ReportWire

Tag: space

  • NASA to roll out SLS rocket Saturday for Artemis II moon mission

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    KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — During the early morning hours of Saturday, NASA will begin the Artemis II’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s slow roll to the launch pad.

    What You Need To Know

    • The SLS is a super-heavy rocket that is 322 feet tall (98.27 meters)
    • The Artemis II mission will see four humans flying by the moon
    • It will begin its slow 4-mile ground journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

    The SLS is a super-heavy rocket that is 322 feet tall (98.27 meters), making it 17 feet (5.18 meters) taller than the Statue of Liberty, according to NASA.

    To put it into perspective for space lovers:

    At 7 a.m. ET., the SLS rocket and Orion capsule will take a ride on a crawler transporter as it begins its slow 4-mile ground journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

    And yes, it will be a slow trip, moving at 1 mile per hour or less. Between unscheduled stops and other factors, it could take between six and 12 hours before it arrives at the launch pad — its home until the planned February 2026 launch. 

    Once it arrives at its temporary home, it will have its wet dress rehearsal, which is scheduled to take place at the end of January.

    The purpose of the wet dress rehearsal is to test each phase of the launch countdown, from loading more than 700,000 gallons of super-cold fuel into the rocket to safely standing down from a liftoff attempt.  

    And that fuel isn’t something you can find at your local gas station.

    “The liquid oxygen tank and liquid hydrogen tank hold a combined 733,000 gallons of propellant super cooled to minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit to power the four RS-25 engines at the bottom of the rocket,” NASA explained.

    Sitting on top of the SLS rocket is the Orion capsule, which will carry its human crew to their 10-day mission to the moon.

    It will send NASA’s Cmdr. Gregory Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut mission specialist Jeremy Hansen to the moon, the first time humans visited the rocky satellite since 1972.

    This will be a flyby mission, as seen in this NASA graphic for Artemis II.

     

    NASA is aiming for a Feb. 6 launch, but it can be pushed back to April. The U.S. space agency explained why.

    “While the Artemis II launch window opens as early as Friday, Feb. 6, the mission management team will assess flight readiness after the wet dress rehearsal across the spacecraft, launch infrastructure, and the crew and operations teams before selecting a launch date,” NASA stated.

    As John Honeycutt, NASA’s Artemis II mission management team chair, said during a Friday afternoon press conference, “We will fly when we are ready.”

    The U.S. space agency has named the mission to return to Earth’s lunar neighbor Artemis, as a homage to the Apollo moon landing. In Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the moon.

    NASA plans to send humans (including the first woman and person of color) back to the moon in 2027, more than 50 years after the last time humans stepped on the lunar surface.

    The Artemis I launch took place in 2022 to test out the new systems and how they would handle going to the moon and back.

    Learn about the crew

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    Anthony Leone

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  • Weather a concern for Starlink launch

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — As SpaceX is gearing up for another Starlink launch on Sunday evening, the weather is a bit of a concern. 

    What You Need To Know

    • The Falcon 9 rocket will send up the Starlink 6-100 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

    The Falcon 9 rocket will send up the Starlink 6-100 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX. 

    The launch window will open from 5:04 p.m. ET to 9:04 p.m. ET. That means SpaceX has during that time frame to launch its Falcon 9.

    The 45th Weather Squadron is giving “40→10%” against the launch, with the forecast concerns being the cumulus cloud, thick cloud and liftoff winds rules.

    Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

    Going up

    This is the 24th mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster B1080. It sent up two commercial crewed missions.

    After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket will land on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas that will be in the Atlantic Ocean..

    About the mission

    The 29 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will be heading to low-Earth orbit to join the thousands already there.

    Once deployed and in their orbit, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.

    Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, documents Starlink satellites.

    Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

    • 9,500 are in orbit
    • 8,261 are in operational orbit

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    Anthony Leone

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  • NASA says astronaut suffered ‘serious medical condition’ on ISS

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    JOHNSTON SPACE CENTER — During an early morning press conference, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman revealed on Thursday that a Crew-11 astronaut suffered a “serious medical condition” while onboard the International Space Station last week.

    But he stressed that the unnamed astronaut is in stable condition and is currently getting medical care after a successful splashdown off the coast of San Diego on Thursday morning.

    What You Need To Know

    • The unnamed astronaut is in stable condition and in good spirits, stated NASA

    “I think without going … into specifics beyond what was already shared, obviously we took this action because it was a serious medical condition,” Isaacman said of the medical evacuation.

    He started the press conference off by recapping the splashdown and how all of the crew members were safe and in good spirits.

    NASA astronauts Cmdr. Zena Cardman, pilot Michael Fincke, and mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov will be flown to a hospital in San Diego from the recovery ship Shannon, said Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate.

    Montalbano added that all four of the Crew-11 members will spend the night at the hospital and once given the all clear, will be flown to Houston to be reunited with their loved ones. They may be at the Johnson Space Center on Friday, he said.

    Last week, one of the four astronauts suffered an undisclosed medical episode, but was in stable condition.

    This was the first medical evacuation in the 25 years since the International Space Station has been in full service. The situation prompted NASA to cut the Crew-11 mission short, as it was supposed to end in February. 

