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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the companys Dragon spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A ahead of Axiom Mission 3 launch. Credit: SpaceX

As part of NASAs efforts to open access to space, SpaceX and Axiom Space now are targeting no earlier than 4:49 p.m. EST Thursday, Jan. 18, for launch of the third private mission to the International Space Station. The date adjustment for Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) allows additional time for SpaceX to complete data analysis of the parachute system energy modulatorthe straps that connect the Dragon spacecrafts parachute bag to the parachute door.

Following Dragons return on its 29th commercial resupply services mission to station, SpaceX observed some of the stitches didnt pull through in the expected manner. While there is built-in margin through multiple energy modulators, SpaceX felt it was prudent to evaluate recent test data and this condition has been corrected on Ax-3. These straps are folded and stitched together such that when they pull apart, the connecting stitches intentionally break, allowing the straps to pull apart at a constant force. This regulates the amount of load applied to the main parachutes, which takes place as the parachute door and drogues extract the mains out of the spacecraft during the handoff from drogues to mains.

SpaceX proactively wanted to inspect the energy modulators on the Ax-3 parachutes and the team removed the parachute door this past week, inspected the energy modulators, correct alignment of the modulators, and then re-installed the doors.

SpaceX and NASA continue to work together on future flight hardware procedures.

For more information, listen to a replay of the Axiom Mission 3 prelaunch news conference.

Aboard the space station, the first wild-type tomatoes from Plant Habitat-06 were harvested aboard the orbital lab today by NASA Flight Engineer Loral OHara. Part of an ongoing suite of experiments, this specific investigation takes a look at the physiological and genetic responses to defense activation and immune function in tomatoes during spaceflight.

While space botany was underway, two crew members conducted fluid research with the Plant Water Management 5 system. In the morning, NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli prepped fluids and primed the facility after installing it yesterday. Moghbeli also tested the hydroponic flow of the system. ESA (European Space Agency) Commander Andreas Mogensen later took over, spot checking the fluidic test cell. Mogensen also completed a VR Mental Care session, which demonstrates the use of virtual reality for mental relaxation.

JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa was tasked with a suite of maintenance activities throughout the day. He performed tech troubleshooting in the morning, then set up the Internal Ball Camera in the Kibo Laboratory. Afterward, he analyzed water samples from the water processor assembly before cleaning air quality monitor vents. His day wrapped with some routine orbital plumbing.

Maintenance and research were at the forefront of Wednesdays schedule for the Roscosmos trio. Flight Engineer Konstantin Borisov replaced dust collector filters in the Zarya module, then inspected the thermal control system pump panel that was installed yesterday. Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko conducted additional maintenance in the Zvezda service module, then moved on to record vibrations of structural elements in the Poisk module. To wrap up the day, Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub completed an experiment that investigates liquid phases in microgravity.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Ax-3 Launch Date Adjusted; Crew Harvests Plants and Conducts Fluid Research - NASA Blogs

Update for Jan. 17: SpaceX announced that the launch of Axiom Space's Ax-3 mission to the International Space Station has been delayed by a day, to 4:49 p.m. EST (2149 GMT) on Thursday (Jan. 18). Watch it live here at Space.com; coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. EST (1845 GMT) on Jan. 18.

Houston-based Axiom Space is poised for the company's third private astronaut launch to space. Ax-3 will carry a four-person, all-European crew on a roughly two-week mission to conduct research aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The quartet includes Ax-3 mission commander and former NASA astronaut Michael "LA" Lpez-Alegra, mission specialist Walter Villadei, who also flew aboard Virgin Galactic's Galactic 01 suborbital spaceflight as VIRTUTE 1 mission commander last summer, Turkey's soon-to-be first astronaut, Alper Gezeravc and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut reserve member Marcus Wandt.

The Ax-3 crew will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the early evening, Wednesday, Jan. 17, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida. After about 36 hours aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, the crew will dock with the ISS early Friday morning, Jan. 19, if all goes according to plan.

The Ax-3 crew is scheduled to spend 14 days aboard the ISS, following their arrival on Friday, Jan. 19. Barring any weather delays, like the ones that prolonged the return of Ax-1, the four-person crew is scheduled to return after two weeks' time aboard their Crew Dragon capsule, parachuting back to Earth for a splashdown off the coast of Florida.

