Space / Aerospace / Aircraft

[Guest1]

Posted 1 minute ago

In this regard, we are like a toothless dog, all bark and no bite. I don't expect we would intercept violators and force them to land.

Russian airline Aeroflot violated Canadian airspace after ban, Transport Canada says

28 February 2022Canadian Aviation News

From CBC News  link to source story

Canada announced Sunday it would close its airspace to Russian aircraft operators

Thomson Reuters · February 28, 2022

Russian airline Aeroflot on Sunday violated a ban on aircraft from the country using Canadian airspace, Transport Canada said, on the same day the restriction was imposed in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We are aware that Aeroflot Flight 111 violated the prohibition put in place earlier today on Russian flights using Canadian airspace,” Transport Canada said in a tweet late on Sunday.

Flight 111 travels from Miami to Moscow and took off at 3:12 p.m. ET, according to FlightRadar24.

There are no direct flights between Russia and Canada, but several Russian flights a day have until now passed through Canadian airspace to other countries, a spokesperson for Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said.

Transport Canada promises review

Transport Canada said it will launch a review into the conduct of Aeroflot and Canada’s air-traffic control service provider Nav Canada following the violation.

“We will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action and other measures to prevent future violations,” the Canadian regulator said.

Nav Canada confirmed to Reuters that Aeroflot did enter the Canadian airspace. It said the aircraft operator declared the flight as a humanitarian flight as it entered the domestic airspace, which requires special handling by air traffic control under normal circumstances.

“We are currently co-operating with Transport Canada to investigate the occurrence, and are working with neighbouring Air Navigation Service Providers to support rerouting of aircraft prior to them entering Canadian-controlled airspace,” Nav Canada said.

Aeroflot did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Alghabra announced at 9 a.m. on Sunday that Canada would close its airspace to Russian aircraft operators following similar measures from other countries.

‘We will hold Russia accountable’

“We will hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked attacks against Ukraine,” Alghabra wrote in a Twitter post.

Britain has banned Aeroflot from entering British airspace. Poland and the Czech Republic also said they were banning Russian airlines from their airspace, while airlines including IAG-owned British Airways and Virgin Atlantic began routing flights around Russian airspace.

Canada has imposed severe sanctions on Russia, targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in tandem with the United States.

Canada was also part of a Western alliance that blocked “selected” Russian banks from the SWIFT payments system on Satur

[conehead]

23 minutes ago, Specs said:

Well there ya go.  She's a keeper for now

It looks like Russia just lost a plane, and it wasn't even in the warzone they created for themselves overseas. In the latest setback for the eastern nuclear sabre-rattling superpower, it seems an enormous beast of a Russian airplane is stuck in Toronto for the foreseeable future.

https://www.blogto.com/city/2022/02/russian-plane-toronto-airport/

Seize it, sell it, and send the proceeds to Ukraine.

[Maverick]

Still here. My pic 2 minutes ago. 

[Guest1]

Russia halts deliveries of rocket engines to the U.S

4 hrs ago

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has decided to stop supplying rocket engines to the United States in retaliation for its sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, Dmitry Rogozin, head of the state space agency Roscosmos, said on Thursday.

"In a situation like this we can't supply the United States with our world's best rocket engines. Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don't know what," Rogozin said on state Russian television.

According to Rogozin, Russia has delivered a total of 122 RD-180 engines to the U.S. since 1990s, of which 98 have been used to power Atlas launch vehicles.

Roscosmos will also stop servicing rocket engines it had previously delivered to the U.S., Rogozin said, adding that the U.S. still had 24 engines that would now be left without Russian technical assistance.

 

Russia has earlier said it was suspending cooperation with Europe on space launches from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana in response to Western sanctions over Ukraine.

Moscow has also demanded guarantees from British satellite company OneWeb that its satellites would not be used for military purposes. OneWeb, in which the British government has a stake, said on Thursday it was suspending all launches from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Rogozin said Russia would now focus on creating dual-purpose spacecraft in line with the needs of Roscosmos and the Defence Ministry.

