321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week – Florida Today

Welcome to 321 Launch, our wrap-up of the biggest space news you might have missed over the last week. Here's what's happening:

The Monday night SpaceX launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, as seen from along the Indian River in Rockledge.(Photo: TIM SHORTT / FLORIDA TODAY)

SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket and commercial communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Monday, a fiery kickoff to a week that will include yet another high-profile mission before the weekend.

Up next: Boeing and United Launch Alliance, which will launch an uncrewed Starliner capsule on an Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41 at 6:36 a.m. Friday. The mission, labeled Orbital Flight Test, will demonstrate the capsule's capabilities to carry astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Read about both here.

Spacecraft are high-tech wonders of engineering. But one technology that aerospace experts have had a hard time mastering is one that has been around for centuries: Parachutes.

Most spacecraft employ parachutes to slow the vehicle as it returns to the ground. But making sure that the chutes deploy properly is a task that still gives engineers fits.

Learn more about the problems with parachutes here.

A team of students from the University of Minnesota is heading back up north $25,000 richer after a visit to the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center.

The team earned the money by launching a rocket to more than 500 feet using some unusual rocket fuel: Alka-Seltzer tablets and water.

Read about the Alka-Rocket challenge here.

Contact McCarthy at jmccarthy@floridatoday.com or 321-752-5018.

Read or Share this story: https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2019/12/16/321-launch-space-news-you-may-have-missed-over-past-week/2667084001/

More:
321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week - Florida Today