Amazon Chief Bezos Expected to Unveil Further Private Space Exploration Plans

The burgeoning space-transportation company owned by Amazon.com chairman Jeff Bezos this week is expected to announce some customers and new initiatives, the latest step toward its long-term goal of building rockets powerful enough to penetrate deep into the solar system, according to industry officials. The moves by the typically secretive Mr. Bezos, these officials said, are anticipated to disclose further details about Blue Origin LLC’s strategy to create a family of reusable rockets initially intended to take tourists on suborbital voyages, and then propel spacecraft into Earth’s orbit and eventually blast both manned and robotic missions to the Moon and various planets.

SpaceX Says it Will Fly 2 People to Moon Next Year

SpaceX said Monday it will fly two people to the moon next year, a feat not attempted since NASA’s Apollo heyday close to half a century ago. Tech billionaire Elon Musk – the company’s founder and chief executive officer – announced the surprising news barely a week after launching his first rocket from NASA’s legendary moon pad.

Musk’s SpaceX Plans 2018 Flight Circling Moon With Civilians

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. plans to send two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year as it continues to work with NASA for a planned crewed mission to the International Space Station. The passengers, who each paid a “significant deposit,” will undergo health and fitness tests and begin initial training later this year, the company said in a blog post Monday.

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule arrives at the space station

The Canadarm 2 reaches out to capture the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft and prepare it to be pulled into its port on the International Space Station on April. The A day after aborting an attempted docking, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station Thursday and was captured by the station’s robotic arm while flying over Australia.

SpaceX Launches Supply Rocket From Historic Apollo Pad

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. successfully launched its second rocket in as many months on Sunday, bringing it a 10th of the way to its goal of deploying 20 to 24 rockets this year. The Falcon 9 rocket that launched SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft on Sunday separated minutes after liftoff and landed upright on Earth in its designated area.

SpaceX Launches Supply Rocket From Historic Apollo Pad

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. successfully launched its second rocket in as many months on Sunday, bringing it a 10th of the way to its goal of deploying 20 to 24 rockets this year. The Falcon 9 rocket that launched SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft on Sunday returned to Earth soon after liftoff.

Work to be done

It was doing a favour for his mother that gave entrepreneur Matt Barrie the idea for setting up a business that is now worth more than A$400m . His company and website Freelancer has a simple concept – it connects people who have work they need doing with others who compete to do the task by submitting the fee they would charge.

Orbital ATK sues Pentagon over plans to award a space robots contract to a Canadian-owned firm

Orbital ATK, a Dulles-based aerospace manufacturer, is suing the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency over plans to award a Canadian firm a $15 million contract to build a fleet of space-faring robots capable of repairing government and commercial satellites. Orbital argues the federal program, called the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites, would unfairly compete with its own privately funded effort, a system called the Mission Extension Vehicle 1, backed by at least $200 million from investors.

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Over the next 30 years, says ULA, America will put dozens, scores, even hundreds of explorers into the region bounded by Earth and its Moon, to live and work there long-term. ULA calls the project its “Cislunar 1000 Vision” to put 1,000 astronauts in orbit.

China Invites Investors, Including Foreigners, Into Space Effort

China is looking to draw private investors, including those from outside the country, into its aerospace program to supplement funding from the government for commercial satellite launches. Investment is welcome for commercial rocket development, satellite research, manufacturing and for applying aerospace technologies to public welfare, Wu Yanhua, vice minister of China National Space Administration, said at a press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.

Air-Launched Orbital Rockets: Orbital ATK Shows Virgin Galactic How It’s Done

For years, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has been trying to invent a better way to launch rockets into space. Instead of launching from Earth in a fiery blast and a cloud of dust, Virgin Galactic aims to carry a “SpaceShipTwo” spaceship into the stratosphere, strapped to the belly of a “WhiteKnightTwo” mothership — then detach the former from the latter, and rocket to 62 miles above sea level.

First Female Shuttle Commander Remembers John Glenn

Former NASA astronaut Eileen Collins hailed the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the earth as a very wise and mission-oriented person she aspired to be like. “When I was a child, I read about the Mercury astronauts, I read about the Gemini astronauts and John Glenn of course was such a wonderful role model.