[Guest1]

Failure to launch: War scuppers Russia-West space collaboration By Juliette COLLEN Paris (AFP) March 4, 2022 Russia's invasion of Ukraine has had repercussions not just around the world but beyond it, bringing to a grinding halt joint space projects between Moscow and the West that began in the aftermath of the Cold War. When the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin announced on Thursday that Russia would stop supplying the United States with rocket engines, his message was blunt: "Let them fly to space on their broomsticks." He also said Roscosmos would dramatically "adjust" its programme to prioritise making military satellites, adding that all future spacecraft will be "dual purpose" -- with one of those purposes in the Russian defence ministry's interest. In response to the sweeping sanctions imposed on Russia by most of the Western world, Roscosmos also told the German Aerospace Center that it will no longer take part in "joint space experiments" on the International Space Station. Roscosmos had earlier suspended launches from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana's Kourou, which use Russian Soyuz rockets, withdrawing around a hundred of its workers. Another victim is the Rosalind Franklin rover, whose launch under the joint Russian-European ExoMars mission had already been postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic. The rover, which is designed to drill into Mars to search for signs of life, is now "very unlikely" to launch this year, the European Space Agency said. The ESA's rover was to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by a Russian rocket, then taken down to the Martian soil by Russia's Kazachok lander. - 'Heartbreaking for science' - Getting the Rosalind Franklin, named after an English chemist and DNA pioneer, into space without Russian help would require huge revisions -- and the window to launch only comes around every two years. "It is heartbreaking for science and scientists who have built up links over the years and invested years of work," said Isabelle Sourbes-Verger, a specialist in space policy at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. ExoMars had symbolised the culmination of a partnership between Europe and Russia that began in 1996, she told AFP. "After the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the break-up of the USSR, Europe and the US naturally sought to make room for the Russians" in their space plans, an analyst in the European space sector said on condition of anonymity. No side wanted the knowledge and expertise of such a great space power to go to waste. Its experience with the Mir space station significantly contributed to the development of the ISS, the greatest space collaboration between the West and Russia, where astronauts and cosmonauts have long lived and worked side-by-side. The idea was that civilian space cooperation would be a "way of bringing nations together", the analyst said. On a commercial level, Russia has "done everything to facilitate access to space", including offering its Soyuz rockets to the international market, the analyst added. Europe was "particularly proud" to have reached a deal that has seen its Arianespace work with Roscosmos since 2011 to launch Soyuz rockets from Kourou and Baikonur, the analyst said. However, relations became strained over the years, particularly since Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Then came the war. - ISS still afloat - Just how much the war and sanctions will affect space cooperation between Russia and the West remains to be seen. The ESA's director general tweeted last week that "notwithstanding the current conflict, civil space cooperation remains a bridge". Russia's declaration that it has ended joint space experiments with Germany on the ISS has put German astronaut Matthias Maurer -- who is currently onboard the station -- in a tight spot. NASA said this week it is exploring ways to keep the ISS in orbit with Russian help, after Roscosmos chief Rogozin raised the prospect of pulling out in response to US sanctions. But Kathy Lueders, who heads NASA's human spaceflight programme, said Monday that operations on the ISS were proceeding "nominally" and "we're not getting any indications at a working level that our counterparts are not committed". She said it would be "very difficult for us to be operating on our own", adding that "it would be a sad day for international operations if we can't continue to peacefully operate in space." Scientific discovery about space is also expected to be a victim of the war. As of Friday, more than 7,400 Russian scientists and academics had signed an open letter lambasting the invasion, saying that "many years spent strengthening Russia's reputation as a leading centre" of science in the world "have been completely scuppered". juc/bfa/cm/dl/imm ISS A/S Related Links Military Space News at SpaceWar.com

[Guest1]

NASA will send your name around the moon

Daniel OtisCTVNews.ca Writer

@dsotis Contact

Published Friday, March 4, 2022 9:53PM EST

Workers gather to watch as the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket is transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building, Thursday afternoon, April 29, 2021, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Craig Bailey/Florida Today via AP)

 

Right now, you can sign up online to get a “boarding pass” for the Artemis I mission, which is expected to blast off and orbit the moon this May or June. Every seat is free, in a way. Artemis I will be an uncrewed test flight for future lunar missions. Signing up with NASA gets your name added to a flash drive aboard the unoccupied crew capsule, and a flashy digital boarding pass as proof.

Powered by NASA’s most powerful rocket to date, the Space Launch System, the Artemis I mission will see the uncrewed Orion spacecraft take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and spend several days circling the moon before returning to earth. If all goes according to plan, the Artemis 2 mission will perform a crewed lunar flyby in 2024.

The ultimate goal of the Artemis program is to put humans back on the moon by 2025, which is 53 years after the last crewed lunar mission, Apollo 17. In Greek mythology, Artemis fittingly is Apollo’s twin sister and the moon’s goddess. As part of the program, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of colour on the lunar surface, where it also plans to work with international and commercial partners to create a long-term human presence, and use those lessons to take astronauts to Mars.