    Officials stressed that this was not an emergency de-orbit.

    “If it’s a medical thing and you need to get home, you’d come home anywhere in the world and we’d use the U.S. military to get to them as quickly as we can. And then from that, we’d figure out what the next steps would be,” Montalbano explained if it had been an emergency situation.

    During a question-and-answer session, Isaacman told Spectrum News that it was premature to speculate on the astronaut’s future in space.

    “I would, I would think it’s incredibly premature to even, you know, consider that right now. The highest priority is, you know, the health and welfare of our crew members. They just executed, I mean, a near-perfect mission on orbit,” he said. “So, I said that during the initial press conference that I think regardless of the phase of flight we were in on the timeline on the expedition, we would arrive at the same conclusion. What Crew-11 did to make this so much easier is, is executing so well on all of their scientific, scientific objectives. So, in that case, the crew did a fantastic job. And I think that would reflect well on future crew selection criteria.”

    The Crew-11 members take a moment to strike a pose. Mission specialist Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, left, NASA pilot Michael Fincke, NASA Cmdr. Zena Cardman, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialist Kimiya Yui. (NASA pilot Michael Fincke)

    Because all four astronauts had extensive medical training, they were well equipped to care for the crewmember who suffered the medical episode, Isaacman said. He said the level of care the astronaut received would have been the same if a medical doctor was onboard the space station.

    He added that it is unknown what caused the medical episode and did not think it was preparing for a scheduled spacewalk.

    In what was supposed to be a six-hour spacewalk, Fincke and Cardman were going to install a modification kit and cables for a future rollout of a solar array on Thursday, Jan. 08.

    “I mean, this is something that could have happened on Earth, you know, completely outside the microgravity environment, at that point. I don’t think we know that versus just being in microgravity versus potentially interactions, experiments. We, I just think it would be very premature to draw any conclusions or close any doors at this point,” Isaacman said.

    He said that a medical professional may be on future missions like going to Mars.

    NASA will review what happened and whatever lessons are learned will be adopted to future missions, Montalbano said.

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    Anthony Leone

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  • NASA astronauts return to Earth early after medical evacuation

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    An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

    SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.

    “It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.

    It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.

    Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.

    While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board.

    The astronauts will receive more in-depth medical checks at a local hospital before flying to their home base in Houston, NASA said. Platonov’s return to Moscow was unclear.

    The astronauts emerged from the capsule, one by one, after it was aboard the recovery ship. They were helped onto reclining cots and then whisked away for standard medical checks, waving to the cameras.

    Jared Isaacman, NASA’s new administrator, monitored the action from Mission Control in Houston.

    NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.

    The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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    Marcia Dunn | The Associated Press

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  • NASA astronauts return to Earth early after medical evacuation

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    An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

    SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.

    “It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.

    It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.

    Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.

    While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board.

    The astronauts will receive more in-depth medical checks at a local hospital before flying to their home base in Houston, NASA said. Platonov’s return to Moscow was unclear.

    The astronauts emerged from the capsule, one by one, after it was aboard the recovery ship. They were helped onto reclining cots and then whisked away for standard medical checks, waving to the cameras.

    Jared Isaacman, NASA’s new administrator, monitored the action from Mission Control in Houston.

    NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.

    The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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    Marcia Dunn | The Associated Press

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  • A 22-Year-Old Founder Wants to Build the Moon’s First Hotel by 2032

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    Skyler Chan launched GRU last year. Courtesy GRU Space

    Civilian travel to the Moon remains years away, but a California startup is already making plans to host overnight guests there. GRU Space, founded by 22-year-old entrepreneur Skyler Chan, is taking deposits ranging from $250,000 to $1 million for a lunar hotel that has yet to be built.

    “If we solve off-world surface habitation, it’s going to lead to this explosion. We could have billions of human lives maybe born on the Moon and Mars,” Chan told Observer. He founded GRU last year after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, and previously interned at Tesla.

    The hotel, which the company expects to open by 2032, will initially consist of an inflatable structure designed to accommodate up to four guests for multi-day stays. Over time, it would evolve into a brick building inspired by San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts. More ambitiously, GRU argues that the project could do more than jump-start space tourism—an industry it sees as essential to sustaining a future lunar ecosystem—and instead lay the groundwork for entire cities beyond Earth.

    Chan founded GRU with the goal of building the first permanent structure off Earth. His team includes founding technical staff member Kevin Cannon, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines, and advisor Robert Lillis, who also serves as associate director for planetary science at UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory. The startup has received seed funding from Y Combinator, joined Nvidia’s Inception Program and counts SpaceX and Anduril among its investors.

    GRU’s initial target customers include adventurers, repeat spaceflight participants and couples looking to elevate their honeymoon plans. While final pricing has not been set, the company said a stay would likely cost more than $10 million and require a $1,000 non-refundable application fee.

    The project’s first milestone is slated for 2029, when GRU plans to launch an initial lunar mission to assess environmental conditions and begin early construction experiments. Two years later, another payload will land near a lunar pit chosen for its protection from radiation and temperatures, with initial hotel development targeted for 2032.

