Upcoming Launches April 5, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in Armadillo Aerospace, Bigelow Aerospace, NASA, News and politics, Rocketplane Kistler, Space Startups, SpaceX, UP Aerospace, schedule.add a comment
Of the seven launch vehicles mentioned below, three have experienced terminal failures in the past twelve months. This is just a reminder that what these people do is difficult, and success cannot be taken for granted.
April 7 – ISS Expedition 15 launches in a Soyuz-TMA From Baikonur Cosmodrome. The crew includes Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, and Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi.
April 19 – Bigelow Aerospace will launch Genesis II, their second subscale inflatable demonstrator aboard a dnepr rocket from ISC Kosmotras Space and Missile Complex near Yasny, Russia.
April 28 – UP Aerospace’s SpaceLoft will carry commercial and student payloads, including the remains of Gordon Cooper and James Doohan on a suborbital flight from New Mexico’s Space Port. This will be their second attempt after their launch failure in January.
Also in April, Armadillo Aerospace plans several test flights of Pixel, their Lunar Lander Challenge vehicle. The flights will take place at the Oklahoma Space Port.
In May or June, Space Shuttle Atlantis mission STS-117 should lift off From Cape Canaveral. The flight will flesh out the space station with the addition of new solar arrays.
SpaceX has two more launches scheduled for this year from their facility on Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll. The first could be as early as August and will carry TacSat 1, a US military demonstrator. Their second flight, in the fourth quarter, will carry a Malaysian communications satellite.
After their last launch ended in a launch pad explosion, Sea Launch is repairing their floating facility and plans to be ready for their next launch in October.
ATK to Acquire Swales Aerospace April 4, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in ATK, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, News and politics, Rocketplane Kistler.add a comment
Beltsville, MD based Swales designs and manufactures spacecraft subsystems, small satellites, and EVA tools. They created several of the thermal sensors and other hand-held tools used on the Return to Flight Shuttle missions and thermal blankets and radiators found on the ISS as well as many NASA, NOAA, and DoD spacecraft.
ATK is slowly acquiring companies and partnerships that will eventually allow the business to handle complete missions from the design and engineering phase to launch and in space operations. Their partnership agreement last year with Rocketplane Kistler was intended to gain access to the medium lift K1 booster. Now ATK has swallowed up some impressive engineering talent and experience as well as satellite subsystem design and fabrication facilities. Boeing and Lockheed-Martin better watch their backs. ATK is on the prowl.
Building a better scorecard April 2, 2007
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in Uncategorized.add a comment
I’m sorry I haven’t posted for a while. Life has gotten a bit hectic, but I’m working on an interesting project. I few friends from a spaceflight forum are working with me to turn the aerospace scorecard into an interactive website. If all goes well, it will include dates, altitudes, and other critical information, and allow knowledgeable users to add more data as the startups launch more flights. I’m very excited by the possibility. It is, of course taking longer to implement than I expected, but it should be very good.
Thank you for your patience.