 

Signing up to put your name aboard Artemis I is quick and easy. As a bonus, you earn 1.3 million novelty miles, or 2.1 million km, which is the total distance the Artemis 1 mission will travel.

[Guest1]

City's flight museum gains altitude as it joins forces with aviation hall of fame
Bill Kaufmann  17 hrs ago
Comments
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Calgary’s Hangar Flight Museum is virtually putting Canada’s most celebrated pilots in the seats of its aircraft.

L-R: Brian Desjardins, executive director, the Hangar Flight Museum; Nora Molina, chair, board of directors, the Hangar Flight Museum; Rod Sheridan, chair, board of directors, Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame; Jean Menard, treasurer, board of directors, Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame. Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame (CAHF) is pleased to announce its relocation to Calgary, made possible through a co-location partnership agreement with The Hangar Flight Museum (THFM
And the museum’s executive says bringing on board Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame (CAHF) is propelling both to greater heights.

“It’s a game-changer — other stakeholders are going to notice exciting things happening, it’s going to grow awareness,” said Brian Desjardins, adding the agreement results from a year of discussions.

The pairing that will add digital exhibits will complement the presence in Calgary of the National Music Centre and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in boosting the city’s tourism potential, he said.

Since CAHF inked an agreement last month to partner with the museum, 24 pallets containing 15,000 artifacts have been moving to Calgary from its home of 30 years at the Reynolds Museum in Wetaskiwin.

Some of those will lend a human face to the flight museum’s aircraft, said Desjardins.

“Many of the (Hall of Fame) inductees have flown in the types of aircraft we have — in the Second World War, William McKnight piloted the Hawker Hurricane in the Battle of Britain,” he said.

Another inductee — First World War flyer Fred McCall — more than a century ago took the controls of the Curtis Jenny, a replica of which is on display at the museum after being exhibited at the Glenbow Museum, said Desjardins.

Floor space in the museum’s main hangar will host uniforms, medals, documents and certificates, along with exhibit panels honouring the pioneers and personalities of Canada’s flight history.

“We’ll be better in our storytelling with these inductees,” said Desjardins, adding the upgraded displays should be ready for viewing by April or May.

Some of the artifacts will be travelling exhibits or loaned to other museums.

The partnership adds a new dynamic to both museums, said CAHF chair Rod Sheridan.

“Beneficial to both organizations is the parallel content and opportunity to create new exhibits and tell our member stories in new ways,” he said.

While their exhibits will be under the same roof, both institutions remain separate entities.

But Desjardins said the partnership highlights the need for more exhibit space at the museum, which is seeking to replace a large tent structure with more permanent digs over the next four years.

Extra space is also needed to house a number of aircraft either currently under a fabric roof — such as its Avro Lancaster bomber — or being refurbished elsewhere, he said.

The $400,000 restoration of the museum’s early Cold War-vintage CF-100 Canuck jet fighter has reached the halfway mark, said Desjardins.

“It’s on schedule and going well, even during the pandemic,” he said.

“It was not protected or cared for well enough for over 30 years.”

The work at Wetaskiwin’s Historic Aviation Services should be complete next year and the aircraft on display in the summer of 2023, he said.

A Second World War de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bomber is being painstakingly restored at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, said Desjardin — work that’s expected to be finished in less than five years.

The twin-engined aircraft known as the wooden wonder was used extensively by the Allies as a night fighter, low-level attack and reconnaissance plane, and pathfinder guiding bombers to their targets.

BKaufmann@postmedia.com

Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn

[Guest1]

Good ? or Bad?.  Some of  the various planned projects likely will be abandoned due to lack of Russian involvement, is that all bad?  Money will be saved and of course the next question is, are the various projects NICE or Necessary?

Perhaps those climate related but what should those involving Mars, the moon or other outer space research?

Without Russia, science going solo on world's woes, dreams

 

PARIS (AP) — Without Russian help, climate scientists worry how they'll keep up their important work of documenting warming in the Arctic.

Europe's space agency is wrestling with how its planned Mars rover might survive freezing nights on the Red Planet without its Russian heating unit.

And what of the world's quest for carbon-free energy if 35 nations cooperating on an experimental fusion-power reactor in France can't ship vital components from Russia

In scientific fields with profound implications for mankind's future and knowledge, Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine is causing a swift and broad decaying of relationships and projects that bound together Moscow and the West. Post-Cold War bridge-building through science is unraveling as Western nations seek to punish and isolate the Kremlin by drying up support for scientific programs involving Russia.

