Max Q

Monday, August 03, 2020 • By Darrell Etherington

Another huge week in space, with SpaceX and NASA completing the final crucial stage of their last commercial crew qualification mission. Virgin Orbit and Virgin Galactic also both had news, as did Amazon, Rocket Lab and launch startup hopeful Astra.

SpaceX and NASA bring their astronauts home

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned from a two-month stay at the International Space Station on Sunday, marking the effective end of SpaceX’s qualification and demonstration program to certify Falcon 9 and its Dragon spacecraft for regular human spaceflight missions.

This means it should be all systems go for them to start offering regular rides to and from the Station for NASA astronauts – a first for any commercial provider, and a first for a U.S.-based launch vehicle since 2011, when the Shuttle program ended.

SpaceX and NASA bring their astronauts home image

Virgin Galactic reveals their private human spacecraft cabin

We finally know what kind of ride paying upwards of $250,000 will get you on Virgin Galactic’s debut commercial flights – the company revealed the interiors of its VSS Unity spaceship, which look somewhere between a very high-end aircraft cabin and a luxury sportscar cockpit. Furniture is minimal, and windows are everywhere, which is intended to make the most of the zero-G part of Virgin’s private space tours.

Image Credits: Virgin Galactic

NASA launches Perseverance rover to Mars

NASA not only brought home Bob and Doug this week, but they also sent their latest robotic Mars rover on its way. Perseverance, the wheeled exploration platform, and Ingenuity, a helicopter it’s carrying that will aim to be the first vehicle to undertake powered flight on the red planet, took off on July 30 and should arrive at Mars next February.

Astra gets ready to fly

Rocket launch startup Astra is gearing up for its own launch this week – weather and opportunity permitting. The company is back in Kodiak after failing to launch during a previous serious of attempts and heading back to their HQ in Alameda to make some necessary tweaks. A boat in the violation area caused a scrub on Sunday, and Monday the weather wasn’t with the, but they still have until August 7 for this series of launch windows so stay tuned.

Image Credits: Astra

Amazon commits $10 billion to create its Starlink rival

Amazon has said it’ll invest at least $10 billion in building out Project Kuiper, the low Earth orbit internet satellite constellation it’s in the process of developing. Kuiper also got the nod from the FCC, for a 3,236-strong constellation to operate with U.S. communications regulatory clearance.

Rocket Lab will resume launch activities this month

Rocket launch provider Rocket Lab had an unfortunate loss of one of its Electron vehicles during a mission on July 4, but the company has investigated the issue (which ended up not being an explosion, but merely a shutdown leading to its inability to complete the mission) and is now ready to go ahead and start active launches again as early as August.

Image Credits: Rocket Lab

Virgin Orbit's second attempt to reach space will carry 11 NASA satellites

Virgin Orbit is reading for a second demonstration flight of its small payload orbital launch system – and this one will actually carry payloads for one of its most important paying customers – NASA. The company announced it would be trying again hopefully before the end of the year, after a try in May went awry shortly after the LauncherOne rocket engines fired.