321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week (May 7)
Get the excitement of liftoff delivered straight to your phone with the FLORIDA TODAY app
Missed rocket launch viewing opportunities can be disappointing. Luckily, there is an app to the rescue.
The FLORIDA TODAY app sends not only the latest Brevard county news, but rocket launch updates as they happen LIVE.
NASA Commercial Crew Capsules: How the Boeing Starliner compares to the SpaceX Crew Dragon
One has already carried eight NASA crews and three private crews to the International Space Station. The other is launching on its maiden crewed flight next week.
Both can carry up to seven astronauts, or a mixture of crew and cargo. Both were designed to launch atop rockets and chase down the International Space Station, traveling 17,500 mph at 200-250 miles above Earth − orbiting our planet every 90 minutes. One splashes down in the ocean. The other “soft lands” in the desert.
SpaceX targeting Thursday night Starlink mission as Florida's 33rd launch of the year
After pulling off a weekend rocket launch doubleheader, SpaceX is targeting Thursday night for its next Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, navigational warnings show.
Per the Federal Aviation Administration and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, SpaceX's Starlink 6-55 mission window will open at 9:17 p.m. EDT Thursday and extend to 1:48 a.m. Friday.
"There's a lot we haven't discovered": Brevard students participate in astronaut training
NASA astronaut and former Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana stood in front of 24 Brevard County students — some possibly future astronauts themselves — on Tuesday and encouraged them to never give up on their dreams.
The Brevard students were winners of a voluntary essay competition, open to all K-12 students in Brevard, that centered around the question: “Why do you want to be an astronaut?" The grand prize, which these students won: participate in the Astronaut Training Experience (ATX) at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in a group experience led by Cabana.
Wharf expansion worth $2.1 billion boosted by Cape Canaveral's space industry could be coming
In the coming decades, the Space Coast’s booming commercial space economy may prompt a $2.1 billion northward expansion near Port Canaveral, creating a new large-scale wharf stretching parallel with the Banana River shoreline along Cape Canaveral Space Force Station property.
Thursday morning, Space Florida released a 67-page feasibility study detailing the ambitious proposal, which could require seven construction phases across a 50-year span to accommodate the space industry's future maritime needs.
SpaceX launch recap: Starlink mission Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida
Launch recap: Live coverage of the Thursday, May 2, liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flashes fiery multicolored exhaust across nighttime sky Thursday
Multicolored flames trailing from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket treated Brevard County spectators to a spectacular show Thursday night, as another Starlink mission soared along a southeasterly trajectory.
"Engines full power, and liftoff. Go Falcon, go Starlink," a SpaceX crew member announced during the company webcast as the 230-foot rocket rose off Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
'We test, test and test': Boeing Starliner ready to launch astronauts
It is no secret that many are visibly wary of The Boeing Company. Plagued by some high-profile and serious problems with their aircrafts, on top of the lengthy time it took to get the Starliner spacecraft ready for this inaugural crewed flight, the company has been making news lately and not in a welcome way.
As a USA TODAY aviation reporter put it recently, "Boeing is rightfully under a microscope right now."
Florida Tech grad Suni Williams to return to ISS aboard Boeing Starliner in historic launch
What were the odds? NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Joan Higginbotham floated side-by-side operating the International Space Station's robotic arm in December 2006 — after both had earned master's degrees from the Florida Institute of Technology.
Now Higginbotham is rooting for her friend and fellow alumnae as Williams prepares to make history by returning to the orbiting outpost aboard the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.
Starlink-Starliner launch doubleheader? SpaceX targeting Monday mission, hours before NASA flight
SpaceX is targeting a Monday morning mission that could create a high-profile Starlink-Starliner launch doubleheader within 11 hours or fewer from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, navigational warnings indicate.
Though SpaceX has not publicly announced this mission, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Coast Guard maritime safety bulletins show a Starlink launch window will open Monday from 11:34 a.m. to 4:05 p.m. EDT. SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rockets on its Starlink missions deploying satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Boeing Starliner is set to launch NASA astronauts from Florida on the Crewed Flight Test
Monday promises to be a day of firsts.
The first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, the latest private vehicle to be ready to carry American astronauts into low Earth orbit. The first time an Atlas V rocket has lifted astronauts into space. The first launch of humans from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 41.
SpaceX launch recap: Starlink mission lifts off Monday before Starliner scrub at Cape Canaveral
Launch recap: Live coverage of the Monday, May 6, liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on the Starlink 6-57 mission.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sends Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit on Monday afternoon
Monday afternoon, SpaceX sent a Falcon 9 rocket roaring skyward amid sunshine and shimmering heat waves at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Following suit — potentially within a 48-hour span — SpaceX is poised to launch yet another batch of Starlink satellites into orbit Wednesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Scrub! NASA's Boeing Starliner crewed test launch postponed Monday night at Cape Canaveral
Scrub! Turns out NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will have to wait until Friday at the earliest to take Boeing's Starliner capsule on its first crewed test flight.
The astronauts were scheduled to lift off at 10:34 p.m. EDT aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for a historic trip to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 41.
SpaceX targeting Wednesday for next Starlink launch from Cape, navigational warnings show
Though SpaceX has yet to announce this mission, Federal Aviation Administration and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational warnings indicate the next Starlink rocket launch window will open Wednesday morning at the Cape.
The Falcon 9 liftoff would come on the heels of Monday afternoon's Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
ULA crews targeting Friday or later for NASA's next Boeing Starliner crewed launch attempt
United Launch Alliance technicians will work this week assessing — and potentially replacing — a mechanical gas-venting valve that triggered Monday's scrub of NASA's historic Boeing Starliner crewed flight test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
"It's not dissimilar to many other valves like that. You have one in your home on your hot water tank that's not all that different," ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno said during a post-scrub NASA news conference.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: 321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week (May 7)