    Animated image of the front door of a hotel with lit up windows Animated image of the front door of a hotel with lit up windows
    A rendering of GRU’s lunar hotel. Courtesy GRU Space

    Chan acknowledged that GRU’s timelines are estimates, but argued that bold ambition is necessary to make progress. “We need to really shoot for the literal moon,” he said.

    According to Chan, today’s space industry is dominated by two forces: governments and billionaire-backed companies. He hopes space tourism can become a third pillar. “Lunar tourism is the best first wedge to spin up the lunar economy,” he said.

    The concept aligns with broader government goals. Lunar tourism has emerged as a focus of U.S. space policy, with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman recently outlining the nation’s plans to construct a permanent base on the Moon by the end of the decade. NASA wants “to have that opportunity to explore and realize the scientific, economic and national security potential on the moon,” he told CNBC last month.

    GRU says it is well positioned to contribute to those ambitions, with plans that extend far beyond a single hotel. After completing its lodge, the company plans to build roads, warehouses and other infrastructure—first on the Moon, then on Mars. Eventually, it hopes to reinvest profits into resource utilization systems on the Moon, Mars and asteroids.

    “If we’re able to understand how to use resources on the Moon and Mars and beyond, that is going to enable us to not be tethered to Earth, and start being interplanetary,” said Chan. “It’s a Promethean moment.”

    A 22-Year-Old Founder Wants to Build the Moon’s First Hotel by 2032

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    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • Despite forecast, SpaceX launches Starlink satellites

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. — Even though the weather did not look promising, SpaceX was able to launch its Starlink mission on Wednesday afternoon. . 

    What You Need To Know

    • The Falcon 9 rocket sent up the Starlink 6-98 mission
    • The rocket’s first-stage booster has an impressive history
    • Get more space coverage here  ▶

    The Falcon 9 rocket sent up Starlink 6-98 mission from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX. 

    The launch window opened at 1:01 p.m. ET and it was set to close at 5:01 p.m. ET. That means SpaceX had during that time frame to launch its Falcon 9 rocket.

    The liftoff time was at 1:08 p.m. ET.

    The 45th Weather Squadron gave a 40% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concerns being the thick cloud layers and the cumulus cloud rules. 

    Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

    Lucky 13?

    This is the 13th mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster B1085.

    So far, B1085 has an impressive career, launching one crewed mission to the International Space Station, the first-ever civilian polar orbit and sending up two commercial companies’ lunar landers — with Firefly Aerospace being the first company to successfully land on the moon. 

    1. Crew-9 mission
    2. Starlink 6-77 mission
    3. Starlink 10-5 mission
    4. RRT-1
    5. Blue Ghost and HAKUTO-R
    6. Fram2 mission
    7. Starlink 6-93 mission
    8. SXM-10 mission
    9. Eumetsat MTG-S1 mission
    10. Starlink 10-20 mission
    11. Starlink 10-27 mission
    12. Starlink 6-94 mission

    After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was in the Atlantic Ocean

    About the mission

    The 29 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will be heading to low-Earth orbit to join the thousands already there.

    Once deployed and in their orbit, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.

    Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been recording Starlink satellites.

    Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

    • 9,476 are in orbit
    • 8,242 are in operational orbit

     

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    Anthony Leone

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  • Crew-11 to undock from ISS with astronaut who suffered medical issue

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — NASA’s Crew-11 will be undocking from the International Space Station in the facility’s first medical evacuation after an astronaut suffered a medical episode.

    What You Need To Know

    • Crew-11 should be splashing down off the coast of California

    The members of Crew-11 — NASA astronauts Cmdr. Zena Cardman and pilot Michael Fincke, along with mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov — will get into SpaceX’s Dragon capsule named Endeavour and undock from the space station’s Harmony module at 5 p.m. ET, Wednesday.

    Endeavour will be fully autonomous from the moment it undocks to the splashdown, which is expected to happen at 3:40 a.m. ET, Thursday, in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California.

    SpaceX Dragon specs:

    • Height: 26.7 feet tall

    • Diameter: 13 feet fall

    • Number of engines: 8

    • Passengers: It can carry up to 7 people

    • Parachutes: 2 drogue + 4 main = 6 parachutes

    Though, the crew can take control of the capsule if something should come up.

    When the quartet enters Earth’s atmosphere, there will be a series of parachute deployments that will slow the Dragon down from an orbital speed of about 17,500 mph (2,816 kph) to 350 mph (563 kph) to about 16 mph (25 kph) when it should softly land in the ocean.

    While the crew will remain safe inside, the outside of Dragon will face temperatures of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,927 degrees Celsius) once it hits Earth’s atmosphere. The spacecraft’s special shielding and the air conditioning system will keep the crew safe and cool.

    It is not known exactly where Endeavour’s splashdown will be, but it will be off California’s coast.

    Depending on where the Dragon will be flying over, some people may hear a sonic boom.

    Learn all about sonic booms here.

    Why Crew-11’s mission was cut short

    Not much is known about the situation, except that last week, one of the Crew-11 members suffered a medical episode, but has since been stable, said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman during a press conference.

