US Space Program

[PaTrainFan]

The rocket currently being used is not the ones that they have been randomly blowing up in Texas though. These Falcon 9s appear to be quite reliable and predictable, enough to be able to bring back the exhausted first stage and land it vertically either on land or on a barge.

That said, the FAA is grounding Falcon 9s until an investigation is completed into the explosion of a booster upon landing on a drone ship off Cape Canaveral. No estimates on length of the delay, but could be significant.

 

[jis]

That said, the FAA is grounding Falcon 9s until an investigation is completed into the explosion of a booster upon landing on a drone ship off Cape Canaveral. No estimates on length of the delay, but could be significant.

Ah just happened this morning while I was happily sleeping on the Silver Star away from the Space Coast on the way to New York

Coming to think of it they did have an FAA hold a couple of months back after a rocket malfunction in initial orbit too.

Here is what is known about this one…

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/...-rockets-after-booster-tips-over/74983899007/

 

[thefirewarde]

Falcon's cleared for flight again.

The booster landing failure doesn't affect astronaut safety - the capsule is already headed away from the booster at that point. A high mileage booster failing on landing is a lot less concerning for human spaceflight than the stage two underperformance issue.

In either case, the Dragon capsule has a much better record than Starliner at this point.

 

[Asher]

It seems like whenever SpaceX has an issue they start testing immediately to get to the cause of the problem much faster than other NASA approved sources. They solved this latest issue and launched 2 Falcon 9 rockets with starlight satellites Saturday. It was the first rocket boosters 18th and the second’s 9 trip. It’s sort of amazing that they have been able to recover and
re use equipment that was previously a one and done deal.

 

[Asher]

My wife and I stop at our local brewery this eve and as we enter the outdoor area a lot of Space X folks are gazing at the sky anxiously waiting for something. Turns out they were waiting for their latest entry into space.

SpaceX launched its latest batch of 21 Starlink satellites on a Thursday night Falcon 9 launch from California.
The Falcon 9 rocket launch set a new record for Vandenberg Space Force Base, marking the first time that 31 orbital missions have taken off in a calendar year. Thirty of those launches were from SpaceX and one was from Firefly Aerospace.

Liftoff of the Starlink 9-6 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) happened at 6:45 p.m.

 

[jis]

Boeing is doing a significant layoff in Brevard County (KSC) in Florida. They have given notice that they will be laying off half of their staff in Florida. This may indicate that the Starliner is at the end of its line.

Wall Street Journal had earlier floated a rumor that Boeing may be planning to get entirely out of the Space business by spinning off its aerospace operations. This will include their ISS support role, their part in the Vulcan Launch vehicle and assorted other NASA and DoD contracts. Of course there us no official word or comment from anyone yet, except for this layoff info gathered from the required 60 day notice that they have to give to Florida Department of Labor.