregulated genes were associated with metabolism and Vitamin K or D pathways. In endothelial cells, two genes were downregulated, and two were upregulated. The downregulated genes, TMEM245 and PPARGC1A, are associated with the cell-membrane and gluconeogenesis, while the upregulated genes, MSTN and PTGS2, are associated with regulation of skeletal muscle growth and prostaglandin biosynthesis (Supplementary Data 5)35. While there is no direct link between gluconeogenesis and frailty, both are related to the body's response to stress and maintaining homeostasis. Diabetes, a condition that affects glucose metabolism, has been linked to frailty36,37. In diabetes, the body's ability to regulate blood glucose levels is impaired, potentially impacting gluconeogenesis. Frail individuals, who have a diminished ability to resist stressors, may be more susceptible to the effects of these metabolic imbalances38.

Having confirmed altered aging and frailty signatures in largely rodent transcriptomic data, we wanted to test if frailty biomarkers were also altered in astronauts. To enable this analysis, we used two recent studies39. First, using astronaut data from JAXA plasma cell-free RNA profiling study, we examined the changes occurring in RNAs from the frailty biomarker genes between pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight (i.e., afterreturn to Earth) (Fig.6). Our RNA analysis reveals a global response of frailty-related gene expression to the space environment, which is characterized by in-flight and post-flight expression changes. Most of the genes investigated were subject to changes when compared to pre-flight conditions, either during spaceflight or later after return to Earth. A large number of genes that were reduced during spaceflight showed an increase after re-entry (e.g., AKT1, NOS2, FGF23, and HIF3A). Conversely, several genes show an opposite behavior and tended to be reduced during spaceflight, and underwent reduction after re-entry (e.g., TGFB1, B2M, NOS1, AOC1, SOD2, SOD3, and OAZ1).

Frailty-related biomarkers are differentially expressed in astronauts exposed to 120-days of Low Earth Orbit Spaceflight. Putative frailty linked genes from JAXA Cell-Free Epigenome (CFE). Heatmap of the normalized plasma cell-free RNA expression values for the frailty genes over time for the six astronauts over 120days in space from JAXA study. The values shown are the averaged normalized expression values for all six astronauts for each time point during flight and post-flight. The three pre-flight time points were averaged together, since the changes for genes in the time leading up to flight are considered to be the same and part of the baseline values. For the time, L=Launch (i.e., meaning time after launch from Earth and the number indicates length in space) and R=Return to Earth.

Interestingly, cell-free RNAs from several genes (e.g,. FGF23, KRT18, AKT1, B2M, NOS1, AOC1, SOD2 and SOD3) did not return to the pre-flight baseline levels, even after 120days. The data suggest that space conditions alter the HIF1 pathway which stimulates the various molecular or cellular processes related to hypoxia-responsive genes such as HIF1A, HIF1AN, ARNT, ARNT2, NOS1, NOS2, NOTCH1 and RBX1, that are known to regulate a wide variety of cellular physiology including metabolic reprogramming, anti-apoptosis, migration, proliferation, amyloid production and prion stabilization40,41. An interesting observation emerging from the data is the increased cell-free RNA signature of HIF1A and HIF3A post-flight. Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) is a key regulator of immune cell function42, and its dysregulation could alter immune response. We also observe an increase of RNAs derived from several nitric oxide (NO) related genes, which are biologic mediators in multiple processes, such as in neurotransmission and microbial and antitumoral activities. It is understood that nitric oxide (NO) is a key vasodilator in the cardiovascular system and its synthesis is catalyzed by the enzyme family nitric oxide synthases (NOS), neuronal (NOS1), inducible (NOS2) and endothelial synthases (NOS3)43. NOS1 and NOS2 are constitutively expressed by tubules of the human kidney, while NOS3 is expressed by endothelial cells and is implicated with the formation and maintenance of vascularized tissues. Furthermore, AKT1 plays a role in the signal transduction of growth factors, as well as in cell survival, cellular senescence, and aging. There is evidence that AKT signaling is associated with an imbalance of phosphatidylinositide 3-kinases that is altering the aged brain44. Chronic AKT activation intensified aging-induced cardiac hypertrophy in murine heart tissues45. In connection to phosphate intake, FGF23 is known to be secreted from the skeletal system and influence the kidneys through the klotho gene receptor36. The upregulation of HIF-related genes could be interpreted through findings from earlier studies which have implicated the HIF pathway with the impairment of energy-dependent cellular processes, and mutations in mitochondrial DNA which accelerate aging processes41,46.

