NASA science and technology is set to fly aboard Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign. SpaceX is targeting no earlier than 7:16 p.m. EST tonight to launch the IM-2 mission from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Weather […]
Technicians have moved NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft out of its assembly stand in preparation for the upcoming installation of its four solar array wings and spacecraft adapter jettison fairings that encapsulate its service module. The move positions NASA another step closer to the first crewed flight test under Artemis. Operators used a 30-ton crane […]
Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 is nearly one week away from its Moon landing on Sunday, March 2, after launching on Jan.15. In preparation for landing, Blue Ghost will complete its final lunar orbit maneuver scheduled for Monday, Feb. 24. This maneuver will insert Blue Ghost into a near-circular low lunar orbit, bringing the lander …
Engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida completed stacking the twin SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters inside the Vehicle Assembly Building for the agency’s Artemis II crewed test flight around the Moon. At launch and during liftoff, the boosters, which each stand 177 feet tall, will provide the majority of the 8.8 […]
After about a month in transit to the Moon, Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander successfully completed a four-minute lunar orbit insertion burn Thursday – the longest and most challenging burn conducted to date by the lander’s main engine and reaction control system thrusters. Now that the lander is in lunar trajectory, over the next 16 …
After a successful Trans Lunar Injection burn on Saturday, Feb. 8, Firefly’s spacecraft carrying NASA science and tech to the Moon has departed Earth’s orbit and begun its four-day transit to the Moon’s orbit. Blue Ghost will then spend approximately 16 days in lunar orbit before beginning its descent operations. Since launching more than three …
Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 reached day 15 of its 45-day transit to the Moon. The Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) 1.1 instrument, designed by researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to capture images during the spacecraft’s lunar descent and touchdown, successfully received high-resolution test images from all six of …
NASA’s science and technology instruments aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 are a step closer to the Moon. After almost two weeks in Earth orbit, Firefly announced Thursday that Blue Ghost successfully completed its second engine burn, placing the lander in the correct position to leave Earth’s orbit and continue its journey to the …
Firefly’s Blue Ghost continues its journey to the Moon carrying 10 NASA science and technology instruments. Four days into the mission, the lunar lander completed its first main engine burn. This milestone is the first of several maneuvers that will position the lander in a trajectory towards the Moon. After 25 days orbiting Earth, Blue …
On Jan. 15, Firefly Aerospace successfully launched 10 NASA science and technology instruments on the company’s first CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) delivery. The NASA instrument teams are performing initial health checks and collecting data ahead of the lunar landing in early March. Flight controllers for Blue Ghost Mission 1 said Wednesday that the company’s …
