OrbitalHub

Wikipedia dicit:

Crew Dragon Demo-2 (officially Crew Demo-2, SpaceX Demo-2, or Dragon Crew Demo-2) was the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft, named Endeavour, launched on 30 May 2020 at 19:22:45 UTC and carried NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the International Space Station in the first crewed orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since the final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, in 2011, and the first ever operated by a commercial provider. Demo-2 was also the first two-person orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since STS-4 in 1982.

Demo-2 was intended to complete the validation of crewed spaceflight operations using SpaceX hardware and to receive human-rating certification for the spacecraft, including astronaut testing of Crew Dragon capabilities on orbit. During their time aboard, Behnken conducted four spacewalks with fellow American astronaut Chris Cassidy to replace batteries brought up by a Japanese cargo vehicle.

Docking and undocking operations were autonomously controlled by the Crew Dragon, but monitored by the flight crew in case manual intervention becomes necessary. The spacecraft soft docked with the International Space Station at 14:16 UTC on 31 May 2020. Following soft capture, 12 hooks were closed to complete a hard capture 11 minutes later. Hurley and Behnken worked alongside the crew of Expedition 63 for 62 days. Endeavour autonomously undocked from the station at 23:35 UTC on 1 August 2020 and returned the astronauts to Earth on 2 August 2020 in the first water landing by astronauts since 1975.

Endeavour will be refurbished and reused for the SpaceX Crew-2 mission, expected to launch in February 2021. Crew Dragon’s next mission, SpaceX Crew-1 — SpaceX’s first operational astronaut flight — is slated to fly with four Expedition 64 astronauts in late September 2020.

Video credit: NASA/SpaceX

Wikipedia dicit:

Atlas V is the fifth major version in the Atlas rocket family. It is an expendable launch system originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed and Boeing.

Each Atlas V rocket consists of two main stages. The first stage is powered by a Russian RD-180 engine manufactured by RD Amross and burning kerosene and liquid oxygen. The Centaur upper stage is powered by one or two US RL10 engine(s) manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne and burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. AJ-60A strap-on solid rocket boosters (SRBs) are used in some configurations and will be replaced by GEM-63 SRBs in the near future. The standard payload fairings are 4 or 5 meters in diameter with various lengths.

Video credit: ULA

NASA dicit:

Landsat 9 is the latest satellite to continue the legacy of global observations of Earth’s land surface. With unmatched longevity, accuracy, and coverage, the Landsat program has been the cornerstone of global land imaging since 1972. Landsat 9 continues this tradition, and will carry us into the next 50 years of Earth observations. The two instruments aboard will make the most advanced measurements of any Landsat satellite.

Design and construction of the spacecraft and its instruments is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and operation and archiving of the data is managed by the U.S. Geological Survey. Goddard and Ball Aerospace each built one of the instruments, and the spacecraft was built by Northrop Grumman.

The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Landsat satellites have been consistently gathering data about our planet since 1972. They continue to improve and expand this unparalleled record of Earth’s changing landscapes for the benefit of all.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Lead Producer/Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support/Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Editor/Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Narrator/Kate Ramsayer: Writer/Jeffrey Masek (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Music Marble Place by Matias Suescun [SACEM], published by KTSA Publishing [SACEM], available from Universal Production Music

ULA dicit:

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket will launch NASA’s Perseverance rover to Mars. The spacecraft will explore the Jezero Crater to study the planet’s habitability, seek signs of past microbial life, collect and store samples of selected rock and soil and prepare for future human missions. The rover also carries the Ingenuity helicopter, a technology demonstration to prove that powered flight can be achieved at Mars.

Video credit: United Launch Alliance

NASA dicit:

In February 2020, NASA’s Perseverance Rover began its long journey to Mars by first traveling across the United States. The rover was built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and then carefully packed and flown to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. There, engineers integrated the rover with the spacecraft that carries it to Mars, and the Atlas V rocket chosen to send it on its way.

Video credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA dicit:

This video shows how NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is designed to fold to a much smaller size in order to fit inside the Ariane V rocket for launch to space. The largest, most complex space observatory ever built, must fold itself to fit within a 17.8-foot (5.4-meter) payload fairing, and survive the rigors of a rocket ride to orbit. After liftoff, the entire observatory will unfold in a carefully choreographed series of steps before beginning to make groundbreaking observations of the cosmos.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center