The costs of this decoupling, scientists say, could be high on both sides. Tackling climate change and other problems will be tougher without collaboration and time will be lost. Russian and Western scientists have become dependent on each other's expertise as they have worked together on conundrums from unlocking the power of atoms to firing probes into space. Picking apart the dense web of relationships will be complicated.

The European Space Agency's planned Mars rover with Russia is an example. Arrays of Russian sensors to sniff, scour and study the planet's environment may have to be unbolted and replaced and a non-Russian launcher rocket found if the suspension of their collaboration becomes a lasting rupture. In that case, the launch, already scrubbed for this year, couldn't happen before 2026.

“We need to untangle all this cooperation which we had, and this is a very complex process, a painful one I can also tell you," the ESA director, Josef Aschbacher, said in an Associated Press interview. “Dependency on each other, of course, creates also stability and, to a certain extent, trust. And this is something that we will lose, and we have lost now, through the invasion of Russia in Ukraine.”

International indignation and sanctions on Russia are making formal collaborations difficult or impossible. Scientists who became friends are staying in touch informally but plugs are being pulled on their projects big and small. The European Union is freezing Russian entities out of its main 95 billion euro ($105 billion) fund for research, suspending payments and saying they'll get no new contracts. In Germany, Britain and elsewhere, funding and support is also being withdrawn for projects involving Russia.

In the United States, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology severed ties with a research university it helped establish in Moscow. The oldest and largest university in Estonia won't accept new students from Russia and ally Belarus. The president of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Tarmo Soomere, says the breaking of scientific connections is necessary but also will hurt.

“We are in danger of losing much of the momentum that drives our world towards better solutions, (a) better future,” he told the AP. “Globally, we are in danger of losing the core point of science — which is obtaining new and essential information and communicating it to others.”

 

Related video: Discovery of New Form of Ice Could Change Our Understanding of Distant Water-Rich Planets (Money Talks News)

Russian scientists are bracing for painful isolation. An online petition by Russian scientists and scientific workers opposed to the war says it now has more than 8,000 signatories. They warn that by invading Ukraine, Russia has turned itself into a pariah state, which “means that we can’t normally do our work as scientists, because conducting research is impossible without full-fledged cooperation with foreign colleagues.”

The growing estrangement is being pushed by Russian authorities, too. An order from the Science Ministry suggested that scientists no longer need bother getting research published in scientific journals, saying they'll no longer be used as benchmarks for the quality for their work.

Lev Zelenyi, a leading physicist at the Space Research Institute in Moscow who was involved in the now-suspended collaboration on the ExoMars rover, described the situation as “tragic” and said by email to the AP that he and other Russian scientists must now “learn how to live and work in this new non-enabling environment.”

On some major collaborations, the future isn't clear. Work continues on the 35-nation ITER fusion-energy project in southern France, with Russia still among seven founders sharing costs and results from the experiment.

ITER spokesman Laban Coblentz said the project remains “a deliberate attempt by countries with different ideologies to physically build something together.” Among the essential components being supplied by Russia is a massive superconducting magnet awaiting testing in St. Petersburg before shipment — due in several years.

Researchers hunting for elusive dark matter hope they’ll not lose the more than 1,000 Russian scientists contributing to experiments at the European nuclear research organization CERN. Joachim Mnich, the director for research and computing, said punishment should be reserved for the Russian government, not Russian colleagues. CERN has already suspended Russia's observer status at the organization, but “we are not sending anyone home," Mnich told the AP.

In other fields as well, scientists say Russian expertise will be missed. Adrian Muxworthy, a professor at London’s Imperial College, says that in his research of the Earth’s magnetic field, Russian-made instruments "can do types of measurements that other commercial instruments made in the West can’t do.” Muxworthy is no longer expecting delivery from Russia of 250 million-year-old Siberian rocks that he had planned to study.

In Germany, atmospheric scientist Markus Rex said the year-long international mission he led into the Arctic in 2019-2020 would have been impossible without powerful Russian ships that bust through the ice to keep their research vessel supplied with food, fuel and other essentials. The Ukraine invasion is stopping this “very close collaboration,” as well as future joint efforts to study the impact of climate change, he told the AP.

“It will hurt science. We are going to lose things,” Rex said. “Just lay out a map and look at the Arctic. It is extremely difficult to do meaningful research in the Arctic if you ignore that big thing there that is Russia."