Next, we used data from the first civilian commercial 3-day space mission (referred to as Inspiration4 (I4), to examine the impact of short-duration spaceflight on putative frailty biomarker transcriptomic signature47. From the I4 mission, single-cell gene expression data from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were generated and compared across multiple timepoints (Fig.7A). Frailty genes were increased in PBMCs and subpopulations post-flight compared to pre-flight timepoints, and the percentage of the increased genes were higher than the percentage of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (Fig.7B). The percentage of increased frailty genes was the highest in PBMCs, lowest in dendritic cells (DCs), and similar in the remaining subpopulations (Fig.7B). Generally, the average expression and percentage of expression of the increased genes were increased at R+1 compared to pre-flights (L-92, L-44, L-3) and returned to baseline over time (Fig.7C). For example, severalgenes were upregulated in various pathways at R+1 compared to pre-flight and reverted to baseline over time. Implicated pathways include: immunity (ARG2, PPARD), EGFR trafficking (ATXN2), regulators of apoptosis (BCL2L1, FAS), survival factor for neuronal cell types (CNTF), cellcell signaling (JAG1), metabolism (PPARD), DNA repair (REV1), neuronal excitability and synaptic transmission (SNX14), structural component of sarcomeric Z-line (TMEM245) and cell cycle regulation (TP53) (Fig.7C).

Frailty-related biomarkers are differentially expressed in astronauts exposed to 3-days of Low Earth Orbit Spaceflight. Frailty linked genes from Inspiration4 (i4) human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). (A) Schematic of the i4 experiments and the samples utilized for this analysis. (B) The overall percentage of up (i.e., increased), down (i.e., decreased), and no change (i.e., stable) expressed frailty genes in the i4 data (top plot) compared the overall gene distribution (bottom plot). (C) Dot plot of the single cell RNA expression for the frailty genes over time for the 4 astronauts over 3days in space from the i4 civilian crew mission. The image shows the differential expression values for each cell type in analysis. The values are based on expression for each time point before-flight and post-flight. However, data from samples collected just after reentry (R+1) is considered spaceflight condition. For the time, L=Launch, R=Return to Earth, the number+n is the time (in days) after L or R.

Having found alterations in gene expression associated with aging and frailty and knowing that biologic systems are dynamic, we used a subset of the gene expression to examine dynamic changes in metabolism. We applied our updated, context-specific, metabolic models that performed custom-made flux balance analysis (FBA) simulations. Here, we used two different transcriptional changes (RNA-seq) between flight and ground (OSD-91 (GSE65943) for cultured human TK6 lymphoblastoid cells; and OSD-127 (E-GEOD-84582) for cardiomyocytes from human pluripotent stem cells) (Fig.8).

Metabolic flux simulation analysis on OSD-91 and OSD-127. (A) and (B) Overview of carbohydrate metabolism illustrated by custom-made Escher [81] for OSD-91 and OSD-127, respectively. The associated pathways (i.e., TCA Cycle, Glycolysis, Pentose phosphate pathway, Pyruvate metabolism) whose metabolic reactions with relative activations are demonstrated. The red color presents the upregulated metabolic fluxes in flight and the blue color represents the downregulated fluxes. (C) and (D) Heatmaps showing relative metabolic flux rates (rows) versus human samples (columns) for OSD-91 and OSD-127, respectively. Only particular pathways demonstrating significant alteration of metabolic flux rates are listed, where the blue to yellow heatmap color scales indicate row-wise Z-scores for those flux rates. The leftmost bar represents differential testing results between Flight and Ground in p values<0.05 (black) or p values between 0.05 and 0.1 (gray) through the Van Der Waerden test. Genes in the boxes are enzymes showing significantly different expressions for their corresponding reactions.

In TK6 lymphoblastoid cells, microgravity led to transcriptional changes through altered methylation patterns. These transcriptional changes, in turn, altered the oxidative stress and carbohydrate metabolism pathways48. However, the flux simulation analysis showed that other pathways associated with lipid metabolism, fatty acid oxidation, fatty acid synthesis, and bile acid synthesis, are downregulated during flight. While chondroitin sulfate degradation, nucleotide interconversion, and peroxisomal transport are upregulated. Considering the carbohydrate metabolism aspect of the flux simulation analysis, only pyruvate metabolism (end product of glycolysis) showed significantly altered expression in microgravity (Figs. 8A,C).

By contrast, the other metabolic flux simulation displayed marked up-regulation during flight in lipid metabolism associated pathways: fatty acid oxidation, fatty acid synthesis, and glycerophospholipid metabolism (Figs. 8B,D). The cells also exhibited increased galactose metabolism, nucleotide interconversion, Coenzyme A (CoA) synthesis, glutathione metabolism, as well as pentose phosphate pathway in carbohydrate metabolism. The only significant downregulation in microgravity was detected in folate metabolism. This cardiomyocyte study (using 3D tissue engineering of cardiac progenitors from human pluripotent stem cells) found increased gene expression levels associated with growth, development, and survival for cardiac progenitors in microgravity49.

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Aging and putative frailty biomarkers are altered by spaceflight | Scientific Reports - Nature.com