    During the press conference, NASA officials said that while this is the first time the International Space Station has had a medical evacuation, they would not call this an emergency de-orbit, which would have taken hours to return to Earth.

    The medical issue was serious enough to cancel a planned spacewalk that was set for the morning of Thursday, Jan. 8.

    During a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk, Fincke and Cardman were supposed to install a modification kit and cables for a future rollout of a solar array.

    The Crew-11 team was supposed to stay on board the International Space Station until February, when they would be relieved of duty by Crew-12.

    Crew-12’s launch might be moved up weeks earlier, but no official date has been given. Originally, that mission’s launch was set for February.

    All four members of Crew-11 spent about five months on the space station. They were launched on a Falcon 9 rocket in August 2025.

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    Anthony Leone

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  • Texas A&M researchers test how crops could grow on Mars

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    TEXAS — Farming on Mars may sound like science fiction, but Texas A&M University researchers are studying how plants could one day grow on Martian soil with experiments sent to the International Space Station.

    The research focuses on understanding how to transform Martian regolit — the loose, rocky material that covers the planet’s surface — into a medium capable of supporting plant life.

    “What we’d like to do is be able to grow plants better in Mars soil,” said Julie Howe, a Texas A&M soil scientist and principal investigator on the project. “And all we need to do is improve it like soils have improved on Earth for many years.”

    According to Harrison Coker, a Texas A&M doctoral researcher involved in the study, plants cannot grow in Martian soil as it currently exists.

    “Unfortunately not,” Coker said. “The soils that we’ve seen on Mars are very salty. They have a lot of toxic perchlorate salts in them.”

    Coker said perchlorates are highly toxic to biological systems and would need to be remediated before crops could grow. Martian soil lacks organic matter, making it more like “a pile of rocks” than the fertile soils found on Earth.

    To help plants grow, researchers experimented with adding organic material and microbes to simulated Martian soil.

    “To assist the plant growth, we have added in a byproduct of the beer brewing process called brewer’s spent grain,” Coker said. “And it is loaded with carbon and nitrogen and other nutrients.”

    The team also added specific microbes known to work alongside plants to improve nutrient uptake and help plants respond to stress.

    Caleb Shackelford, who worked on the microbiology side of the project, said the goal was to carefully control what was added to the soil.

    “We’re adding in specific microbes, four to be exact, and we want to see if they can kind of help break down some of the organic matter that we added and process these nutrients to help the plants grow a little bit better,” Shackelford said.

    Part of the experiment was sent to the International Space Station to observe how plants and microbes behave in microgravity and increased radiation.

    “The effects of microgravity and the increased radiation will really alter the biology of any system, whether that be a microbe, a plant, or a human,” Coker said. “We can’t readily mimic those conditions on Earth.”

    Microgravity changes how plants move water and nutrients, which directly affects growth. Howe said gravity on Earth plays a major role in moving water, and therefore nutrients, through a plant.

    “If the water is not flowing like it’s supposed to on Earth with the gravity and the suction and the pulling and the transpiration, then the nutrients don’t move in the plant as well,” Howe said.

    Shackelford compared the effects on plants to what astronauts experience in space.

    “Just like astronauts, plants don’t have to work as hard in zero gravity,” he said. “They grow a little more droopy than they would on Earth.”

    Researchers said the findings could have applications much closer than Mars.

    “All the problems that we have on Mars, we also have on Earth in different places,” Howe said. “So we could maybe remediate those lands to be more productive for agriculture as well.”

    The research could help scientists better understand how plants use water and nutrients and support breeding efforts for more resilient crops.

    Coker said the experiment was successful and that the research is ongoing. He believes growing food on Mars could become a reality sooner than many expect.

    “Yes, we will grow food on Mars,” Coker said. “I think we will see it within 20 years.”

    Researchers say future experiments could return to space as they continue refining ways to support plant growth in extreme environments both on Earth and beyond.

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    Agustin Garfias

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  • SpaceX launches nearly 30 Starlink satellites

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. — SpaceX launched nearly 30 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit on Monday afternoon. 

    What You Need To Know

    • Close to 30 Starlink satellites will go to low-Earth orbit
    • This will be the 25th launch for this Falcon 9

    The Falcon 9 rocket sent up the Starlink 6-97 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX. 

    The launch window opened at 12:42 p.m. ET, and was set to close at 4:42 p.m. ET.

    The liftoff time is 4:08 p.m. ET. At one point, it was going to be 1:59 p.m. ET.

    SpaceX did not give a reason why the mission was not launched as soon as the window opened.

    The 45th Weather Squadron gave an 85% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concerns being the cumulus cloud rule.

    Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

    A Silver Anniversary launch

    This will be the 25th mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster B1078. It has had several important missions under its belt, such as a crewed mission.

    1. Crew-6
    2. SES O3b mPOWER
    3. USSF-124 mission
    4. Bluebird
    5. Starlink 6-4
    6. Starlink 6-8
    7. Starlink 6-16
    8. Starlink 6-31
    9. Starlink 6-46
    10. Starlink 6-53
    11. Starlink 6-60
    12. Starlink 10-2
    13. Starlink 10-6
    14. Starlink 10-13
    15. Starlink 6-76
    16. Starlink 12-6
    17. Starlink 12-9
    18. Starlink 12-16
    19. Starlink 6-72
    20. Starlink 6-84
    21. Starlink 12-26
    22. Starlink 10-26
    23. Nusantara Lima
    24. Starlink 6-85

    After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions, which is out in the Atlantic Ocean.