“It really is a nightmare because the Arctic is changing rapidly," he added. "It won’t wait for us to solve all of our political conflicts or ambitions to just conquer other countries.”14h ago

[Airband]

World’s Longest Passenger Flight Plans to Avoid Russian Skies

Flight would surpass Singapore Air’s to JFK on distance taken

Tue Mar 29, 2022 - Bloomberg News
By Danny Lee

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. plans to reroute its New York-Hong Kong service to avoid Russian airspace, in what would be the world’s longest commercial passenger flight by distance.  

The airline plans to fly from John F. Kennedy International Airport over the Atlantic Ocean, the U.K., southern Europe and central Asia, according to a memo to Cathay flight staff seen by Bloomberg News. The distance of 16,618 kilometers (10,326 miles) would surpass Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s New York service, which takes about 17-and-a-half hours to cover 15,349 kilometers, FlightRadar24 data show. The Cathay new flight will take about 17 hours.

A spokeswoman for Cathay said Airbus SE’s A350-1000 is capable of operating the route, which would typically fly over the Arctic and through Russian airspace. Many Asian airlines are avoiding Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine. 

“We are always running contingency routings for potential events or scenarios,” the spokeswoman said. “The Transatlantic option relies on the facilitation of strong seasonal tailwinds at this time of the year in order for the flight time to be between 16 and 17 hours, thereby making it more favorable than the Transpacific route.” 

The airline said it is monitoring tailwinds every day, and that their benefits are diminishing. Jet streams tend to be stronger in the winter months. 

Cathay is seeking overflight permits to operate the service, which it said was normal for a new route. Before the pandemic, which has severely reduced its schedule, the carrier operated up to three round-trips between Hong Kong and JFK daily. 

Cathay’s most recent New York-Hong Kong flight stopped in Los Angeles before continuing over the Pacific and into the Asian financial hub without entering Russian airspace. The new, extended route would remove the need for a stopover, making it more cost-effective and competitive.

Several airlines have plotted routes to avoid Russia, mostly between Asia and Europe. Japan Airlines Co Ltd rerouted its service from Tokyo’s Haneda airport to London’s Heathrow via Alaska and Canada rather than flying over Siberia. That added four-and-a-half hours to the 11-hour 55-minute journey.

Such flight changes are likely to only be temporary given the costs carriers face from high oil prices, as well as uncertainty over the accessibility of Russian airspace. 

Qantas Airways Ltd.’s 20-hour trips connecting Sydney with London and New York using an ultra-long range Airbus widebody jet are still being planned after the pandemic delayed their launch. The airline did a test of the so-called Project Sunrise service in 2019, flying New York to Sydney with 40 passengers.

Air New Zealand Ltd. last week unveiled a new ultra-long service from Auckland to New York JFK, while Qantas announced a Melbourne-Dallas route on Monday, both of which are due to start later this year. Qatar Airways QCSC and Emirates Airline flights to Auckland were among the world’s longest until they were suspended due to Covid-19.  

[Guest1]

Canadian joins private crew bound for International Space Station

John Vennavally-RaoCTV National News Toronto Correspondent

@jvrCTV Contact

Michael LeeCTVNews.ca Writer

@mtaylorlee Contact

Published Sunday, April 3, 2022 10:00PM EDT

A Montreal businessman is about to launch into space for a week’s stay on the International Space Station. John Vennavally-Rao reports.

 

A Montreal businessman will join the first fully private space crew set to launch in just a few days.

Mark Pathy, entrepreneur and CEO of the investing and financing company MAVRIK, will serve as a mission specialist for Axiom Space, which on April 6 at 12:05 p.m. EDT will launch members of its Ax-1 crew from Florida to the International Space Station.

Pathy and three others will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and travel to and from the space station in a Dragon spacecraft.

"It's been a really, at times, very intense year but incredibly stimulating, and the best is yet to come."

Along with research, their 10-day mission, including eight days aboard the International Space Station, will include outreach and commercial activities, the company says.

Once in space, Pathy will join the likes of other private citizens from Canada who have made a similar journey. They include Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberté, the first private citizen from Quebec to go to space a decade ago, and Montreal native William Shatner of Star Trek fame who last year took a ride on a rocket built by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Among those joining Pathy is fellow entrepreneur Larry Connor, a 72-year-old Ohio native and real estate investor, who will serve as mission pilot.

"Somebody said to me, 'You'll be the second oldest person ever to go into outer space,'" he said. "And my response, which they already knew, 'Well, I think age is overrated.'"

The three private citizens of the spaceflight are rumoured to have paid as much as US$55 million for a ticket.

Quote

When and where will Ax-1 launch?

