October 26, 2024

Edgar Mitchell's Apollo 14-Flown Rolex GMT-Master' Pepsi' Sells for Over $2 Million at Auction (Source: CollectSpace)
A Rolex GMT-Master 'Pepsi' worn by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell sold for $2,163,199 at auction, announced Boston-based RR Auction. This rare timepiece from Mitchell's personal collection is one of only two Apollo-flown Rolex watches ever sold publicly. The watch accompanied Mitchell on his Apollo 14 mission in 1971, where he became the sixth man to walk on the moon. The watch was documented in both pre-flight footage of Mitchell suiting up and onboard video from within the Command Module. Engraved on the caseback are the words, "Worn by Cdr. E. Mitchell on Apollo 14, 1971, To Karlin—My Daughter." (10/25)

ISS Crewmember Hospitalized in Pensacola After Dragon Capsule Splashdown in Gulf of Mexico (Source: CNN)
Three NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut were unexpectedly transferred to a medical facility in Florida rather than returning to their home base in Houston after their splashdown early Friday morning aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. One of those astronauts remained in the hospital Friday afternoon with a “medical issue,” while the three others flew to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston after a health evaluation at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola, a hospital near the crew’s splashdown site in the Gulf of Mexico.

NASA did not provide any further details about the crew member who remained at the medical facility. “To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details on the individual’s condition or identity will not be shared,” according to a Friday afternoon statement from NASA news chief Cheryl Warner. “The one astronaut who remains at Ascension is in stable condition under observation as a precautionary measure,” the statement said.

The four-person crew, which spent nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station before landing in the Gulf of Mexico at 3:29 a.m. ET Friday, had a “safe splashdown and recovery,” NASA said Friday morning. (10/25)

AST SpaceMobile Wins DoD HALO Contract (Source: Mobile World)
AST SpaceMobile inked an initial US government agreement under the Department of Defence (DoD) to compete for prototype demonstration projects for national security space needs. The Space Development Agency (SDA) selected AST SpaceMobile for an other transaction agreement to take part under in the Hybrid Acquisition for proliferated Low-earth Orbit (HALO) programme, an initiative to accelerate development and deployment of advanced space technologies. (10/25)

Boeing Explores Sale of Space Business (Sources: Wall Street Journal, Michael Sheetz)
Boeing helped put the first men on the moon. Now it wants to get out of the space race. The beleaguered company's new CEO Kelly Ortberg is exploring options for its Starliner and NASA space station business in a quest to rescue the manufacturer, according to people familiar with the matter. Unfortunately, Boeing's space portfolio still has a lot going on right now. It's the portfolio with the dysfunctional capsule, disintegrating satellites, retiring space station, “wasteful” moon rocket, and the small satellite subsidiary that just had its leader poached. At least its twin top secret X-37B spaceplanes keep cooking.

Ortberg, who earlier this week visited Boeing’s space facilities on Florida's Space Coast, stressed that the Starliner team needs “to improve our systems engineering and our design capability so that never happens again.” (10/25)

Starlink Service Available in NSF Radio Quiet Zone Near US Observatories (Source: NSF)
The vast majority of people within the areas of Virginia and West Virginia collectively known as the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) can now receive high speed satellite internet service. The newly available service is the result of a nearly three-year collaborative engineering effort between the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), SpaceX and the NSF National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) which operates the NSF Green Bank Observatory (NSF GBO) in West Virginia within the NRQZ.

“Working closely with SpaceX over the past three years has enabled NRAO and SpaceX to better understand each other’s systems and how to actively coexist in this part of the spectrum,” said Chris De Pree, the NSF NRAO Deputy Spectrum Manager. As residents receive the internet service during the assessment period, scientists and engineers will monitor for interference issues and work to resolve them without interrupting internet service. (10/25)

NASA Concerned About Putin-Musk Contacts (Source: CNN)
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Friday called for an investigation into a Wall Street Journal report that SpaceX founder and Donald Trump ally Elon Musk and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been in “regular contact” since late 2022. The report, which said the SpaceX founder has discussed “personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions” with the Russian leader, raises national security concerns as SpaceX’s relationships with NASA and the US military may have granted Musk access to sensitive government information and US intelligence.