Live updates: Axiom Space Ax-3 private spaceflight with SpaceX: Live updates Photos: The first space tourists

Former NASA astronaut Michael "L.A." Lpez-Alegra is no stranger to spaceflight. Ax-3 will be his sixth launch to the ISS, and he has no plans of quitting anytime soon. "It's a dream come true for me," L.A. told reporters during a Jan. 11 crew teleconference, "I will gladly continue to fly as long as the soul is willing, and as long as the body is willing to do so."

L.A. was born in Madrid, and came to the U.S. with his parents as a young child. Combined, he has more than 40 years of aviation and spaceflight experience, which includes three Space Shuttle launches and a Soyuz launch. He was inducted into NASA's Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2020, and currently holds the space agency's record for cumulative time spent on space walks, or extravehicular activities (EVAs). L.A. now works as Axiom's chief astronaut.

Lpez-Alegra flew as mission commander for Ax-1, and is proud to be reprising that role for Ax-3, he said during Thursday's call.

"I'm very proud and pleased to be leading this mission to the International Space Station, which is important not just for the scientific research and technology demonstrations and outreach events that we'll do, but also it's a very important step toward the goal of Axiom space to have a commercial space station in orbit before the decade is out."

Axiom Space is constructing its own habitation module to berth to the ISS, which it plans to build out and eventually detach to become its own private space station. Throughout development, crews from each of the company's commercially-funded missions to the ISS work, in part, toward helping Axiom reach that goal.

This also isn't the first spaceflight for Ax-3 mission pilot Col. Walter Villadei. Villadei hails from Rome, Italy, and serves as a colonel in the Italian Air Force (ItAF). His background includes extensive military flight experience with the ItAF, as well as assignments in the space sector, which sent him to Star City, Russia, to with the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) as a Soyuz flight engineer.

Currently, Villadei works as the head of ItAF's representative office in the U.S., overseeing commercial spaceflight initiatives.

He flew on a sub-orbital flight to space with Virgin Galactic in June 2023, where he served as VIRTUTE-1 mission commander. At the time, he said that flight would help prepare him for upcoming, longer spaceflights.

"This mission is very important for Italy," Villadei said during the Jan. 11 briefing, calling Ax-3 a "fundamental step" in Italy's national space strategy. "It's a big opportunity for bringing industries of the scientific community and institutions into this new chapter for space exploration."

Alper Gezeravc will fly as Turkey's first astronaut. The Ax-3 mission specialist holds degrees from the Air Force Academy in Istanbul, and the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio, and has 15 years experience flying as a fighter pilot for the Turkish Air Force.

On Thursday's call, Gezeravc acknowledged the significance of his country sending someone to space, but said he doesn't want that fact to overshadow the mission's contribution to the global scientific community.

"I'm representing my beautiful country, Turkey, as the first person to go to space," Gezeravc said, "however, this mission is not only focused on the first manned mission, but it's also representing a lot of scientific missions that we are intending to contribute in the science world."

Like Axiom's previous missions, much of the research conducted by the Ax-3 crew will focus on the effects of long-term spaceflight and the effects of microgravity on the human body, with an emphasis on how that research can have beneficial applications down on Earth. Turkey's Vokalkord experiment, for example, is developing artificial intelligence to detect disease through analyzing audio of people speaking and coughing.

Another fighter pilot, Marcus Wandt has more than 20 years experience in the air, serving in the Swedish Air Force. From fighter pilot, Wandt worked his way up to the role of chief test pilot, and eventually founded his own company to give tactical training to other pilots.

Now, Wandt is a lieutenant colonel in the Swedish Air Force and a member of ESA's astronaut reserve, and will be the second person from Sweden to fly to the ISS. For Ax-3, he will serve as a mission specialist.

"The decisiveness of how Sweden came together with ESA and Axiom, and all the support from NASA and SpaceX to make this happen is fantastic," Wandt said during the Ax-3 crew teleconference.

"I'm so proud to be in the center of that, and being a part of pioneering a new way for Europe to gain access to space and to increase the frequency ... of not only European presence but also European science, and the benefit for what we can do here on Earth that brings everyone forward."

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Meet the 4 astronauts of SpaceX's Ax-3 launch for Axiom Space - Space.com

SpaceX's giant Starship rocket apparently performed better on its second-ever test flight than its explosive end would suggest.

The mission launched from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas on Nov. 18 of last year. It ended about eight minutes after liftoff, when Starship's upper-stage spacecraft (called, somewhat confusingly, Starship), detonated high in the Texas sky.

