Tag Archives: Space Launch System

NASA Administrator and 2019 Wash100 Award winner Jim Bridenstine testified during a Senate hearing that the agency plans to use a commercial rocket to launch the Orion crew capsule for a three-week mission to the Moon, The Verge reported Wednesday. Exploration Mission 1 was intended to be the debut launch of NASA’s Space Launch System, but has been continually delayed and was recently scheduled for a June 2020 launch.

NASA will receive $21.5B in fiscal year 2019 funds under an appropriations package that President Trump signed into law Friday, SpaceNews reported Sunday. The proposed appropriations for the agency reflect an increase of $1.6B over the administration’s original budget request.

NASA has confirmed Jody Singer, a 33-year agency veteran, as the director of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

The space agency said Friday Singer will oversee the installation’s civil service and contractor workforce and annual budget of $2.8B.
 

NASA is set to conduct the last in a series of tests to qualify the use of the Orion spacecraft’s parachute system for missions to the moon and other outer space locations. The eighth and final test of Orion's parachute system will take place on Sept. 12 at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., the space agency said Friday.

NASA intends to buy additional upper stages from Boeing as the agency plans to perform two more launches of the Space Launch System’s Block 1 version designed for use in Exploration Mission 1, SpaceNews reported Tuesday. The plan to purchase additional Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stages comes as NASA seeks to …

A Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday passed its fiscal 2019 spending bill that would authorize $21.3 billion in funds for NASA, representing a $1.4 billion increase from the president’s budget request for the agency, SpacePolicyOnline.com reported Tuesday. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) led the markup of the Senate Appropriations commerce, justice …

House lawmakers have called on the Senate to speed up the confirmation of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Oklahoma) for the NASA administrator role in light of Robert Lightfoot’s decision to retire as the agency’s acting chief by the end of April. Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), chairman of the House space subcommittee, …

NASA loaded a test model of heavy-lift rocket intertank onto a barge Thursday at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans for shipment to the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. Marshall’s engineers will conduct tests to determine if the structural hardware for the Space Launch System‘s 212-foot-long core stage can withstand extreme launch and …

President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget proposal would allocate approximately $20 billion for NASA and cancel the space agency’s funding of the International Space Station in 2025, Nextgov reported Monday. The proposal also includes funding for partnerships with private firms to send robots to the moon and advances a plan …

NASA engineers have completed structural qualification tests on the Space Launch System‘s core stage engine section at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. The rocket’s four RS-25 engines and two solid rocket booster attachments will compose the engine section located beneath the SLS’ 212-foot-tall core stage, NASA said Saturday. The engine section is designed …