Lifeboat Foundation

Virgin Galactic is headed for the Big Black! https://spacenews.com/virgin-galactic-to-attempt-flight-to-space-this-week/

WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic plans to perform the next test flight of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane as soon as Dec. 13, a flight that could be the first by the vehicle to reach at least one definition of space.

In a Dec. 11 statement, the company said the next powered test flight of VSS Unity, the second SpaceShipTwo, is planned for a window that opens Dec. 13 from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The flight would be the fourth powered flight for this vehicle and the first since July. The statement came shortly after the publication of airspace restrictions in the vicinity of the airport “for rocket launch and recovery” for Dec. 13 through 15.

Continue reading “Virgin Galactic to attempt flight to space this week” »

NASA offered to give Stephen Curry a tour of its lunar labs in Houston after the NBA superstar expressed doubts on the moon landings.

Three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry on Tuesday signaled that he is willing to take NASA up on its offer to tour its lunar lab in Houston after his pronouncement this week that he does not believe humans ever walked on the Moon.

During the “Winging It” podcast released on Monday, the Golden State Warriors guard asked fellow players Vince Carter and Kent Bazemore whether they believed humans had ever been to the Moon.

Continue reading “Curry signals willingness to meet with NASA over Moon landing doubts” »

NASA has offered to give NBA superstar Steph Curry a tour of one of its lunar labs after the Golden State Warriors guard said on a podcast that he doubts humans landed on the moon.

No, really.

Curry made the head-scratching comment on an episode of the “Winging It” podcast, which posted Monday. According to Bleacher Report, Curry brought up the subject himself during the more than hour-long podcast with fellow NBA players Vince Carter, Kent Bazemore and Andre Iguodala:

Continue reading “NASA to NBA star Steph Curry: Yes, we went to the moon, and we can prove it” »

The NASA explorer’s initial discoveries might provide some insight into the early Solar System.

The results promise to shed light on this and, in the long run, help us better predict how and when Earth’s magnetic shield can suddenly become porous to let outside particles in. Details: https://go.nasa.gov/2G8lTeX&h=AT0CScAabrNYUB0DKGANhglZ-EihhF…51Yf7jUjKw

A big announcement from NASA about landing on the moon is coming on Thursday.

• The last time NASA landed a spacecraft on the moon was in December 1972.
• The US space agency said it’s about to announce “moon partnerships” with American companies to return to the lunar surface.
• NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine claimed the new moon missions will occur “sooner than you think!”
• NASA is withholding details of the announcement until Thursday afternoon, but Business Insider has independently confirmed some information.

If NASA’s stunning landing of a car-sized robot on Mars didn’t already whet your appetite for space exploration this week, mark your calendar for 2 p.m. EST on Thursday.

That’s when NASA plans to give an update about a program that aims to land privately developed spacecraft on the moon.

Continue reading “NASA administrator: ‘The US is returning to the surface of the moon, and we’re doing it sooner than you think!’” »

Researchers at RMIT University have engineered a new type of transistor, the building block for all electronics. Instead of sending electrical currents through silicon, these transistors send electrons through narrow air gaps, where they can travel unimpeded as if in space.

Drawn in by Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin’s most recent photos of Port of LA Falcon 9 recovery operations SpaceX is in the midst of, CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter on December 8th to discuss titanium grid fins and – more importantly – answer a miscellaneous handful of questions about the status of BFR’s development.

Marked lately by rapid-fire, wide-reaching changes to BFR’s general structural composite, Musk at long last confirmed what some suspected – now known as Starship/Super Heavy, the BFR program has officially moved away from carbon fiber composites as the primary material of choice for the rocket’s structure and propellant tanks, instead pivoting to what Musk described as a “fairly heavy metal”.

But cool pics of the demo Starship that will fly suborbital hops coming in ~4 weeks.

Continue reading “SpaceX CEO Elon Musk teases new Starship photos and ‘heavy metal’ BFR” »

We launched two sounding rockets that will help scientists understand atmospheric escape on our home planet that has applications all over the universe — from predicting which far off planets might be habitable, to piecing together how Mars became the desolate, exposed landscape it is today.