    About the mission

    The Starlink company will see 29 of its satellites go into low-Earth orbit.

    Once deployed and joining the thousands that are there, they will give internet service to many parts of the world.

    SpaceX owns the Starlink company.

    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics’ Dr. Jonathan McDowell has been documenting Starlink satellites.

    Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

    • 9,451 are in orbit
    • 8,244 are in operational orbit

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    Anthony Leone

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  • The University of Texas System signs new Space Act agreement with NASA

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    TEXAS — The University of Texas System has signed a new Space Act agreement with NASA after UT System Chancellor John Zerwas took a trip to NASA’s facility in Houston to make it official.

    “The agreement builds on existing work and will facilitate deeper collaboration in areas like space exploration research, educational engagement in STEM fields, and workforce development in the aerospace, cybersecurity and semiconductor industries,” representatives with the UT System wrote in a post on X.


    The UT System is one of the largest public university systems in the country and the world, with an operating budget of $33.3 billion according to the system’s website.

    According to NASA’s records, this agreement marks the third active partnership the UT System has with NASA, with the other two signed in November 2025. Those two current contracts are valued at over $61,700 and are set to expire in September 2030.

    Space Act Agreements (SAA) are “the most common legal instrument” used to facilitate partnerships with NASA, according to their website. NASA partners with a variety of entities, including federal agencies, foreign entities, colleges and universities, and research institutions. Space Act Agreements were created when the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 created NASA itself.

    NASA utilizes partnerships to help with researching and technology, sharing facility space, facilitating collaborative opportunities with both domestic and foreign partners, and more. In recent years, they have relied more on commercial partners, like SpaceX, and academic partners.

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    Corinne Piorkowski

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  • Crew-11 prepares for early return to Earth as astronaut deals with medical issue

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — NASA will be sending home Crew-11 this week after one of its members suffered a medical episode.

    What You Need To Know

    • The undocking of Crew-11’s capsule from the International Space Station is set for early Wednesday evening
    • The splashdown is expected to happen during the early morning hours on Thursday

    During a press conference last week, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman would not name the astronaut or what type of medical issue he or she had but only stated that the person is in stable condition and the Crew-11 mission would be cut short so the person can receive medical care.

    In August 2025, Crew-11 — made up of NASA astronauts Cmdr. Zena Cardman and pilot Michael Fincke, along with mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov — took off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.

    They were supposed to stay onboard the International Space Station until next month, where they would be relieved of duty from Crew-12. Crew-12’s launch — originally set for February — might be moved up weeks earlier, but no official date has been given.

    According to information released by NASA over the weekend, the quartet will climb on board SpaceX’s Dragon capsule named Endeavour and undock from the space station’s Harmony module at 5 p.m. ET, Wednesday.

    The splashdown is expected to happen at 3:40 a.m. ET, in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California.

    Officials stated that in its 25-year history, this is the first time there has been a medical evacuation from the International Space Station.

    However, they stated this was an emergency de-orbit.

    While it is unknown what the medical episode was, it was enough to cancel a planned spacewalk that was set for the morning of Thursday, Jan. 08.

    Fincke and Cardman were going to do a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to install a modification kit and cables for a future rollout of a solar array.

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  • UCF doctor shares medical insight on International Space Station

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — After a Crew-11 astronaut suffered a medical episode on the International Space Station, a University of Central Florida space medicine expert gives insight into the medical capabilities of the crew and what is on the station.

    What You Need To Know

    • Dr. Emmanuel Urquieta describes what type of training an assigned crew medical officer goes through
    • He also shares what type of medical tools and equipment are onboard the International Space Station
    • He was the chief medical officer of the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health
    • RELATED coverage: Crew-11 mission cut short after astronaut has medical issue

    Dr. Emmanuel Urquieta, vice chairman of UCF’s Aerospace Medicine and associate professor of medicine, would not speculate as to what happened to the unnamed astronaut, but he shared what type of training the space station crew does and what equipment is onboard to help assist in the care of crew members.

    NASA has health standards for its astronauts as they need to meet a health requirement, plus training, before going to space. But each expedition — which means the current crew in the International Space Station — assigns a person to be a crew medical officer (CMO), explained Urquieta on Friday afternoon.

    “The CMO is not always a physician, but receives extensive preflight medical training in trauma care, medical emergencies, dental care, ultrasound imaging, and clinical decision-making in isolated settings. All crew members receive basic emergency medical training to support the CMO,” he stated to Spectrum News.

    Astronaut medical training is mission-specific and risk-based, with the CMO receiving advanced simulation-based training that focuses on stabilizing a patient, autonomous care and coordinating with medical teams back on Earth, stated Urquieta, who was the chief medical officer of the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health before joining UCF.

