Lifeboat Foundation

SpaceX Dragon demonstrated its capability to reboost the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time on Friday, with the spacecraft’s Draco thrusters adjusting the station’s orbit.

What Happened: The spacecraft adjusted the station’s orbit through a reboost of altitude by 7/100 of a mile at apogee and 7/10 of a mile at perigee, NASA said. The Dragon spacecraft fired its Draco thrusters for about 12 minutes and 30 seconds in the process.

The Roscosmos Progress spacecraft and the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft also provide reboost for the space station now.

SpaceX and NASA have successfully tested the Dragon spacecraft’s reboost capabilities, enhancing the International Space Stations altitude.

This test adds to existing capabilities provided by Roscosmoss Progress and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecrafts. Alongside its reboost demonstration, the Dragon spacecraft also completed a substantial resupply mission, carrying over 6,000 pounds of supplies.

SpaceX’s Reboost Demonstration

The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company will attempt to catch the Super Heavy booster for a second time as it returns to Earth.

The order of the planets is something most of us learn in school: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and (until 2006) Pluto.

So, you would be forgiven for thinking that as Earthlings, our closest planetary neighbor is Venus. And in a way, you would be right – at its nearest, Venus approaches Earth closer than any other planet in the Solar System. Likewise, its orbit is closer to our orbit than any other. However, in another sense, you would be wrong. At least, that is the argument put forward in an article published in PhysicsToday.

Continue reading “A New Planet Is Now Our Closest Neighbor” »

NASA is currently working on the first practical field test toward the possibility of faster than light travel. Traveling faster than light has always been attributed to science fiction, but that all changed when Harold White and his team at NASA started to work on and tweak the Alcubierre Drive.

Special relativity may hold true, but to travel faster or at the speed of light we might not need a craft that can travel at that speed. The solution might be to place a craft within a space that is moving faster than the speed of light! Therefore the craft itself does not have to travel at the speed of light from it’s own type of propulsion system. It’s easier to think about if you think in terms of a flat escalator in an airport.

Continue reading “NASA Admits Alcubierre Drive Initiative: Faster Than The Speed Of Light” »

Watch the video from Boeing Space explaining all.

SpaceX What about it!?

The data from the reboost, scheduled for Nov. 8, will help inform design for a larger Dragon to deorbit the ISS.

New science experiments and research samples, delivered on Tuesday by the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, were installed on Wednesday on the International Space Station (ISS). Meanwhile, science activities and lab maintenance continue to support the smooth operation of the orbital outpost.

Crew Begins Unloading and Installation

The four NASA astronauts representing the Expedition 72 crew, including Flight Engineers Don Pettit, Nick Hague, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Commander Suni Williams, spent the day unloading Dragon’s research-packed cargo. Arriving on November 5, Dragon brought advanced research equipment and temperature-sensitive specimens, which the crew quickly transferred to the ISS, placing them in dedicated research racks and cold storage for upcoming experiments.