March 3, 2019

Boeing Engineers Talk Starliner as Test Launch Nears (Source: WESH)
As excitement builds over human spaceflight's return to the United States and Florida specifically, and after SpaceX's test launch from Cape Canaveral early Saturday, Boeing engineers are gearing up for a test launch of their own capsule, the Starliner. Starliner is set for a test mission from the Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station next month. "This is new territory for everybody, and it's going to be historic," engineer Melanie Weber said.

It's been about four decades since a brand-new human flight system was built for NASA, with the shuttle program. The engineers behind Starliner say for them, it feels surreal to be nearing the next big step in the space program's history. "It was built here in Florida, which is absolutely amazing," he said. "It's not what you saw in Apollo, it. It's state of the art, from the bottom up." Boeing's new "Above and Beyond" exhibit is now showing at the Orlando Science Center. The exhibit was built with NASA to be interactive and immersive in celebration of where space flight has been and where it's headed. (3/2)

SpaceX Crew Dragon Docks With International Space Station (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon unmanned craft successfully docked with the International Space Station on Sunday, a key milestone for chief executive officer Elon Musk, his team and the American space agency. The rendezvous with the orbiting lab marks the first time that Crew Dragon, designed to eventually carry astronauts, has ever flown and raises the stakes for rival Boeing Co., which also has a contract with NASA as part of what is known as the agency’s "Commercial Crew" program.

Crew Dragon will remain connected to the space station for five days, and will depart on Friday. The mission will not be complete until the spacecraft safely departs from the station and deploys parachutes as part of its splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. It paves the way for Demo-2, a test flight with a crew to carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS. That flight is currently slated for July. (3/3)

Russia’s Geopolitical Rivals Preparing for High-Tech Wars in Space (Source: Sputnik)
Chief of the Russian General Staff and First Deputy Defence Minister, General Valery Gerasimov has stated that modern conflicts are characterised by attracting means of economic, political, diplomatic, informational pressure, as well as a demonstration of military power in the interests of enhancing the effectiveness of non-military measures.

Russia's geopolitical rivals are preparing to wage wars against a "high-tech adversary", using high-precision air- and space-based weapons and actively conducting information confrontation, Chief of the Russian General Staff and First Deputy Defence Minister, General Valery Gerasimov stated at a conference on developing a military strategy. He stressed that under these conditions, the Russian Armed Forces must be ready to conduct wars and armed conflicts of a new type using "classical" and "asymmetric" methods. (3/2)

Air Force Selects First-Ever 'Visionary Q-Prize' Challenge Cash Prize Winners (Source: USAF)
Twenty-six “Visionary Q-Prize” innovation challenge solutions submitted by non-traditional acquisition sources such as universities, individuals and small companies from 10 different countries were narrowed down to eight cash-prize winners in two categories last week, with the first-place winners in two categories receiving $20,000. Second through fourth place winners received $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.

The first-ever VQ-Prize challenge, which ran from Oct. 29, 2018, through Jan. 15, was hosted by the Air Force Research Labs Space Vehicles Directorate and the Wright Brothers Institute, to encourage non-traditional sources with innovative products and ideas, to engage with military customers to develop solutions for safe and secure operations in space. Click here. (3/1)