Welcome to edition 6.38 of Rocket Report! Over 60 years ago, Ed Dwight was on the verge of joining NASA’s astronaut corps. With his degree in aeronautical engineering and experience as an Air Force test pilot, Dwight met the qualifications to become an astronaut. He was one of 26 test pilots recommended by the Air Force to NASA for third class astronaut status in 1963, but he was not selected. Now, the man who would have been the first black astronaut will finally get the chance to fly into space.
As always, we We welcome reader contributions.If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (this form does not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report includes information about small, medium, and heavy lift rockets, as well as a summary of the three upcoming launches on the calendar.
Ed Dwight selected for Blue Origin’s next manned flight. Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin On Thursday, it was announced that 90-year-old Ed Dwight had died.He became almost the first black astronaut in 1963 and will be one of six people to fly into suborbital space on the company’s next New Shepard flight. Dwight is a former Air Force captain who flew military fighter jets, graduated from test pilot school, and, like many of the first astronauts, had a familiar career path. He was on the final list of astronaut candidates the Air Force provided to NASA, but the space agency did not include him. It took another 20 years for the first black American to fly into space. Dwight’s Blue Origin ticket is sponsored by Space for Humanity, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to space for all. Five paying passengers will join Dwight on a 10-minute flight to the edge of space above West Texas. Kudos to Space for Humanity and Blue Origin for making this possible.
return to flight … The mission, named NS-25, will be the first time Blue Origin has flown with human passengers since August 2022. Blue Origin has not yet announced a launch date for NS-25. An engine failure destroyed the New Shepard booster during an unmanned launch the following month, halting Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket program for more than 15 months. New Shepard returned to flight on December 19 on another research flight, again with no one on board. As the mission name suggests, this is the 25th flight of the New Shepard rocket and the seventh manned flight. Blue Origin has a history of aviation pioneers and luminaries. New Shepard’s first crewed flight took place in 2021, with passengers including company founder Jeff Bezos and famous female aviator Wally Funk. (Submitted by EllPeaTea)
Revisit Astra’s 2020 Rocket Explosion. In March 2020, as the world was being affected by the coronavirus, Astra detonated a rocket in a remote part of Alaska because it didn’t want anyone to see.new video Published by TechCrunch It shows Astra’s Rocket 3 vehicle exploding on the launch pad. This was one of several setbacks that led to the startup’s demise. TechCrunch reports that the explosion at the Pacific Spaceport facility in Alaska was only reported as an “anomalous” at the time. This is an industry term for almost any problem that deviates from the expected outcome. Satellite images of the launch site showed burn marks that suggested an explosion, but footage released this week confirmed the reality of the incident. This was Astra’s first orbital-class rocket, and it exploded during a refueling rehearsal.
signs of things to come … Astra ultimately flew its Rocket 3 small satellite launcher seven times, but only two actually reached orbit. This led Astra to abandon the Rocket 3 program and focus on developing a larger rocket, the Rocket 4. However, the future of this new rocket is in doubt. Astra’s co-founders are taking the company private after its market capitalization and stock price have collapsed, but it’s unclear where the company will go from here. (Submitted by Ken the Bin)
Plan to “revive” Russia’s launch industry. Yuri Borisov, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, outlined a strategy for Russia to regain its dominant position in the global launch market, according to Ars news agency. This includes the development of a partially reusable replacement for Soyuz rockets called Amur-CNG. The country’s spaceflight companies are also working on developing “ultralight” boosters that incorporate elements of reusability. In an interview posted on the Roscosmos website, Borisov said Russia hopes to have a “completely new fleet of spacecraft” by 2028-2029. Russia has previously discussed plans to develop an Amur rocket (CNG refers to liquefied methane as a propellant). This multi-engine aircraft is somewhat similar to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in that the preliminary design includes landing legs and grid fins to enable a powered first stage landing.
reason to doubt …Decades ago, when prices were low compared to Western rockets, Russia’s launch industry was a world leader. However, the heavy-lift rocket Proton is nearing retirement due to reliability concerns, and the still-reliable Soyuz is currently being removed from the world market following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the 2000s and 2010s, Russia’s position in the market was supplanted by Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket and SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Roscosmos originally announced its medium-lift Amur rocket program in 2020, aiming for its first flight in 2026. Since then, the rocket’s first test launch has been delayed by almost a year. I’ll believe it when I see it. The expendable Angara A5, the only new large rocket Russia has developed in nearly 40 years, is still launching dummy payloads on test flights 10 years after its debut.