    In fact, he stated that NASA helped pioneer telemedicine, where a patient and a doctor can speak during a video call. The medical care that takes place on the space station relies heavily on telemedicine.

    Urquieta says some of the benefits of telemedicine include, “Crew members can transmit medical data, images (including ultrasound), and live communications to flight surgeons at Mission Control. Medical support is available 24/7, with dedicated flight surgeons assigned to each mission.”

    To assist the CMO, the International Space Station is equipped with various tools to provide medical care.

    “The ISS carries a Crew Health Care System (CHeCS) that includes diagnostic tools (ultrasound, physiologic monitoring), emergency and trauma equipment, airway and resuscitation supplies, and a formulary of medications covering pain, infection, cardiovascular, and other common conditions. These systems are designed to manage most expected medical events in orbit,” he described in an email.

    If a health issue comes up that is severe and beyond the scope of the CMO, NASA can activate medical contingency protocols, Urquieta said, who also spoke to Spectrum News in a separate article about the importance of space health and medicine in 2024.

    “These include real-time consultation with flight surgeons and medical specialists on the ground and, when indicated, early return to Earth using the docked spacecraft. From the ISS, evacuation can occur within hours,” he described.

    In fact, that is what is happening with the unnamed astronaut who had an undisclosed medical issue. On Thursday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced that the Crew-11 mission had been cut short so the astronaut could come back down to Earth to receive full medical care.

    NASA is currently working to determine when the Crew-11 member can undock from the space station and return to Earth.

    Crew-11 is made up of NASA astronauts Cmdr. Zena Cardman and pilot Michael Fincke, along with mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

    All four members will be returning after spending about five months on the space station. They were launched on a Falcon 9 rocket in August 2025.

    Urquieta also shared that NASA uses a probabilistic risk-assessment tool called the Integrated Medical Model (IMM). The tool uses simulations to assess millions of hypothetical missions and calculate the incidence, severity, and timing of medical events.

    “For long-duration missions in low-Earth orbit, early IMM analyses predicted a high probability (>50%) of at least one medical event requiring evacuation over the lifetime of the ISS program, with expected occurrence on the order of 30,000–60,000 cumulative crew-days. In practice, after over 25 years of continuous ISS operations and well beyond 100,000 cumulative crew-days, no evacuation has occurred for an acute life-threatening medical emergency,” he stated.

    He continued, “This outcome has been substantially better than IMM predictions, underscoring the impact of rigorous astronaut selection, aggressive prevention strategies, continuous physiological monitoring, and real-time telemedical support by ground-based flight surgeons.”

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  • SpaceX pushes back Starlink launch to Friday

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    CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. — SpaceX has pushed the second of the year from the Sunshine State to Friday.

    What You Need To Know

    • SpaceX will attempt to launch Starlink 6-96 on Friday afternoon
    • Starlink 6-96 mission will take off from Space Launch Complex 40

    The Falcon 9 rocket will send up Starlink 6-96 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX.

    Originally, the launch was going to happen on Thursday, with the four-hour launch window opening at 1:29 p.m. ET, but the liftoff time was pushed back a number of times until it was scrubbed. 

    SpaceX did not give a reason why it cancelled Thursday’s launch, but the new attempt is set for Friday, with the four-hour launch window starting at 1:03 p.m. ET.

    The 45th Weather Squadron’s forecast for Friday’s mission is the same it gave for Thursday’s launch attempt: About a 95% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concerns being the cumulus cloud rule.

    Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

    Going up

    This is the 29th mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster B1069. It has had several missions before this launch, with most of them being Starlink ones:

    After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket will land on the droneship Just Read the Instructions which will be in the Atlantic Ocean.

    About the mission

    The 29 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will be heading to low-Earth orbit to join the thousands already there.

    Once deployed and in their orbit, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.

    Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been recording Starlink satellites.

    Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

    • 9,422 are in orbit
    • 8,170 are in operational orbit

     

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  • NASA cancels spacewalk, may end current space station crew’s mission early due to medical issue

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    A spacewalk planned for Thursday outside the International Space Station was called off late Wednesday because of a “medical concern” with an unidentified crew member, NASA said in a statement.

    An update shortly before midnight said the agency was exploring “all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew 11’s mission.”

    Spacewalkers Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman.

    NASA


    “These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely,” the update said. “We will provide further updates within the next 24 hours.”

    While NASA did not identify the astronaut in question or explain the medical issue — standard practice due to privacy concerns — the agency said “the matter involved a single crew member who is stable.”

    Crew 11 commander Mike Fincke, flight engineer Zena Cardman, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov launched to the space station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon ferry ship on August. 1. 

    Going into the new year, the crew expected to remain in space until their replacements arrive in mid-February. Crew 11’s return to Earth is expected around Feb. 20. That’s still the official plan.

    In the meantime, Cardman, 38, and Fincke, 58, a veteran of nine spacewalks on earlier missions, were planning to venture outside the station Thursday to finish building a truss needed to support a set of roll-out solar arrays and to carry out other planned maintenance.

    A second spacewalk by two yet-to-be-announced astronauts was planned for next week.

