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.
Welcome to 321 Launch, FLORIDA TODAY’S weekly space newsletter. Here are the top space stories of the past week.
SpaceX, Isaacman unveil “Polaris,” world’s first private astronaut program
Jared Isaacman is working with SpaceX on the Polaris Program, named after the North Star, that more or less operates as a private crewed spaceflight program. Polaris’ first two missions are slated to fly on Crew Dragon capsules starting late this year followed by a third on Starship, the SpaceX vehicle that will eventually take humans to the moon and Mars.
Included in the program so far are Isaacman (commander) and three astronauts-to-be: Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both engineers at SpaceX; and Scott Poteet, a former Air Force pilot and mission director for Isaacman’s Inspiration4 mission last September. Gillis and Menon join as mission specialists and Poteet as a pilot.
The first mission, set to launch from Kennedy Space Center no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year, is Polaris Dawn: a Falcon 9 rocket will boost the crew of four to push the altitude limits of Crew Dragon, conduct the first ever commercial spacewalk, work on health and science experiments, and test SpaceX’s Starlink internet network’s ability to relay communications.
Astra launches from Cape, but NASA payload fails to reach orbit
Space startup Astra launched its first Florida mission on Thursday, but four NASA and university payloads were lost shortly after the rocket reached space as its second stage failed to fly properly.
Just over three minutes after Rocket 3.3’s launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the rocket’s second stage – connected to and responsible for deploying the four payloads – appeared to be in an uncontrolled tumble before the video feed cut out. Astra confirmed all seemed to go well until roughly that point in the flight when the first and second stages separated.
Prior to Thursday’s liftoff from Launch Complex 46, Astra had only flown from a small spaceport in Kodiak, Alaska.
SpaceX on Tuesday confirmed 40 of the 49 flat-packed satellites launched from pad 39A were lost to a geomagnetic storm, a type of space weather event caused by solar winds interacting with Earth’s atmosphere. A Falcon 9 rocket boosted the satellites to orbit on Thursday, Feb. 3.
In total, 40 of the 49 satellites will or already have re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. The satellites will burn up during re-entry.
Rocket set to crash into the moon likely Chinese, not SpaceX
The case of mistaken identity was announced on Saturday on the Project Pluto website by Bill Gray, an astronomer, and manager of the Project Pluto software used to track near-Earth objects. Gray had originally announced the lunar collision potential on the Project Pluto website about three weeks ago.
An email from a NASA engineer made Gray re-examine his data.
The most likely candidate turned out to be a piece of a Chinese Long March 3C rocket. The rocket launched China’s moonbound Chang’e 5-T1 mission in October 2014.
Space Force sees dramatic increase in launch activity coming in 2022
Requests to launch – just requests, not the actual launches themselves – filed with the Space Force and others are expected to top 300 this year, or nearly one a day. Space Force is one of several organizations responsible for overseeing launch operations on the Eastern Range, which includes Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center.
“Prior to 2020, we would receive about 100 requests to launch per year,” said Col. Mark Shoemaker, Space Launch Delta 45’s vice commander of operations, noting that some were understandably pulled due to technical issues or weather concerns. “In 2021, we were getting over 200 requests. Now we project over 300 requests.”
A 25+ year veteran of FLORIDA TODAY, John McCarthy currently oversees the space team and special projects. Support quality local journalism by subscribing to FLORIDA TODAY. You can contact McCarthy at 321-752-5018 or jmccarthy@floridatoday.com.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
