Weekly Spacecraft Mission News (English, German) – 04.06.2020

Front Page / Titelseite

SpaceX Crew Dragon Start to ISS / Start der SpaceX Crew Dragon zur ISS

"We are not going to launch today."

Due to the weather conditions, the launch is scrubbing. Our next opportunity will be Saturday, May 30 at 3:22pm ET. Live #LaunchAmerica coverage will begin at 11am ET. pic.twitter.com/c7R1AmLLYh
— NASA (@NASA) May 27, 2020

SpaceX just launched 2 astronauts into orbit. What’s next for the NASA crew?

What’s next for the NASA astronauts who launched to space today (May 30) aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule?

Liftoff! SpaceX launches 1st astronauts for NASA on historic test flight

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule launched from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center today (May 30), ending a nine-year orbital human spaceflight drought for the United States.

NASA, SpaceX Launch Historic Mission to International Space Station

The post NASA, SpaceX Launch Historic Mission to International Space Station appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Commercial Crew: Ein historischer Start für die NASA

Seit Außerdienststellung der Space Shuttle im Jahr 2011 war die NASA für den Transport von Astronautinnen und Astronauten zur Internationalen Raumstation ISS auf russische Sojus-Raumschiffe angewiesen. Mit dem Start des Mission Commercial Crew Demo-2 heute Abend soll dies der Vergangenheit angehören. Die NASA setzt dabei auf ein Raumschiff von SpaceX. (27. Mai 2020)

Putin gratuliert Trump zum erfolgreichen Start von Crew Dragon

Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin hat US-Präsident Donald Trump zum erfolgreichen Start des Raumschiffes Crew Dragon gratuliert. Beide Politiker hätten in dem Telefongespräch zudem ihre Bereitschaft erklärt, die beiderseitig nützliche Zusammenarbeit in der Raumfahrt weiter zu entwickeln, teilte der Pressedienst des Kreml am Montag mit.

NASA Administrator, Sen. Cruz, Rep. Babin to Discuss Crew Dragon Test Flight at Briefing in Houston

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, and Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Brian Babin of Texas will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. CDT Sunday, May 31, at Space Center Houston, the official visitor center of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, to discuss the successful docking of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Robert

Demo-2: Launching Into History

On Saturday, May 30, 2020, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station.

Protokoll der Mission Demo 2 des Crew Dragon

Nun sind sie gut im Orbit angekommen, die ersten beiden Passagiere eines Crew Dragon, der gestern um 21:22 MESZ trotz Wettersorgen den ganzen Tag abheben konnte und heute gegen 16:30 MESZ an die ISS andocken sollen: Die Bilder hier zeigen von unten eine Georgia-Gopherschildkröte vor der Startrampe (aus dem Demo-2-Album des NASA HQ, eine kleine Anspielung auf die Tatsache, dass der erste kommerziele Astronauten-Start mehrere Jahre später erfolgt ist als einst geplant?),

Watch Commercial Crew Astronauts Dock to Station

NASA Television and the agency’s website are providing live continuous coverage of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on their way to the International Space Station.

Crew Dragon Docks to Space Station

The Crew Dragon arrived at the station’s Harmony port, docking at 10:16 a.m. EDT while the spacecraft were flying about 262 miles above the northern border of China and Mongolia. Following soft capture, 12 hooks were closed to complete a hard capture at 10:27 a.m. Teams now will begin conducting standard leak checks and pressurization between the spacecraft in preparation for hatch opening scheduled for approximately 12:45 p.m.

SpaceX’s 1st Crew Dragon with astronauts docks at space station in historic rendezvous

SpaceX’s first crewed Dragon capsule slid into its dock on the International Space Station successfully today, concluding a 31-hour voyage to orbit for two veteran NASA astronauts.

Tour SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship in orbit with NASA’s Demo-2 astronauts (video)

The NASA astronauts who launched to space today (May 30) invited the world into their spacecraft with a unique, live tour around the capsule.

“Willkommen zurück im Weltraum”: Raumfahrer aus USA an ISS angekommen

Erstmals seit 9 Jahren sind wieder Astronauten von den USA aus zur ISS geflogen. Die “Crew Dragon”-Raumkapsel hat erfolgreich an die Station angedockt.

SpaceX schafft ersten bemannten Start zur ISS

Im 2. Anlauf hat das Wetter mitgespielt: SpaceX hat erstmals 2 Personen auf den Weg zur Internationalen Raumstation gebracht.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon has that ‘new car smell’ and flies ‘totally different’ than a NASA shuttle

It was “huffing and puffing” on the way to orbit, astronauts say

Why does SpaceX’s historic astronaut flight for NASA have two commanders?