    010726-eva2.jpg

    Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Chris Williams planned to assist Fincke and Cardman in suiting up and preparing the tools and equipment that would be needed outside the space station. 

    NASA


    But NASA called off the the first spacewalk earlier Wednesday, saying “the agency is monitoring a medical concern with a crew member that arose Wednesday afternoon. Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member.”

    “The situation is stable. NASA will share additional details, including a new date for the upcoming spacewalk, later.”

    In a brief space-to-ground radio exchange just after 2:30 p.m. EST, Yui called mission control in Houston and asked for a private medical conference, or PMC.

    Mission control replied that a PMC, using a private radio channel, would be set up momentarily. Yui then asked if a flight surgeon was available and if flight controllers had a live camera view from inside the station.

    “Houston, do we still have, like, a camera view in Node 2, uh, 3, lab?” Yui asked.

    “We don’t have any internal cameras right now, but we can put the lab view in if you’d like,” the mission control communicator replied.

    “I appreciate that,” Yui replied. He then asked: “Do you have like a crew surgeon? … A flight surgeon?”

    No additional exchanges were heard. Later Wednesday, NASA’s space station audio stream, normally carried live around-the-clock on YouTube, went silent without explanation.

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  • Crew-11 mission cut short after astronaut has medical issue

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, said during a press conference on Thursday evening that Crew-11’s mission on the International Space Station will be cut short after one of its astronauts suffered an unknown medical issue.

    What You Need To Know

    • NASA has not released the name of the astronaut
    • The U.S. space agency has not stated what the medical issue is
    • Crew-11 mission will be cut short; Crew-12 launch could be sooner than expected

    Isaacman, Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, and NASA’s Chief Health and Medical Officer Dr. James Polk stressed that this is not an emergency de-orbit and while they would not name the astronaut and say what the medical issue was that happened on Wednesday, they did say he or she is in stable condition.

    “Our crews are extensively trained, as the administrator mentioned, to manage unexpected medical situations and other off nominal events, including onboard training, which we conduct regularly for these situations. Yesterday was a textbook example of that training in action,” said Kshatriya.

    Polk said that while the International Space Station has medical hardware and the astronauts are trained, he said getting the astronaut back to Earth is the best option to fully assess the medical condition.

    The astronaut is stable and in the 25 years of operations, there have been no medical emergencies on the International Space Station, said the three men.

    Polk added that in this new event, officials are erring on the side of caution and are not considering a medical emergency since the astronaut is not immediately coming back down to Earth.

    Polk said what happened was not the result of getting ready for a planned spacewalk on Thursday.

    Crew-11 is made up of NASA astronauts Cmdr. Zena Cardman and pilot Michael Fincke, along with mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

    Fincke and Cardman were set to conduct a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk on Thursday at 8 a.m. ET, to install a modification kit and cables for a future rollout of a solar array.

    NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the Crew-11 mission will be cut short after one of its members suffered a medical issue. (NASA)

    Isaacman said that NASA teams are working to get Crew-11 home earlier so the astronaut can be evaluated and treated.

    NASA is also considering moving up the Crew-12 launch earlier, which was supposed to go up sometime in February, Isaacman said, who added that an earlier Crew-12 timeline will not impact the launch of the Artemis II moon mission set for early next month.

    Spectrum News asked Isaacman if NASA would consider having a medical doctor on board the International Space Station and future space missions.

    “All of our astronauts go through extensive medical training. There is, as I described before, a lot of capabilities on the International Space Station that our astronauts interact with routinely, whether it’s part of their science and research obligations or just training simulations for these type of contingencies. I don’t think if we if one of our astronauts on board was a medical doctor, it would have changed anything, as it relates to our decision process on this,” he answered.

    “I think that speaks to their level of training. Also, our our teams on the ground, we have flight surgeons and not to mention numerous other surgeons and doctors that are available to weigh in on these type of situations.”

    The four Crew-11 members left from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in August 2025.

    They were expected to be onboard the International Space Station for between six to eight months.

    Once they left, Chris Williams will be the only American astronaut left onboard the space station, along with two Roscosmos cosmonauts, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev.

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  • Weather looking good for afternoon Starlink launch

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    CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. — The weather is looking pretty good on Thursday for the second launch of the year from the Sunshine State. 

    What You Need To Know

    • Starlink 6-96 mission will take off from Space Launch Complex 40

    The Falcon 9 rocket will send up Starlink 6-96 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX.

    The launch window will open from 1:29 p.m. ET to 5:29 p.m. ET.

    The 45th Weather Squadron is giving about a 95% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concerns being the cumulus cloud rule.

    Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

    Going up

    This is the 29th mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster B1069. It has had several missions before this launch, with most of them being Starlink ones:

    After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket will land on the droneship Just Read the Instructions which will be in the Atlantic Ocean.

    About the mission

    The 29 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will be heading to low-Earth orbit to join the thousands already there.

    Once deployed and in their orbit, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.

    Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been recording Starlink satellites.

    Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

    • 9,422 are in orbit
    • 8,170 are in operational orbit

     

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  • Rare cosmic coincidence Saturday in DC area – WTOP News

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    The sky is off to a great start for 2026 as Saturday holds four sky events for stargazers in the D.C. area, including a rare celestial coincidence involving the sun and moon.

