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NSF Video Section / Re: NSF BREAKINGspace

« Last post by catdlr on Today at 11:10 pm »

How Starliner’s Failures Led To This NASA Mission | SpaceX Crew-11 - July 12, 2025

Jul 12, 2025
We explore the details of NASA's Crew-11 mission - the next crew rotation to the International Space Station (ISS). Sawyer sits down with NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, and JAXA's Kimiya Yui. Hear their personal stories, training experiences, and what they’re most excited about as they prepare to journey to the Space Station.

Cardman was originally assigned to NASA's SpaceX Crew-9, however when that mission had to free up 2 seats to bring home Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams following the Starliner fiasco, she was bumped in favor of Nick Hague.

Fincke has been instrumental in the development of the commercial crew program, and especially Starliner. He was the backup for the Starliner Crew Flight Test, and was at one time scheduled to fly on Starliner-1. Also - which Endeavour is the best Endeavour?

🤵 Hosted by Sawyer Rosenstein (@thenasaman).
🖊️ Written by Sawyer Rosenstein (@thenasaman).
🎥 Video from Max Evans, D Wise, ULA, NASA.
✂️ Edited by Sawyer Rosenstein (@thenasaman).
💼 Produced by Kevin Michael Reed (@kmreed).

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SpaceX Starship Program / Re: NSF Starbase Daily Summary Videos

« Last post by catdlr on Today at 11:03 pm »

"Starship Static Fires are Shaping Up" | SpaceX Starbase - 09-11 July, 2025

Jul 12, 2025  ✪ Members first on July 12, 2025  #SpaceX #StarbaseUpdate #SpaceNews
SpaceX is deep into making interesting modifications to Pad 1's Orbital Launch Mount (OLM), including the Booster Quick Disconnect (BQD) Hood ahead of the "Starstool" addition that will allow for Ship Static Fire tests on the launch pad.


🤵 Hosted by John Galloway.
🎥 Video from Jack Beyer ( @JackABeyer ), Ceaser G, and Starbase Live.
✂️ Edited by Thomas Hayden  (@_thomashayden).

Timestamps:
0:00 Ship Static Fire Adapter
0:45 Part Construction Area
1:19 Orbital Pad 1
1:47 Insulated Tank at the Tank Farm
1:59 The Orbital Tank Farm
2:16 Tank Farm Expansion
2:31 Sweeping at the Tank Farm
2:59 The Production Site
3:07 Giga Bay Pile Drilling
3:32 Rebar Cage Moved
4:23 RVac Moved into Mega Bay 2
4:36 Giga Bay Groundwork
5:15 Ship 42’s Common Dome Section
5:37 Other Parts Inside Starfactory
5:57 Ship 43’s Nosecone
6:33 Ship 43’s LOX Header Tank
7:18 Ship 39 and 40’s Nosecones
8:19 Pad 1 Chopsticks Opened
8:28 Masseys Test Site
8:49 Static Fire Stand
9:12 B18.1 Test Tank
9:37 The Production Site
10:09 Raptor Center Moved Into MB2
10:38 The Launch Site
10:57 Frame Installed on Pad 1 BQD Hood
11:27 Cryo Pipe Installed on OLM
11:36 Ship QD Frame Extended on BQD

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SpaceX Falcon Missions Section / Re: SpaceX F9/Crew Dragon : Axiom AX-4 : KSC LC-39A : 25 June 2025 (06:31 UTC)

« Last post by ddspaceman on Today at 10:51 pm »

Peggy Whitson
@AstroPeggy
Floating while you work beats any office chair!

https://twitter.com/AstroPeggy/status/1944123836812996645

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SpaceX Falcon Missions Section / Re: SpaceX F9/Crew Dragon : Axiom AX-4 : KSC LC-39A : 25 June 2025 (06:31 UTC)

« Last post by ddspaceman on Today at 10:40 pm »

ISRO Spaceflight
@ISROSpaceflight
🚨 Gp Capt Shubhanshu Shukla and the rest of Axiom-4 crew on board Crew Dragon Grace will splash down in the Pacific Ocean at around 3 pm IST on July 15 (Tuesday)!! 🌎

Their return journey will take approximately 22 hours after departing the ISS at 4:35 pm on Monday.

