Roll me mama, like an SLS.
On June 6, 2022, teams at @NASAKennedy Space Center rolled the Artemis I Moon rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B.
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft can be seen atop the crawler-transporter 2 and mobile launcher during the 4.2 mile (6.8 km) journey. Soon, teams will begin the next “wet dress rehearsal” attempt — a launchpad test that will take teams through the launch countdown ahead of the Artemis I mission.
Artemis I will test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon. Through @NASAArtemis, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and using the Moon as a steppingstone before venturing to Mars.
Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
#Artemis#NASA#Rocket#NASAWorm#SpaceLaunchSystem#MegaMoonRocket#NASAKennedy#Orion
🟡 Meet DAVINCI 🚀(Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging).
The DAVINCI Mission will descend through the dense and layered Venusian atmosphere to the surface of the planet in mid-2031. DAVINCI is the first mission to study Venus using both spacecraft flybys and a descent probe. Principal Investigator Jim Garvin gives an overview of the mission and the probe’s landing site – Alpha Regio.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#Venus#solarsystem#planets#NASA#space#science#spacescience#mission#rocket#atmosphere#DAVINCI#nasagoddard
Starliner is soaring to the @ISS! 🚀
Orbital Flight Test-2 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 6:54 p.m. EDT (22:54 UTC) on Thursday, May 19. It's a demonstration of @Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which is currently in its final stages of uncrewed testing to become the second spacecraft in our Commercial Crew Program certified to fly @NASAAstronauts to the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
#NASA#Space#Spaceflight#SpaceStation#CommercialCrew#Starliner#Rocket#Liftoff#Launch#LongExposure#OFT2
I've attended more funerals since arriving in Lviv than during the rest of my life combined. This morning, Igor Malets, aged 59, was buried in the Field of Mars, the new area reserved for military funeral art Lychakiv cemetery after the previous section reached capacity.
In the afternoon, a lecture was held for a group of people, mainly refugees who had fled the East and South of Ukraine, on recognising stray munitions and explosives. With deactivated and dummy items on hand to allow children to spot and avoid lethal items such as butterfly mines and mortar shells, it was a sobering experience. The families present all hope to return to their homes soon, but knowing that they're taking their families back into a region awash with deadly military debris must be an unbelievably hard decision to make.
.
.
.
#lviv#ukraine#war#conflict#russia#rocket#funeral#fieldofmars#cemetery#burial#death#weapons#explosives#gettyimages#nikon
The combination of a nationwide fuel shortage and the need to spend the day zigzagging around Lviv, locating rocket strike sites isn’t a good one. With only vague ideas of locations due to reporting restrictions but some helpful tips from shared sources and local media apps, we managed to visit three of the sites, all while hoping for a petrol station with both available fuel and reasonable queues.
The first location was next to an area of private garages; a few rows of rundown workshops with men sweeping up the shrapnel and surveying the destruction to their cars. One man gestured to his phone and played the footage from the previous evening, showing the moments when he frantically climbed from the pit under his garage and tried to escape in his damaged car, while a huge inferno blazed just metres away. The ever-present threat of a “double tap” where a second missile is sent, timed for when the emergency services arrive, is always in the minds of those living in a conflict zone.
The second location, which I visited the previous evening, was heavily guarded as investigations were still underway, but the damage to nearby residential blocks showed how close the rockets come to causing a tremendous loss of life. Despite this, the Ukrainian version of “Blitz mentality” was visible in the man cleaning his shattered apartment window.
The third location was isolated but had clearly produced a large part of the black clouds seen over Lviv on the previous night. Huge amounts of damage were visible to the substation and buildings but work had already begun on getting it all running once again.
As I write this, another air alert is currently in place not only in Lviv but across the whole of Ukraine. Walking back to my hotel, it was noticeable how many in Lviv were looking to the skies tonight.
.
.
.
#lviv#ukraine#war#conflict#russia#rocket#rocketstrike#missile#missilestrike#airraid#airalert#gettyimages#nikon
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Lviv it’s that as soon as you start to think the story may be over here, it snatches a bite and reminds you of what is just beneath the surface.
Just after 8:30pm, a series of rocket strikes hit the Lviv area. According to a statement by the Mayor, the attack targeted electricity substations and essential infrastructure. The city was locked down quickly and no amount of accreditation, documents, phone calls or avoidance could make it an easy job to cover. Recent rule changes allow media to document a strike but not publish or broadcast the content until an official announcement is made. These rules never made it as far as those at the cordons.