SpaceX’s historic crewed mission to space has … two commanders?

Further Title News / Weitere Titelnachrichten

Solar Orbiter to pass through the tails of Comet ATLAS

ESA’s Solar Orbiter will cross through the tails of Comet ATLAS during the next few days. Although the recently launched spacecraft was not due to be taking science data at this time, mission experts have worked to ensure that the four most relevant instruments will be switched on during the unique encounter.

Solar Orbiter fliegt durch die Schweife des Kometen ATLAS

Der Solar Orbiter der ESA wird in den nächsten Tagen durch die Schweife des Kometen ATLAS fliegen. Obwohl die kürzlich gestartete Raumsonde zu diesem Zeitpunkt noch keine wissenschaftlichen Daten sammeln sollte, haben die Experten der Mission sichergestellt, dass die vier wichtigsten Instrumente während dieser einzigartigen Begegnung eingeschaltet sind.

NASA’s Webb Telescope is an International Endeavor

The James Webb Space Telescope is an international endeavor with widespread global contributions and experts in more than a dozen countries dedicated to the build, launch, and future science of this flagship NASA space observatory.

GK Roskosmos-Vertreter Krasnikow: Gespräche mit der NASA über gegenseitige Mitflüge zur ISS laufen bereits

Zwischen der GK Roskosmos und der US-Luft- und Raumfahrtbehörde NASA laufen bereits Gespräche über die gegenseitige Mitnahme von Raumfahrern zur Internationalen Raumstation ISS. Das hat der Vertreter der russischen Weltraumagentur in Kasachstan, Anatoli Krasnikow, am Dienstag auf einer Pressekonferenz zum 65. Jahrestag des Kosmodroms Baikonur in Nur-Sultan mitgeteilt. Die entsprechenden […]

Erweiterte ISS-Stammbesatzung nimmt Arbeit auf – Auch Ausstieg in den freien Raum geplant

Nach der gestrigen erfolgreichen Kopplung des Crew Dragon und dem Umstieg der beiden NASA-Astronauten Doug Hurley und Bob Behnken nimmt am heutigen Montag die auf fünf Mitglieder erweiterte 63. Stammbesatzung der Internationalen Raumstation ISS ihre Arbeit auf. Während US-Kommandant Chris Cassidy und die Russen Anatoli Iwanischin und Iwan Wagner ihr […]

Demo-2 Launch: Setting Forth on a Historic Journey

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched from Launch Complex 39A on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station.

Commercial Crew Astronauts Join Expedition 63

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour have arrived at the International Space Station to join Expedition 63 Commander and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

Wettersatelliten: Corona und die Kondensstreifen

Der blaue Himmel ist vielen Menschen in Europa während der Corona-Krise aufgefallen, verbunden mit dem Fehlen von Kondensstreifen. Ob solche Streifen hinter Flugzeugen entstehen oder nicht, hängt entscheidend von der Wetterlage ab. Beim DLR hat man mithilfe von Satellitendaten untersucht, wie es an einem Tag am Himmel aussah, an dem typisches Kondensstreifen-Wetter herrschte. (28. Mai 2020)

Detecting methane emissions during COVID-19

While carbon dioxide is more abundant in the atmosphere and therefore more commonly associated with global warming, methane is around 30 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas. Given its importance, Canadian company GHGSat have worked in collaboration with the Sentinel-5P team at SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research to investigate hotspots of methane emissions during COVID-19.

Get your ticket to the Moon: Europe’s lunar lander for science and more

Want to Mine Ice on the Moon? Scientists Create a Map for Where to Start

The first lunar maps consisted of simply the best images of the Moon from Earth-based telescopes, which were converted to provide necessary information for the Apollo astronauts. But whenever the next lunar explorers arrive, they’ll have incredibly detailed topographic maps of the Moon’s surface, thanks to the high-resolution cameras and instruments on board satellites like …

Mars Doesn’t Have Much of a Magnetosphere, But Here’s a Map

Even though Earthling scientists are studying Mars intently, it’s still a mysterious place. One of the striking things about Mars is all of the evidence, clearly visible on its surface, that it harbored liquid water. Now, all that water is gone, and in fact, liquid water couldn’t survive on the surface of the Red Planet. …

via Universe Today https://ift.tt/2nDj081

Beyond Solar System / Milchstraße & Kosmos

Looking back in time with Herschel and Planck

Candidate precursors of galaxy clusters as observed with the SPIRE instrument on ESA’s Herschel space observatory