The liftoff will take place at 12:05 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 6, 2022 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Where to watch Axiom Space’s official Ax-1 webcast

The launch and various pre-launch activities will be shown live on a webcast at axiomspace.com beginning 8:40 a.m. on Wednesday, April 6 at, 2022.

Joining them is former NASA astronaut, Ax-1 mission commander Michael Lopez-Alegria.

"Back in the 1920s and '30s only very, very wealthy people could fly. Now people get on an airplane to go to a birthday party ... that's going to happen in commercial human spaceflight," he said.

Axiom Space president and CEO Michael Suffredini said they are "very, very excited about this first flight."

On top of the upcoming mission, the Houston-based company plans to build a commercial replacement to the International Space Station, which is due to retire by the end of 2030.

"This is our very first mission of probably hundreds of missions to come over the next several decades, as we build the Axiom Space station," Suffredini said.

 

 

[Guest1]

Take off delayed. Axiom Space — World’s First Commercial Space Station

[Guest1]

 

Getting crowded Axiom Space — World’s First Commercial Space Station

 

[Guest1]

 

[Guest1]

NASA will provide live coverage of the undocking and departure of the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) prior to its return to Earth from the International Space Station.

 

The four-member private astronaut crew is scheduled to undock from the space station at 8:35 p.m. EDT Saturday, April 23, to begin the journey home, with splashdown off the coast of Florida targeted for about 1:46 p.m. Sunday, April 24. The integrated teams at Axiom Space, NASA, and SpaceX have agreed on the adjusted return plan based on weather for splashdown of the first private astronaut mission to visit the orbital laboratory and the return trajectory required to bring the crew and the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft back to Earth safely. 

 

Teams will monitor weather at the splashdown sites prior to undocking to ensure conditions are acceptable for a safe recovery of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Ax-1 astronauts.

 

NASA and Axiom Space will begin coverage at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, April 23, with coverage of hatch closure preparations, which will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, the agency’s website, and the company’s website.

 

Ax-1 Commander Michael López-Alegría, Pilot Larry Connor, and Mission Specialists Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy will complete 16 days in space at the conclusion of their mission. SpaceX Dragon Endeavour, the Ax-1 spacecraft, will return to Earth with more than 200 pounds of science and supplies, including NASA experiments and hardware.

 

NASA Ax-1 return coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):

 

Saturday, April 23

 

6:15 p.m.– Coverage begins for 6:30 p.m. hatch closure

 

8:15 p.m. – Coverage begins for 8:35 a.m. undocking

 

NASA coverage will break between the above events, and undocking coverage will end approximately 30 minutes after undocking when joint operations with the Axiom and SpaceX mission teams ends.

 

Axiom Space will resume coverage of Dragon’s re-entry and splashdown beginning at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, April 24, on the company’s website.

 

The Ax-1 mission represents both a culmination of NASA’s efforts to foster a commercial market in low-Earth orbit and the beginning of a new era of space exploration that enables more people to fly on more kinds of missions. This partnership is changing the arc of human spaceflight history by opening access to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station to more people, more science, and more commercial opportunities.

 

-end-

[deicer]

https://flyer.co.uk/junkers-shows-new-a60-two-seater-and-reveals-ju-52-project/

Junkers shows new A60 two-seater and reveals JU-52 project

Junkers A60 proof of concept aircraft shown at AERO. Photos: Ed Hicks

The new Junkers Aircraft Company sprang two early surprises at the AERO General Aviation show being staged at Friedrichshafen, Germany this week.

The first was the A60, a two-seater with side-by-side seating and retractable undercarriage which will go into production next year. Like its stablemate, the Junior A50, the A60 meets the criteria for the 600kg microlight class and is powered by a 100hp Rotax 912iS engine. It can be operated with an open cockpit or enclosed.

Junkers A50 and A60

The 1930s inspired A50 meanwhile is expected to receive approval from the German aviation authority, the DULV, as a 600kg microlight this summer. The first 29 aircraft will be priced at €179,000 and one-third have already been sold.

The second big surprise was the announcement of a new project to build replicas of the famous three-engine Junkers JU-52, reengined with three RED A03-005 V12 diesels each producing 550hp.

Yes, Junkers is planning to develop a three-engine JU-52 NG

The JU-52 NG, will be built using the same corrugated aluminium sheet metal skin over a hollow frame. The fuselage can be configured to hold six cargo pallets or 14 passengers, or a mix of the two. Avionics will also be modern, from Garmin and include both VFR and IFR options.

Figures released so far by Junkers Flugzeugwerke AG, claim a max take-off weight of 8,616kg, cruise speed of 180km/h (97kt) and a fuel burn of 77 litres/hour for each engine.

