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NASA starts amassing the rocket for Artemis moon mission

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NASA engineers have started collecting the enormous rocket intended to take the main lady to the moon not long from now as a feature of the Artemis program.

The main promoter fragment of the Space Launch System (SLS) was stacked on top of the versatile launcher at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida recently in anticipation of its lady flight, NASA said Tuesday.

A sum of 10 sections will shape the twin strong rocket promoters before its first takeoff, which is required to happen one year from now.

The rocket is a vital piece of NASA’s Artemis lunar investigation program, which means to send the primary lady and next man to the Moon by 2024. NASA authorities likewise trust the SLS will be utilized to arrive at Mars and other “deep space destinations.”

Once completely collected, NASA said the SLS rocket will stand taller than the Statue of Liberty and have about 15% more pushed at takeoff than the Saturn V rockets that fueled the Apollo missions around 50 years prior, making it the most impressive rocket ever assembled.

In any case, the undertaking has been hounded by postponements and cost invades.

“Stacking the first piece of the SLS rocket on the mobile launcher marks a major milestone for the Artemis Program,” said Andrew Shroble, a coordinated activities stream supervisor with Jacobs, an organization working with NASA on the Artemis program, in a NASA news discharge.

“It shows the mission is truly taking shape and will soon head to the launch pad.”

NASA’s Artemis I mission is relied upon to dispatch in 2021 with two dry runs around the moon without space travelers. Artemis II is set to dispatch in 2023 with space explorers on board in readiness to have Artemis III carry space explorers to the outside of the moon.

Artemis is named after the Greek goddess of the moon and is twin sister of Apollo.

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SpaceX will launch 24 Starlink satellites from Florida on Monday

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SpaceX is scheduled to launch 24 more Starlink broadband satellites from the Space Coast of Florida on Monday, November 11.

From Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft is set to launch Monday within a four-hour window that begins at 4:02 p.m. EST (2102 GMT). Due to “unfavorable recovery weather conditions,” SpaceX had to postpone the launch, which was initially scheduled for Sunday evening.

Starting approximately five minutes prior to liftoff, SpaceX will broadcast the launch live on X.

Eight minutes after takeoff, assuming everything goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth for a vertical touchdown on the droneship “A Shortfall.”

Meanwhile, the 24 Starlink satellites will continue to be carried by the upper stage of the Falcon 9 to low Earth orbit (LEO), where they will be deployed around 65 minutes following liftoff.

The launch on Monday comes after another Starlink mission took off early Saturday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

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Astronauts Confront Vision Challenges in Space with Upcoming Dragon Mission

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The primary priorities for the Expedition 72 crew on board the ISS on Tuesday were preparing cargo for a future voyage and safeguarding astronauts’ eyesight to maintain their health.

Microgravity Eye Health

Body fluids rise toward an astronaut’s head in the weightless atmosphere of space. This fluid movement puts pressure on the eyes, which may have an impact on vision and eye anatomy. NASA astronauts Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore tried a modified thigh cuff that stops these headward fluid movements in order to combat this. As NASA and its international partners prepare for lengthier journeys farther into space, researchers are keeping a careful eye on these changes to create strategies to safeguard eye health.

Getting Ready for Resupply

On Earth, the SpaceX Dragon cargo spaceship is preparing for the next resupply mission to the space station, which is scheduled to launch next week. NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Don Pettit got ready for Dragon’s arrival, which will include a delivery of new station hardware and scientific equipment. After docking and then returning to Earth, Pettit started packing and arranging the goods that would be stored aboard Dragon. Hague received training on how to use instruments that will monitor Dragon’s autonomous approach and docking procedure.

Spacecraft Docking and Manoeuvre

However, Hague will take Williams, Wilmore, and Roscosmos astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on a brief ride onboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft to a new docking site prior to the supply mission blasting out toward the space station. On Sunday, November 3, the four will board Dragon. They will undock from the forward port of the Harmony module at 6:35 a.m. EDT and then navigate the spaceship to Harmony’s space-facing port for a docking at 7:18 a.m. The Dragon cargo mission’s forward port is made available by the relocation.

Earth Observations and Maintenance at Night

Gorbunov installed and turned on equipment to observe Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths following a training session on the exercise cycle of the Destiny laboratory module at the start of his shift. Ivan Vagner and Alexey Ovchinin, two of his fellow cosmonauts, collaborated on inspection and maintenance tasks in the Zvezda service module’s aft end.

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SpaceX launches the year’s 99th operational flight

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On Friday night, SpaceX successfully completed its 99th flight of the year with a Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

At 7:31 p.m. Eastern time, a Falcon 9 carrying 20 Starlink satellites blasted out from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40.

The Just Read the Instructions droneship’s first-stage rocket completed a downrange recovery touchdown in the Atlantic on its seventeenth flight.

It was the 71st flight from the Space Coast in 2024, just one less than the record-breaking 72 launches in 2023. United Launch Alliance has launched the remaining ones, while SpaceX has flown all but five of those.

There have only been two Falcon Heavy missions this year, with the remainder being Falcon 9 launches.

Along with the other 18 from KSC, this was the 53rd launch from Cape Canaveral.

Together with the two Falcon Heavy missions, SpaceX has performed 33 missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California this year, for a total of 97 Falcon 9 launches, including this one.

From its Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas, it has also launched three test flights of its in-development Starship and Super Heavy rocket, all of which have reached orbit.

Adding to the success of the March and June missions, last Sunday’s launch included the first on-target controlled landing of the second stage in the Indian Ocean and the first land capture of the Super Heavy booster back at the launch tower.

In 2023, SpaceX completed 98 operational missions, including 91 Falcon 9 and 5 Falcon Heavy missions. The company also attempted two Starship test flights, both of which ended explosively before reaching orbit, though one of them managed to reach space for a brief period of time before being destroyed by its flight termination system.

Officials from the business stated at the beginning of 2024 that it could reach 144 launches for the year, or 12 launches per month. However, weather and the three different groundings of its Falcon 9 rocket due to various problems have caused some obstacles to that pace.

This launch is only the sixth of October thus far. It flew nine times in September, eleven times in August, six times in July, ten times in June, thirteen times in May, twelve times in April, eleven times in March, nine times in February, and ten times in January.

Most of them have been for Starlink, which has launched over 7,100 versions since the first functional versions were sent up in 2019.

This marked SpaceX’s 67th Starlink launch in 2024.

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