However, thanks to some help, some luck and some GTA-style driving by my fixer, I finally got to get a few images to file. Driving back to the hotel through the dark streets, Dominik was fascinated, never having seen his hometown plunged into darkness through lack of power. Stopping at a high-rise residential block, torchlight lit a few apartment windows. I hope that early reports of no casualties turn out to be accurate and everyone is safely home tonight.
.
.
.
#lviv#ukraine#war#rocket#rocketstrike#russia#conflict#power#smoke#emergency#gettyimages#nikon#nikonz9
The Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft are bathed in the light of a sunrise at @NASAKennedy Space Center.
The SLS and Orion were transported to Launch Pad 39B on March 19 for a wet dress rehearsal. During the two-day prelaunch test, the launch team will practice loading super-cold propellants into the rocket, conduct a launch countdown, and practice safely unloading propellants at the launch pad.
When that’s done, engineers will roll the rocket and spacecraft back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for final checks. Following a successful completion of the wet dress rehearsal, a launch date will be announced for #Artemis I, the mission that will take the uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon and back for the first time since Apollo.
Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
#Sunrise#Artemis#WeAreGoing#NASA#KennedySpaceCenter#Glow#Rocket#Space#BlastOff
On the road again. NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft atop has arrived at Launch Pad 39B at @NASAKennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for a final test before the @NASAArtemis I Moon mission. Stacked on the mobile launcher and mounted on the crawler-transporter, it took 10 hours and 28 minutes for SLS and Orion to travel four miles, or 6.4 kilometers, from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launchpad. The trip began at 5:47 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 17, and the 322-foot (98-meter) tall, 3.5-million-pound (1.6-million-kg) rocket and spacecraft arrived at the pad at 4:15 a.m. EDT on March 18. During the upcoming final test, known as the wet dress rehearsal, the Artemis I launch team will practice loading and unloading propellant into and from the rocket’s tanks and run through a full launch countdown. The uncrewed #Artemis I mission will lead the way for missions to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon. Credits: Image 1: NASA/Joel Kowsky Image 2: NASA/Glenn Benson Image 3: NASA/Keegan Barber Image 4: NASA/Kim Shiflett Image 5: NASA/Kim Shiflett Image 6: NASA/Joel Kowsky & Aubrey Gemignani Image 7: NASA/Keegan Barber Image 8: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Image 9: NASA/Kim Shiflett Image 10: NASA/Joel Kowsky #MegaMoonRocket#NASA#Rocket#Space#Launchpad#CrawlerTransporter#SpaceLaunchSystem#Orion#STEM#NASAKennedy
Your order is out for delivery. 🚀 On Feb. 19 at 12:40 p.m. EST (17:40 UTC), @NorthropGrumman’s NG-17 Cygnus spacecraft launched aboard an Antares rocket from @NASAWallops, bound for the International Space Station. The Cygnus spacecraft has been named S.S. Piers Sellers, in dedication to the former astronaut and climate scientist who was instrumental in constructing the @ISS. Along with supplies and food, materials supporting over 250 current and future science investigations are on their way to the orbital lab, including: ▪️ Colgate Skin Aging, which will study cellular and molecular changes in engineered human skin cells in microgravity. Microgravity can lead to changes in the body that are like aging, but can happen much more quickly and can be more easily studied. ▪️ MicroQuin 3D Tumor, which will examine effects of a therapeutic on breast and prostate cancer cells. These cells can grow in a more natural 3D model in microgravity, allowing more insight into their cellular characteristics. ▪️ XROOTS will use hydroponic (water-based) and aeroponic (air-based) techniques to grow plants, reducing overall system mass. Current systems for growing plants in space use soil or growth medium. Tune in as @NASAAstronauts@Astro_Raja and @Astro_Kayla capture the Cygnus spacecraft with the station’s robotic arm. Docking to the station is expected on Mon. Feb. 18, at 4:35 am ET (9:35 UTC). Watch on nasa.gov/live.
Credit: NASA Wallops/Patrick Black
#Rocket#Launch#Cygnus#Antares#Space#Wallops#Science#GetDownWithTheCygnus