But the vehicle was performing quite well until that point,and likely would have continued on that successful path had it been a normal, operational flight, according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.

"So, Flight 2 actually almost made it to orbit," Musk said in a recent company update, which SpaceX posted on X on Jan. 12. The explosion was caused by a venting of liquid oxygen, he added and there was liquid oxygen left to vent only because Starship wasn't hauling any satellites that day.

"We normally wouldn't have that liquid oxygen if we had a payload," Musk said in the update, which he gave at Starbase to a crowd of SpaceX employees. "So, ironically, if it had had a payload, it would have reached orbit."

Related:See stunning photos and video of Starship's 2nd launch

SpaceX is developing Starship to help humanity settle Mars and achieve other bold exploration feats. The vehicle consists of a first-stage booster called Super Heavy and the Starship upper stage, which is about 165 feet (50 meters) tall. Both of these elements are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable.

SpaceX has launched two Starship test flights to date, both of them from Starbase. The first, which lifted off on April 20 of last year, ended about four minutes into flight with a controlled detonation. SpaceX ordered that explosion because Starship suffered several serious problems, most notably the failure of its two stages to separate.

The Nov. 18 flight went much more smoothly, as Musk noted, giving him optimism for future missions.

"I think we've got a really good shot of reaching orbit with Flight 3, and then a rapid cadence to achieve full and rapid reusability," he said in the recent update. SpaceX plans to launch Flight 3 next month, provided the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issues a license in time. (The FAA is currently overseeing an investigation into what happened on Flight 2.)

Musk hopes this anticipated rapid development leads to an operational capability soon; he said SpaceX aims to start launching its big, next-generation Starlink internet satellites aboard Starship by the end of the year.

NASA wants to see Starship get up and running soon as well; the agency selected the vehicle to be the first crewed lander for its Artemis program of moon exploration. Starship will put astronauts down on the lunar surface for the first time on the Artemis 3 mission, which is currently targeted to launch in September 2026.

Starship is already the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. It stands about 400 feet (122 meters) tall and generates 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff nearly twice as much thrust as NASA'sSpace Launch Systemmegarocket, a core part of the Artemis program.

But the current Starship is just a prototype. The final, operational version will be even bigger, Musk said in the recent update.

SpaceX is working on "a sort of a Version 2 ship that will be more reliable, better performance, [with better] endurance," he said. "We've got a Version 3 ship design that will stretch, that will be even taller probably end up being, I don't know, 140 meters [459 feet] before it's all said and done, maybe 150 [492 feet] in the end, in length."

"So, it'll be even taller than it currently is," Musk added with a chuckle.

Editor's note: This story was corrected at 8:50 a.m. ET on Jan. 17 to state that Starship produces 16.7 million pounds, not tons, of thrust at liftoff.

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'If it had had a payload, it would have made it to orbit.' Elon Musk reveals cause of Starship explosion (video) - Space.com

WASHINGTON SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk says a propellant dump caused the destruction of the Starship upper stage on a November test flight, giving him confidence that the vehicle can reach orbit on its next launch.

On that Nov. 18 launch, the Starship upper stage, or ship, was nearing the end of its burn to place it on a long suborbital trajectory when contact was lost. Hosts of the SpaceX webcast said it appeared the automated flight termination system was activated, but did not give a reason why, and the company provided few details since.

At a recent event at SpaceXs Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas, video of which SpaceX posted on social media Jan. 12, Musk said the failure was linked to venting liquid oxygen propellant near the end of the burn. That venting, he said, was needed only because the vehicle was not carrying any payload.

Flight 2 actually almost made it to orbit, he said. If it had a payload, it would have made it to orbit because the reason that it actually didnt quite make it to orbit was we vented the liquid oxygen, and the liquid oxygen ultimately led to a fire and an explosion.

That venting, he said, would have been unnecessary if the ship had a payload, presumably because it would have been consumed by the Raptor engines on the vehicle in order to reach orbit. He didnt elaborate on how the venting triggered the fire, or discuss the explosion of the Super Heavy stage shortly after stage separation.

Musk said that failure mode gave him confidence for the next Starship test flight. I think weve got a really good shot of reaching orbit with Flight 3, he said.

That third flight is currently projected for February, SpaceXs Jessica Jensen during a Jan. 9 NASA briefing, pending receipt of an updated launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration. Musk described a more ambitious flight plan for the mission with additional tests of Starship.