Source:  https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/4-experiments-done-3-nearing-end-shux-splashdown-at-3pm-july-15/articleshow/122400037.cms

https://twitter.com/ISROSpaceflight/status/1943987308795244865

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SpaceX General Section / Re: SpaceX progress toward 175-180 Falcon launches in 2025

« Last post by Vultur on Today at 10:39 pm »

Even without Superheavy/Starship, F9 alone could be used to build a huge mother ship in orbit for Mars transport.  Or even a huge 1g space station.  Reuse is the key to a space civilization.

IIRC, corrected for inflation since, F9 cost/kg is down in the range that the old space habitat studies suggested would make really large space habitats possible.

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Firefly, Relativity, Astra / Re: Firefly Aerospace to go public (financial discussion)

« Last post by DC_Spaceguy on Today at 10:33 pm »

Another reminder that private equity is cancer. There's no reason to do this, and I think this probably is the beginning of the end for Firefly.

What does an IPO have to do with private equity?

AE Industrial wants a return on their investment, which they'll get with an IPO and offloading their shares to the public. Looks like they have  ~6 month lockup period so they won't be able to dump their shares until 6 months after the IPO

Relatedly, I expected them to merge Firefly and York at some point before an IPO. Would have been good to diversify their revenues a bit more. York's been doing good with their SDA work.

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ISS Section / Re: Expedition 73 thread

« Last post by ddspaceman on Today at 10:23 pm »

大西卓哉 （JAXA宇宙飛行士）Takuya Onishi
@Astro_Onishi
Translated from Japanese by Grok
Last week, I mainly worked on a medical research project called Immunity Assay.
It’s a study investigating how the human immune system changes during long-term stays in space, involving the collection of saliva and blood.
The blood is prevented from clotting with heparin, cultured, then separated into blood cells and plasma using a centrifuge, and the clipped samples are frozen for storage.

ESA’s Immunity Assay research studies how astronauts' immune systems respond to the challenges of long-duration spaceflight.
I don’t have any medical background. However, the hardware and the procedure were so well developed that I could process blood samples.
#LMU #LMUHospital

https://twitter.com/Astro_Onishi/status/1944154810053185576

https://twitter.com/Astro_Onishi/status/1944155055176753618

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ISS Section / Re: Expedition 73 thread

« Last post by ddspaceman on Today at 10:17 pm »

大西卓哉 （JAXA宇宙飛行士）Takuya Onishi
@Astro_Onishi
Translated from Japanese by Grok
Just a moment ago, passing through the skies of Japan as twilight approaches 🇯🇵

At dusk, the terrain was barely discernible, but only Mt. Fuji was peeking out from the clouds. Truly an impressive presence 👏

https://twitter.com/Astro_Onishi/status/1943977307481551167

https://twitter.com/Astro_Onishi/status/1943978056957280641

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SpaceX Starship Program / Re: SpaceX Raptor engine - General Thread 4

« Last post by wannamoonbase on Today at 10:11 pm »

I assume Raptor 3's will be installed not only on the booster, but also the Starship. 

With the problems they've been having in the attic with the V2's I'd say the V3's are essential.

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SpaceX Starship Program / Re: SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Engineering General Thread 5

« Last post by wannamoonbase on Today at 10:11 pm »

I think I remember reading that the Super Heavy booster with Starship stages lower than F9.

Are there any plans, as Musk mentioned once, of adding two more engines to the center of the booster with a tank stretch? 

Also, with R3's on the booster, would they not use more fuel/oxygen due to increased thrust?  Are they doing a tank stretch for R3's?

R3's would also affect Starship, maybe even requiring a tank stretch on Starship or possible remove one engine in the center of Starship.  Is this something they have to think about?

I think they want low and slow.

They're adding 2 engines to SH (out of 35) but 3 more to ship (out of 6) so I think staging will happen even slower.

Recall that Starship is intended as a system that is optimized to dramatically lower the cost of launching payload to orbit. This centers on full, rapid, low-cost reuse, and Booster RTLS is a major component of this. So yes, low and slow. It doesn't maximize the payload mass to orbit. It optimizes for minimum cost to put that payload into orbit.

Yeah, it's all built around a lot of reps for the booster and the ship to LEO.

You can almost see the vision coming true with the booster.  I don't buy the 1 hour turnaround Elon talks about because you have to stack the ship.  But even if they ever hit a few times a week landing the booster and stacking it and being ready to fly again reduces costs in a way that only a mad man would imagine.