The JU-52 NG will have modern engines – the 550hp RED A03-005 V12 diesel

“This aircraft is simpler in operational handling than any other of its kind,” said a Junkers statement.

“No complex systems for refueling, no special equipment for loading and unloading, and flight characteristics that allow take-off and landings on short and unpaved areas.

“The absolute highlight, however, is the use of the JU-52 NG for sightseeing flights. There is no better aircraft than the JU-52 NG for this type of flight.

“Imagine sitting as one of 14 passengers in the JU-52 NG, each with their own window seat, flying slow and low in front of the New York skyline. An experience you will never forget!”

[Specs]

Not that I don't love the new planes but they're missing something with all that aluminum - a recycle icon on the side somewhere I think 

Edited April 28, 2022 by Specs

[Kip Powick]

27 minutes ago, Specs said:

Not that I don't love the new planes but they're missing something with all that aluminum - a recycle icon on the side somewhere I think 

Aluminum can only be recycled once, for high structural  stress items. Sadly, most  aircraft are partially made  from recycled beer cans, that aluminum cannot be recycled again. They're working on recycling all the plastic and rumour has it that will be used for condoms and baby  bottles.

[Guest1]

24 minutes ago, Kip Powick said:

Aluminum can only be recycled once, for high structural  stress items. Sadly, most  aircraft are partially made  from recycled beer cans, that aluminum cannot be recycled again. They're working on recycling all the plastic and rumour has it that will be used for condoms and baby  bottles.

I remember when TCA changed to AC.  We stopped calling them TinCanAirline and said they updated to   AluminumCans. 

[Kip Powick]

54 minutes ago, Kargokings said:

I remember when TCA changed to AC.  We stopped calling them TinCanAirline and said they updated to   AluminumCans. 

And those of us that were not even in the industry back then  called TCA....Taking Chances Airline

[Maverick]

Those Diesel engines are amazing! I saw one that was being put on a beaver. Incredible detail and machining. An absolute work of art! 

RED A03 - Wikipedia

[Airband]

Boeing ditches Chicago headquarters for Washington, DC area

Relocation to Arlington, Virginia would bring US aerospace group closer to key federal lawmakers

Thu May 05, 2022 - Financial Times
by Steff Chávez

Quote

“Boeing’s problem isn’t a lack of access to government, but rather its ongoing production problems and the failures of management and the board that led to the fatal crashes of the 737. Boeing should focus on making safe airplanes — not lobbying federal regulators and congress.”

Boeing will move its headquarters to the Washington, DC area from Chicago, bringing the company closer to federal lawmakers and rival defence contractors.

The US aerospace group on Thursday said it will shift its base to Arlington, Virginia, joining fellow military contractors Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics in the Washington suburbs.

“The region makes strategic sense for our global headquarters given its proximity to our customers and stakeholders,” chief executive Dave Calhoun said in a statement.

The company also “plans to develop a research and technology hub in the area to harness and attract engineering and technical capabilities”, according to the announcement.

Though Boeing claimed that it will “maintain a significant presence” in Chicago and Illinois, the withdrawal will be a symbolic blow for the city, and the move was immediately condemned by the state’s US senators.

“Boeing’s decision to leave Illinois is incredibly disappointing,” senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth said in a joint statement. “We are working together to ensure Boeing leadership both understands how harmful this move will be and does everything possible to protect Illinois’s workers and jobs.”

Lori Lightfoot, Chicago’s mayor, was less fazed, saying in a statement that the city has “a robust pipeline of major corporate relocations and expansions”.

The move comes during a tumultuous period for Boeing. The company has been subject to greater regulatory scrutiny following two fatal crashes of its 737 Max jet in 2018 and 2019 and the discovery of flaws in its 787 Dreamliner. Dreamliner production remains halted and has cost the company about $5.5bn so far.

Boeing also reported $1.2bn in losses in the first quarter stemming from its replacement programme for Air Force One, the US presidential aircraft, and the war in Ukraine.

Relocating to Washington is “a step in the wrong direction”, said representative Peter DeFazio, chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which issued a report in 2020 criticising Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, the US regulator, for safety lapses.

“Boeing’s problem isn’t a lack of access to government, but rather its ongoing production problems and the failures of management and the board that led to the fatal crashes of the 737. Boeing should focus on making safe aeroplanes — not lobbying federal regulators and congress,” he continued.

Boeing shares fell 4 per cent at $150.47 on Thursday amid a wider sell-off in US stocks.