We want to get to orbit and we want to do an in-space engine burn from the header tank at the top of the vehicle, he said. Doing so would prove that we can reliably deorbit.

The flight would also test transferring propellant from that header tank to the main propellant tank, a demonstration that is part of a NASA Tipping Point award as a milestone towards transferring propellant from one Starship vehicle to another. The first ship-to-ship propellant transfer test is planned, he said, hopefully by the end of this year, but certainly by next year.

Musk said SpaceX will test the Pez dispenser payload door that will be used on later flights to deploy the full-sized Starlink V2 satellites, significant larger than the V2 mini satellites currently being launched on Falcon 9. We do hope to do this by the end of this year, he said of launching Starlink V2 satellites.

Those Starship tests will take place as SpaceX continues to increase the launch rate of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. The company performed 96 Falcon launches in 2023 and Musk said the company was planning 150 flights or thereabouts in 2024. Company executives previously set a goal of 144 launches, or 12 per month, for 2024.

That flight rate will include a planned turnaround of less than 24 hours between launches from the same pad by the end of the year. Musk added SpaceX was working to qualify Falcon 9 boosters to perform 40 flights. The company has, to date, flown the same booster up to 19 times.

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SpaceX says propellant venting caused loss of second Starship - SpaceNews

Image: SpaceX

SpaceX is aiming for 144 launches in 2024, once again another increase over the 98 it completed the year before. This cadence would mean the company would have to launch once every two and a half days. Keep track below of all of SpaceXs 2024 launches.

So far, SpaceX has launched five rockets in 2024, six Falcon 9, no Falcon Heavies, and no Starships.

Starship not included in success and launch rates.

Number of launches: 6 (Falcon 9: 6, Falcon Heavy: 0, Starship 0)

Non-Starlink missions: 2

Resued boosters: 5

Launch success rate: 100%

Launch rate: 3 days (Needed for 144 launches: 2.53 days or lower)

East Coast launches: 4 (LC-39A: 1, SLC-41: 3)

Gulf Coast launches: 0 (Starbase)

West Coast launches: 2 (SLC-4E)

Total payload mass: ~54,600 kg (Not including classified and rideshare missions or crew)

Total crew: 4 (Government: 3, Commercial: 1)

Starship not included

Number of landings: 6

Landing success rate: 100%

Ground landings: 2 (LZ-1: 2, LZ-2: 0, LZ-4: 0)

Droneship landings: 4 (OCISLY: 2, JRTI: 0, ASOG: 2)

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In 2023 Starship finally made its long awaited debut, in its fully integrated form. For 2024, Starship launches will obviously play another big role in keeping SpaceX in the headlines (good and bad).

We dont know exactly how many test flights SpaceX will get off but if the company wants to have any chance of meeting NASAs Artemis timelines it should be in the double digits. By the end of they year NASA really needs to see some serious progress towards Starship being a viable rocket and in space refueling being perfected.

If SpaceX could get past regular and lengthy (in SpaceX standards) FAA investigations, we could see Starship launches happen weeks or less apart. That amount of flight data and experience could turn Starship into a much more viable commercial rocket and build confidence for Artemis 3s 2026 timeline.

At the beginning of 2023 it looked like SpaceX was going to also increase its record for most human spaceflight launches in one year. Sadly, delays to the Polaris Dawn mission meant that the company matched its current record at three.

Something that is, and should still be, an amazing accomplishment for SpaceX.

In 2024, if all schedules hold or dont delay too much, SpaceX could launch as many as five crewed missions to space. At least three have little to none scheduling concerns like the two Commercial Crew missions for NASA and Axiom-3.

Two other missions that are set to liftoff this year are Axiom-4 in the fall and the Polaris Dawn mission. The debut Polaris launch this year is the most exciting as it will feature the first private space walk. This sort of ability will be valuable if SpaceX and Polaris get the go ahead from NASA to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

Vandenberg, the spaceport that has been around for as long as missiles were being launch by the US, has been neglected in recent years with high launch rates. SpaceX has been changing that in recent months. Soon the West Coast will start to see as much action that Florida has been seeing for years.

SpaceX hopes to launch as much as once a week from Vandenberg in 2024. With the increased business from Florida, the ability to launch more Starlink missions from California will favor improvements in bandwidth. In future years, SpaceX could launch as much as it has in Florida, circa 2023.

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List of SpaceX launches 2024 - Space Explored