OrbitalHub

Wikipedia dixit:

“The New Glenn is a privately funded orbital launch vehicle in development by Blue Origin. It is expected to make its initial test launch in 2020. Design work on the vehicle began in 2012. The high-level specifications for the vehicle were publicly announced in September 2016. New Glenn is described as a 7-meter-diameter (23 ft), two- or three-stage rocket. Its first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 engines that are also being designed and manufactured by Blue Origin.

Like the New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle that preceded it, the New Glenn’s first stage is designed to be reusable for up to 100 missions, and will land vertically, a technology previously developed by Blue Origin and tested in 2015–2016 on its New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle. The second stage will share the same diameter as the first and use two BE-3U vacuum optimized engines. It will use hydrogen/oxygen as propellant and will be expendable. The optional third stage will use one BE-3U engine. This engine is manufactured by Blue Origin and has already been used on the New Shepard, as the BE-3 sea-level-optimized version. The company has revealed the planned payload capacity of the 2-stage version of New Glenn as 13,000 kg (29,000 lb) to GTO and 45,000 kg (99,000 lb) to LEO.

Launches of the New Glenn are planned to be made from Spaceport Florida Launch Complex 36, which was leased to Blue Origin in 2015. New Glenn will also be available for space tourism flights, with priority given to customers of New Shepard.”

Video Credit: Blue Origin

Blue Origin dixit:

“New Shepard flew again for the eighth time on April 29, 2018, from Blue Origin’s West Texas Launch Site. Known as Mission 8 (M8), the mission featured a reflight of the vehicle flown on Mission 7. The Crew Capsule reached an apogee of 351,000 feet (66 miles, 107 kilometers) – the altitude we’ve been targeting for operations.

For the second time, Blue Origin’s test dummy Mannequin Skywalker flew to space conducting astronaut telemetry and science studies. The flight also carried research payloads for NASA, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and commercial customers.”

Video Credit: Blue Origin

NASA dixit:

“All of NASA’s interplanetary launches to date have been from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in part because the physics of launching off the East Coast are better for journeys to other planets. However, InSight will break the mold by launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It will be the first launch to another planet from the West Coast. A whole new region of the country will get to see an interplanetary launch when InSight rockets into the sky. On a clear day, the launch may be visible from Santa Maria, California to San Diego, California.

Weather permitting, InSight’s pre-dawn launch (4:05 a.m.) may be visible for more than 10 million Californians without a need for them to drive to a special location. Just wake up early, check the InSight Website for assurance the launch is still on schedule, go outside, look at the western sky, marvel at the rocket’s flare as it travels southward, and cheer InSight bon voyage to Mars. The launch window is May 5 through June 8, 2018.”

Video credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“SpaceX CRS-14 begins with an on-time liftoff of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch occurred at 4:30 p.m. EDT. The Dragon is carrying equipment, science and supplies to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s 14th commercial cargo resupply mission.”

Video credit: NASA/SpaceX

Copenhagen Suborbitals dixit:

“The development of the space capsule which will carry our astronaut up to and above the karman line and into space is progressing.

The space capsule which will be lifted by the Spica rocket to an altitude of over one hundred kilometers, or sixty two miles, will contain all systems necessary to enable it to not only bring the astronaut into space, but also bring him, or her, safely back to earth.”

Video credit: Copenhagen Suborbitals

Views of the ULA’s Atlas V rocket launch preparations. Atlas V launched the GOES-S weather satellite for NASA and NOAA.

~dj

Video credit: ULA