Black Hole Seen Blasting Out Jets at Close to the Speed of Light

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory has spotted a distant black hole shooting out jets of material, at close to the speed of light. No worries, this beast is about 10,000 light years away from us. It’s more of a spectacle than a danger. But it’s a spectacle laden with scientific insights. I know what you might …

Intense Flash from Milky Way’s Black Hole Illuminated Gas Far Outside of Our Galaxy

About 3.5 million years ago, our distant hominid ancestors might have noticed a mysterious glowing spot along the arc of the star-studded Milky Way. Today we know that this would have been evidence for a tremendous explosion around a black hole that rocked the center of our galaxy. Scientists using Hubble now see the aftermath of that enormous flash of light that beamed out of our galaxy’s center way back then.

Data-relay satellite ready for service

The second node in the most sophisticated laser communication network ever designed is ready to go into service.Dubbed the “SpaceDataHighway”, the European Data Relay System (EDRS) helps Earth-observing satellites to transmit large quantities of potentially life-saving data to Europe in near-real time.

Nanosatellite with global mission tested for space

ESA’s largest antenna test facility remains operational despite the COVID-19 pandemic, performing pre-flight testing for the latest satellite in a constellation to serve the internet of things.

SpaceX targets Wednesday night for next Starlink launch

Days after launching astronauts for the first time, SpaceX is set to resume a speedy cadence of satellite launches Wednesday night with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s next batch of Starlink broadband relay stations.

The Extraordinary Sample-Gathering System of NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover

Two astronauts collected Moon rocks on Apollo 11. It will take three robotic systems working together to gather up the first Mars rock samples for return to Earth

Best Astronaut Books

Read about the people who push us out to the stars. Check out some of our favorite books about astronauts here.

Mission controllers maintain the service

With most European states in lockdown because of COVID-19, ESA has continued to operate its space missions. Scientific, exploration, Earth observation, climate and technology testbed satellites are continuing to produce data and provide vital services.

Queen’s Brian May works to probe origin of asteroids

Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May has teamed up with asteroid researchers to investigate striking similarities and a puzzling difference between separate bodies explored by space probes. The research team ran a supercomputer-based ‘fight club’ involving simulated large asteroid collisions to probe the objects’ likely origins. Their work is reported in Nature Communications.

Forty-five years of the ESA Convention

After celebrating the 50th anniversary of the European space cooperation in 2014, we now mark 45 years since the signing of the Convention for the creation of a single European Space Agency on 30 May 1975.

‘The trampoline is working!’ The story behind Elon Musk’s one-liner at SpaceX’s big launch

Musk’s remark after SpaceX’s first crewed launch on Saturday (May 30) references a 2014 barb by a top Russian official.

NASA Hits The Pause Button Again On The Back-To-The-Moon Thing

“During a June 1 webinar by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk said that a reorganization of the agency’s Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate will be delayed until after the agency hires a successor to Doug Loverro, who left the agency May 19.”

In Planet Formation, It’s Location, Location, Location

Like families hunting for a house, fledgling planets also need the proper location to grow and thrive. Astronomers using Hubble to probe the giant, young star cluster Westerlund 2 are finding that stars residing in the system’s crowded central city face a rough-and-tumble neighborhood that suppresses planet formation. The Hubble observations show that lower-mass stars near the cluster’s core do not have the large, dense clouds of dust that eventually could become planets in just a few million year

Hubble finds that “distance” from the brightest stars is key to preserving primordial discs [heic2009]

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope was used to conduct a three-year study of the crowded, massive and young star cluster Westerlund 2. The research found that the material encircling stars near the cluster’s centre is mysteriously devoid of the large, dense clouds of dust that would be expected to become planets in a few million years. Their absence is caused by the cluster’s most massive and brightest stars that erode and disperse the discs of gas and dust of neighbouring stars. This is the first time that astronomers have analysed an extremely dense star cluster to study which environments are favourable to planet formation.

Huge Stars Can Destroy Nearby Planetary Disks

Westerlund 2 is a star cluster about 20,000 light years away. It’s young—only about one or two million years old—and its core contains some of the brightest and hottest stars we know of. Also some of the most massive ones. There’s something unusual going on around the massive hot stars at the heart of Westerlund …

How to Make the Food and Water Mars-Bound Astronauts Will Need for Their Mission

New technologies are being developed that will ensure astronauts have plenty of drinking water and food wherever resupply missions are not readily available