321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week (May 9)

Emre Kelly, Florida Today
·2 min read

Space is important to us and that’s why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.

---

Roy Bridges, Senator Mark Kelly inducted into Astronaut Hall of Fame

Two well-known, veteran NASA astronauts were inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame last weekend. The Saturday ceremony honoring former Kennedy Space Center Director Roy Bridges and U.S. Senator Mark Kelly took place under the space shuttle Atlantis exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Bridges and Kelly join 105 others in receiving the honor since the Hall of Fame opened in 1990.

Microsoft, Marvel, NASA team up to 3D print in space

Microsoft is teaming up with the "Guardians of the Galaxy" to resurrect the Zune, a one-time rival to Apple's iPod, via a new space-based partnership. In a new partnership with Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3" and the National Lab aboard the International Space Station, Microsoft is working with Redwire Space to engage students in the process of in-space 3D printing. Star-Lord, the central figure played by Chris Pratt, uses a Zune as his music streaming device in the movie that hits theaters Friday, May 5.

Upcoming launches:

May 11: SpaceX Starlink 5-9

  • Company / Agency: Internal SpaceX mission

  • Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9

  • Location: Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

  • Launch Window: Between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. EDT

  • Trajectory: TBD

  • Weather: TBD

  • Landing: Drone ship

  • Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space

  • About: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the company's latest batch of Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and land the Falcon 9 first-stage booster on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. It will be the 23rd mission to fly from Florida this year.

May 21: SpaceXAxiom-2

  • Company / Agency: SpaceX for NASA and Axiom Space

  • Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9

  • Location: Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center

  • Launch Time: 5:37 p.m.

  • Trajectory: Northeast

  • Weather: TBD

  • Landing: TBD

  • Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space

  • About: SpaceX will launch NASA's second private astronaut flight to the International Space Station contracted with Axiom Space. Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who will lead the mission as commander, and private spaceflight participant John Shoffner, Ax-2's pilot, will be joined by mission specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, the second and third Saudi citizens to fly to space and the first to visit the ISS, for the 10-day mission to the orbiting laboratory.

As usual, we'll have live coverage of these missions at floridatoday.com/space. For the latest, see our full schedule at floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: 321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week (May 9)