Bringing you live views and updates from Starbase and Cape Canaveral 🚀
Starbase, Texas
Joined March 2019
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Avid Space retweeted
Tag!
#OTD in 2020, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft "tagged" the asteroid Bennu, successfully touching down and capturing this view of its descent, six-second tag, and back-away burn. The samples were successfully returned to Earth.
Avid Space retweeted
Eight years ago today, BepiColombo began its journey to Mercury. 🚀
On 20 October 2018, the ESA/JAXA mission lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport aboard Ariane 5, beginning one of the most complex journeys through the inner Solar System.
Since then, BepiColombo has travelled billions of kilometres, using planetary flybys to gradually adjust its trajectory towards the closest planet to the Sun.
Eight years after launch, the journey that began in Kourou is entering its final chapter, bringing BepiColombo closer to the world it was built to explore.
A journey that started with Ariane 5, and continues to push our understanding of Mercury further.
#LaunchingAmbitions
@esa @JAXA_jp @CNES
Avid Space retweeted
It’s official: @IridiumComm shareholders have voted and approved the acquisition by Rocket Lab ✅
By joining forces, we’ll be creating a vertically-integrated space powerhouse that designs, builds, launches, and operates its own constellations to bring critical communications capability to millions of users worldwide.
Full details and next steps: bit.ly/3T53qq1
Avid Space retweeted
We have established a Lunar Programs division.
By leveraging our commercial space station and satellite development capabilities, we are creating a scalable path toward lunar infrastructure to advance NASA’s vision for a permanent Moon Base. vast.news/4d1qWL9
Avid Space retweeted
With all 13 Aeon R engines installed on the thrust structure and stage two heading towards hot fire, August was a big month for Terran R.
🔩 Build: All 13 Aeon R engines were installed onto the thrust structure. Stage one integration is advancing and both interstage barrels were stacked. Flight two barrels are complete and flight three production has begun.
🧪 Test: Stage two completed cryoproof and COPV proof testing and is now being readied for Aeon V engine installation ahead of hot fire.
🏗️ Launch: Flame diverter installation is underway at the pad, the engineering support building opened, and HIF outfitting continues.
Avid Space retweeted
Space Shuttle Atlantis launched 20 years ago today for STS-115, the first space station assembly mission after the Columbia disaster.
Two truss segments and two new solar arrays were delivered and installed over 11 days and 19 hours.
ALT Closeup of Space Shuttle Atlantis launching into the deep blue sky, trailing fiery exhaust from its solid rocket boosters.
Avid Space retweeted
Breaking ground today on our new Payload Processing Facility on the Eastern Range - the first ever built to support an 8.7‑meter fairing. Thank you to @USSF_SSC, @USSpaceForce, and @SLDelta45 for the partnership. At 120,000 square feet, the PPF will house four payload processing bays, two encapsulation bays, and a multi‑manifest area supporting National Security Space Launch, civil, and commercial missions. This facility expands our Space Coast footprint across Brevard and Orange Counties and supports continued job growth alongside our more than 4,500 employees in the region.
Avid Space retweeted
On this day in 1965, Gemini V astronauts Pete Conrad and Gordon Cooper splashed down in the Atlantic after an eight-day mission.
ALT A astronaut and space capsule on a makeshift raft, surrounded by sparkling water under bright sunlight.
ALT Two astronauts in space suits walking happily on deck after a successful mission. A crowd of crew members is visible in the background, above a "WELCOME ASTRONAUTS" banner.
Avid Space retweeted
On #TDIH in 2009, less than a minute before midnight, Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center on the STS-128 mission. It was carrying the "Leonardo" Multi-Purpose Logistics Module.
ALT The image shows a space shuttle launching into the night sky, with bright flames and smoke billowing from its boosters. The shuttle is ascending from a launch pad, illuminating the surrounding area.
Avid Space retweeted
45 years ago today, Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Saturn, becoming the third NASA spacecraft to fly by the planet. 🪐 In addition to learning more about the planet's atmosphere and moons, Voyager 2 was the first to observe spokes in Saturn's rings.
Spokes, seen here as grey smudges on the rings, are transient features that occur seasonally. They are likely caused by interactions between Saturn's magnetic field and solar wind particles: science.nasa.gov/missions/hu…
ALT This true color picture was assembled from Voyager 2 Saturn images obtained August 4, 1981, from a distance of 21 million kilometers (13 million miles). Three of Saturn's icy moons are evident at left. They are, in order of distance from the planet: Tethys, Dione, Rhea. The shadow of Tethys appears on Saturn's southern hemisphere.
ALT Closeup of Saturn's rings as seen by Voyager 2 on August 22, 1981 when the spacecraft was 4 million km (2.5 million mi) away. Evident here are numerous "spoke" features in the B ring.
Avid Space retweeted
History made! A SpaceX Falcon 9 booster safely touches down back home, marking the very first booster landing at SpaceX/NASA's new LZ-40 back in April. I was privileged enough to have placed a camera beside the pad to catch this shot.
Avid Space retweeted
Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of all ages - This is the one we've all been waiting for. @RocketRanchTX Flight 14 tickets are now live. We will absolutely sell out for this event - please secure your spot today!
rocketranchstarbase.com/laun…
Avid Space retweeted
LFG! I'm live with @LabPadre for coverage of Starship Flight 13! Come and join us!!!
youtube.com/live/7R_8Jw342aA…
Avid Space retweeted
Flight 13 will be lighting up the South Texas sky next week. Join us at the front row from the Rocket Ranch Outpost. Be part of history and feel the heat from the bleeding edge of the exclusion zone. Tickets are available online now at RocketRanchStarbase.com/
Avid Space retweeted
We experienced an anomaly during today's hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.
Avid Space retweeted
Three years since the first flight of Starship, the next generation is here. New ship. New booster. New engines. New pad and new test site. SpaceX engineers are working to solve one of the most difficult engineering challenges in history: developing a fully, rapidly reusable rocket