“I don’t know that that story is true. I think it should be investigated,” Nelson told Semafor’s Burgess Everett. “If the story is true that there have been multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for some of the intelligence agencies.” (10/25)

CSA Provides Additional $1M Funding to Canadensys Aerospace and MDA Space for Lunar Initiative (Source: SpaceQ)
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is providing additional funding in the amount of $500,000 each to Canadensys Aerospace and MDA Space for the Lunar Surface Exploration Initiative. Specifically the CSA said the additional funding is for “advancing rover operations,” with the CSA adding that “these activities could prove key to the development of the future Canadian utility rover.” The new funding follows an announcement last December when the CSA awarded $2.9M to four companies for six projects for sustainable lunar exploration. (10/24)

Made on Florida's Space Coast (Source: EDC of FSC)
October was Manufacturing Month, and here on Florida’s Space Coast, we have plenty to celebrate. While the region is well known for its ample contributions to the space industry, its manufacturing prowess extends well beyond rockets, satellites, and spacecraft. From advanced technologies to everyday products, the Space Coast has emerged as a hub of innovation, with locally made goods reaching far beyond the community. Manufacturers plays a vital role in the local economy, employing around 13.4% of the metro area’s workforce—significantly higher than the state of Florida’s 4.4% average for nonfarm workers.

While space exploration is a key part of the Space Coast’s identity, the region is home to a diverse and thriving manufacturing economy. In fact, Florida Gulf Coast University ranks Florida's Space Coast (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville MSA) as the top region in Florida for industrial diversification. Economic diversification strengthens the local economy by making it more resilient to business cycle fluctuations, offering a wider range of job opportunities, and improving the likelihood of retaining talent, including workers and their families. (10/21)

Permit Considered for SpaceX to Dump Wastewater at Starbase (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Texas regulators are considering allowing SpaceX to routinely dump more than 30,000 gallons of industrial wastewater into South Texas wetlands – a practice the company has already been doing and that locals and environmental activists say could harm the sensitive ecosystem. SpaceX sprays roughly 180,000 gallons of potable water onto its launch pad each time its Starship rocket takes off to protect the pad and suppress dust and debris. Most of the water, which is heated as it mixes with the rocket’s flames, is captured in retention basins or vaporized. But between 34,200 gallons and 37,000 gallons spill into the wetlands during launches and engine tests, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. (10/24)

Amended UK Spaceport Plans to Go Before Council (Source: BBC)
Amended plans for a spaceport in the Highlands have been submitted to councilors for approval. The project proposed for a site on the Moine Peninsula has had planning permission for about three years, and some initial construction work started last year. The amended plans for Sutherland Spaceport include a smaller launch pad and launch services facility, and realigning an access road to avoid an area of deep peat. Highland Council planners said the changes would mean reducing the amount of peat that would have to be excavated by more than half. The soil is seen as important because it absorbs CO2. (10/24)

Branson Invests in Space Perspective (Source: Luxury Travel Advisor)
Branson has made an investment in the company. The investment will accelerate Space Perspective’s development and test flight program and "confirms its leadership position in affordable, hydrogen-powered, stratospheric ballooning." Branson said Space Perspective has the potential to revolutionize balloon flying. Space Perspective has raised $100 million to date.

Space Perspective’s patent portfolio includes 14 granted patents and covers all major systems. This includes the hydrogen-powered balloon, reserve descent system, the capsule structure and its large, vertical windows, the heat-rejecting radiator technology, and the Splashcone at the base of the capsule used to provide a gentle ocean landing and stabilization. These features, along with the distinction of being the first stratospheric balloon experience company developed without significant government funding, showcase Space Perspective’s technological advancements. (10/24)

Beck Elaborates on Ambitious Schedule for Neutron Rocket (Source: New Zealand Herald)
Rocket Lab’s initial Neutron rocket launch target of 2024 was ambitious, but the engineering team is set to meet its renewed launch target of mid-2025, according to the space company’s chief executive Sir Peter Beck. “The program is on track for that launch date,” Beck said. “But it only takes one small element to reset those sorts of things,” he warned. “Rocket programs you typically measure in decades, not in years.” Despite the schedule slipping by about six months, Beck said it was still within its initial cost range of US$250 million to US$300m.

Since announcing its bold plan to build a medium-lift launch vehicle to compete with SpaceX in March 2021, Rocket Lab has built and tested a new engine called Archimedes, set up new facilities to make the rocket’s carbon composite components, and designed and started constructing a new launchpad in the United States. “All of the really big, high risk items, we’ve kind of brought down.” If launched in mid-2025, Neutron would be the fastest-ever commercially developed medium-lift rocket. (10/24)

Work Starts on New Ship for ULA Rocket Transport (Source: Marine Link)
Bollinger Shipyards officially laid the keel for the R/S SpaceShip on October 24, 2024. The event, held at Bollinger Marine Fabricators, was attended by key executives, including Tory Bruno, President and CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA), and Ben Bordelon, President and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards. The R/S SpaceShip is set to be the second vessel in ULA’s maritime fleet, designed specifically to transport Vulcan rockets from their manufacturing facility in Decatur, Alabama, to launch sites at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (10/24)