    Editor’s note: The sky events are taking place on Saturday. The article has been corrected. 

    The sky is off to a great start for 2026 as Saturday holds four sky events for stargazers in the D.C. area, including a rare celestial coincidence involving the sun and moon.

    First up on Saturday morning is the full wolf supermoon that occurs at 5:03 a.m. and can be seen in the west before dawn. Brilliant Jupiter will be nearby too. You can also use Almanac.com to determine moonrise and moonset for your location.

    The January full moon is the Wolf Moon and it’s a supermoon. It’ll occur overnight on Jan. 2 to 3. The crest of the full moon falls at 10:03 UTC on Jan. 3. That’s 4:03 a.m. CST for folks in central North America. So the moon will be at its fullest on the morning of Jan. 3, but it will appear full on both nights, Jan. 2 and 3. It will glow near bright Jupiter and the twin stars of Gemini, Castor and Pollux. (Courtesy EarthSky.org)

    This is the fourth full supermoon in a row and the first full moon for 2026 and winter.

    You can also check out Friday night as Jupiter and the almost full wolf supermoon will be visible in the east right after sunset, so get those smartphones and cameras ready.

    Next up on Saturday, the Earth is closest to the sun, known as perihelion at 12:16 p.m. Distance will be 91,403,637 miles, or 147,099,894 kilometers.

    Our rare cosmic coincidence Saturday involves January’s supermoon and perihelion occurring on the same day.

    According to a post by EarthSky, “A cool cosmic coincidence kicks off 2026! The first full moon of the year — a supermoon — will coincide with Earth’s closest approach to the sun, known as perihelion.”

    This triple event — closest moon, full moon and closest sun — is rare. A famous example was in January of 1912.

    Experts later speculated that a supermoon near the sun’s 1912 perihelion might have dislodged an iceberg that drifted south for several months before striking the Titanic, according to Earth Sky. But there’s no way to know if that’s true.

    The supermoon and perihelion of 2026 will have effects, some of which you can see, as explained in a video by EarthSky.

    On Saturday after sunset, the very bright, almost full wolf moon meets up with brilliant Jupiter in the east after sunset. The two will be close together for quite the sky sight with the moon illusion. Get out those smartphones and cameras for a beautiful astro pic session.

    Jupiter is at its best and brightest for 2026 in January as it reaches opposition on Jan. 10. If Santa got you a telescope or binoculars, Jupiter must be on your list of things to see with them.

    While you are up and about on Saturday night, don’t forget the Quadrantid meteor shower. The bright moon causes very poor viewing conditions this year, but the shower produces bright meteors that should still be visible. Best time to view it is after midnight to dawn.

    Bundle up, get a warm drink and friends to enjoy this sky sight. You can also tune in to listen live to the Quadrantids.

    Check the Clear Sky Chart for your location for Jan. 3 to 4. If you have a partly cloudy sky forecast during these sky events, it is still worth looking up, as clouds can spectacularly add to the view and images.

    See what else the sky has in store for us in January.

    Follow Greg Redfern on his daily blog to keep up with the latest news in astronomy and space exploration

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  • SpaceX gets ready for Florida’s first launch of 2026

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — For those who can stay up late, you will be able to witness Florida’s first rocket launch for 2026. 

    What You Need To Know

    • The Starlink 6-88 mission will be Florida’s first launch of 2026.

    SpaceX stated that its Falcon 9 rocket will be leaving Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 early Sunday morning.

    It will be sending up the Starlink 6-88 mission.

    The launch window opens at midnight and will close at 3:17 a.m. ET.

    Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

    The maiden launch

    This will be the first launch for B1101, the name of this Falcon 9’s first-stage booster.

    After the stage separation, it will land on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be out in the Atlantic Ocean.

    About the mission

    SpaceX owns the Starlink company, which will see its 29 satellites go to low-Earth orbit.

    Once deployed and in their orbit with the thousands of other Starlinks, they will provide internet service to many parts of the little round Earth.

    Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been documenting Starlink satellites.

    Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

    • 9,395 are in orbit
    • 8,157 are in operational orbit

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  • SpaceX gets ready for Florida’s first launch of 2026

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — For those who can stay up late, you will be able to witness Florida’s first rocket launch for 2026. 

    What You Need To Know

    • The Starlink 6-88 mission will be Florida’s first launch of 2026.

    SpaceX stated that its Falcon 9 rocket will be leaving Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 early Sunday morning.

    It will be sending up the Starlink 6-88 mission.

    The launch window opens at midnight and will close at 3:17 a.m. ET.

    Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

    The maiden launch

    This will be the first launch for B1101, the name of this Falcon 9’s first-stage booster.

    After the stage separation, it will land on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be out in the Atlantic Ocean.

    About the mission

    SpaceX owns the Starlink company, which will see its 29 satellites go to low-Earth orbit.

    Once deployed and in their orbit with the thousands of other Starlinks, they will provide internet service to many parts of the little round Earth.

    Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been documenting Starlink satellites.

    Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

    • 9,395 are in orbit
    • 8,157 are in operational orbit

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    Anthony Leone

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