On this holiday week, we’re discussing SpaceX’s recent approval for Starship Flight 7’s launch license well ahead of the planned launch date, and almost overnight, Europe has another launch provider to bid on contracts with Avio’s takeover of the Vega C rocket.
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Axiom Space announced a major revision to the assembly sequence for its Axiom Station, paving the way for it to operate as an independent orbital platform as early as 2028. This adjustment advances the timeline by approximately two years and appears to address both customer demands and national objectives, including NASA’s plans to retire the International Space Station by the end of the decade.
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In a detail-packed Forbes report, sources say that Axiom Space is struggling to make payroll, is late on payments to its contractors (including SpaceX), and has begun downsizing some aspects of the company. All this while outside capital has become increasingly difficult to find.
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Originally only planned to last 15 days on board, Axiom‘s third mission to the International Space Station undocked after 17 full days in space. The crew will spend today in orbit before making a planned splashdown tomorrow morning off of Florida’s coast.
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Thursday afternoon SpaceX launched the Axiom-3 mission out of Kennedy Space Center making it its first human spaceflight mission of the year. Another milestone first was it being the first entirely European crewed mission ever with all four astronauts holding citizenship from a European nation.
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Phil McAlister, director of NASA’s commercial space division, said that Axiom Space and SpaceX were in talks to fly Axiom-3 from SLC-40 rather than LC-39A like in the past. This would use the newly constructed crew access tower built to bring redundancy to SpaceX’s human spaceflight operations.
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The UK Space Agency and Axiom Space have signed a memorandum of understanding to perform a two week spaceflight with an all British crew in the future. No destination or crew have been announced just yet but the UK Space Agency is now working to design the mission around a core of scientific experiments.
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Today Axiom Space announced who will be flying to the ISS early next year on the third private astronaut mission. This mission will feature a return Axiom astronaut as well as an all European crew.
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Houston-based Axiom Space secured a significant boost of $350 million in funding. The Series-C funding round was led by Aljazira Capital from Saudi Arabia and Boryung Pharmaceutical, a prominent South Korean healthcare company.
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This week Seth and Jared discuss the various issues that have plagued Blue Origin and ULA over recent weeks and other top stories.
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Houston-based Axiom Space has been granted a significant task order by NASA to modify its Artemis 3 lunar spacesuit design for International Space Station’s spacewalking capabilities.
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This week Seth and Jared discuss the week’s top stories and dig into the biggest one around the lawsuit against the FAA for letting Starship launch. We discuss what this could mean for SpaceX and more importantly NASA if there are any delays because of this.
Sunday afternoon, SpaceX launched the Axiom-2 mission on a week-long journey to the International Space Station. Like all crewed missions, it featured a zero-g indicator, and you can buy your own.
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Sunday afternoon, the second private mission by Axiom to the International Space Station lifted off from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. This marked the first spaceflight of a Saudi female astronaut, the return to space of commander Peggy Whitson, and the start of RTLS landings for crewed Falcon 9 flights.
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SpaceX is set to launch its second crewed mission for Axiom Space tomorrow afternoon on a Falcon 9 rocket. This mission will feature a unique Return To Landing Site landing at LZ-1 for the first stage, a first for a crewed mission.
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NASA is returning humanity to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, but this time powered by the growing commercial space industry. To walk on the Moon, you need a few essential tools to survive. One of those was unveiled today – a space suit.
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You might have thought due to SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk publicly offering support to NASA’s new spacesuit program, his company would at least submit a proposal. It turns out no, which begs the question if SpaceX’s EVA capable suit is as far along as some people may think.
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NASA has announced the contract winners to build and manage the new spacesuits for the Artemis Program. The two companies that won the potential $3.5 billion award are Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace.
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NASA has since responded, contradicting our reporting. NASA’s full comment below.
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule has been very successful since its first crewed launch on Demo-2. While reuse is paramount to SpaceX’s mission, the Dragon capsule heat shield has started to cause issues once again that could put astronauts at risk.
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The Axiom-I private astronaut mission that launched on April 8 was only supposed to be a ten day journey. After weather delayed their return, the Axiom crew is back on Earth, making way for NASA and ESA astronauts to take their place.
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The ten-day stay on the space station is up for the Axiom-1 crew, and now they must return home, although they did get a short extension to their visit. Learn below how to watch the coverage of Axiom-1’s undocking and splashdown.
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A lot of eyes are on Axiom-1 right now. As the first all-private mission to the International Space Station, people are wondering what they are doing up there. Read below about the experiments and outreach events Axiom has planned.
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Now that the crew of Axiom-1 is off the ground and on their way towards the International Space Station, you might be wondering where they might be right now. Well SpaceX has a handy tool for you to track Axiom-1’s progress. We also have details on when SpaceX and Axiom will return to live coverage.
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Axiom’s customer missions go beyond what suborbital tourist missions like New Shepard can offer. Riding in a SpaceX Dragon capsule, the Ax-1 crew is now on its way to the International Space Station after an on-time liftoff at 11:17 a.m. ET on Friday, April 8.
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