News of the headquarters being moved was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Amazon announced the establishment of secondary headquarters in Arlington in 2018, receiving $573mn in related incentives. It was not immediately clear what, if any, incentives Boeing was being offered.

Boeing moved its corporate headquarters to Chicago in 2001, lured by more than $50mn in local tax incentives, following its merger with then Midwest-based McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing was headquartered in Seattle from its founding in 1916 until its Chicago relocation.

Boeing currently operates out of a skyscraper in Chicago’s West Loop neighbourhood, though only about 500 of its 140,000 global employees work there.

[Guest1]

Virgin Orbit to expand fleet with modification of second airborne satellite launchpad
by Staff Writers
Long Beach CA (SPX) May 11, 2022

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Virgin Orbit (Nasdaq: VORB), a leading satellite launch company, has signed an agreement with L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) to acquire two Boeing 747-400 airframes to support the growing need for U.S. national security and allies' satellite launch demands.

L3Harris will modify one of the newly acquired aircrafts to serve as an additional airborne launch pad for Virgin Orbit's small satellite launch service, with delivery expected in 2023. L3Harris will also overhaul the platform with a new cargo configuration, which is expected to allow Virgin Orbit to deliver its rockets and ground support equipment in the same aircraft that will launch from foreign spaceports.

The companies previously collaborated to produce Virgin Orbit's flagship aircraft "Cosmic Girl," the first customized 747-400 aircraft to carry and deploy payloads to Low Earth Orbit under Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne program.

"Virgin Orbit is at an exciting juncture in our growth as a company," said CEO Dan Hart. "As we expand our fleet to serve customers worldwide, we're enthusiastic to once again partner with L3Harris."

"It's inspiring for our team to see L3Harris' aircraft engineering and modification experience in action on a mission-enabling platform that has performed brilliantly in its space launch role," said Luke Savoie, President, ISR Systems, L3Harris. "We're excited to help double Virgin Orbit's innovative fleet so they can serve their customers with greater capacity and mission flexibility."

Virgin Orbit's Cosmic Girl has completed three commercial launches, successfully deploying 26 customer satellites into orbit for multiple commercial, government and military customers.

The aircraft, which was previously acquired from Virgin Orbit's sister company Virgin Atlantic, will continue to fly missions, including the first launch from the United Kingdom expected later this year out of Spaceport Cornwall.

[Guest1]

Exclusive-Boeing clashes with key supplier ahead of Starliner spacecraft launch

By Joey Roulette - 6h ago

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© Reuters/STEVE NESIUS

 

By Joey Roulette

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co is feuding with Aerojet Rocketdyne, a key supplier for its Starliner spacecraft, as the U.S. aerospace giant races to test launch the uncrewed astronaut capsule and mend its reputation in the space sector, people familiar with the matter said.

The CST-100 Starliner is scheduled for a May 19 Florida launch atop an Atlas 5 rocket to the International Space Station, with Boeing aiming to show NASA that the spacecraft is safe to ferry astronauts to and from the orbiting outpost. Software failures cut short a similar 2019 uncrewed test flight.

© Reuters/THOM BAURFILE PHOTO: The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, atop a ULA Atlas V rocket, lifts off for an uncrewed Orbital Flight Test to the International Space Station

The mission is a crucial step toward re-establishing Boeing as a viable rival to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX, a drive complicated by Boeing's disagreement with propulsion system supplier Aerojet, according to three people who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Chicago-based Boeing and El Segundo, California-based Aerojet are at odds over the cause of a problem involving fuel valves in the Starliner propulsion system that forced a postponement of a test flight last July, with the two companies faulting one another, the sources said.

The disagreement, which has not been reported before, comes at time when Boeing already is scrambling to emerge from successive crises that have hobbled its jetliner business and drained cash.

The Aerojet dispute is the latest illustration of Boeing's struggles with Starliner, a program costing the company $595 million in charges since 2019. Facing fixed-price NASA contracts that leave Boeing with little wiggle room financially, the company has pressed forward with the Starliner test.

Boeing in a statement provided by a spokesperson to Reuters acknowledged for the first time that it ultimately intends to redesign Starliner's valve system to prevent a repeat of the issue that forced last year's test-flight postponement. The Boeing statement said that "we are working on short- and long-term design changes to the valves."

Thirteen fuel valves that are part of a propulsion system that helps steer Starliner in space were discovered stuck and unresponsive in the closed position, prompting last year's postponement.

The various technical setbacks have pushed Starliner's first flight with people aboard into an unknown future, placing it far behind Musk's SpaceX, whose Crew Dragon capsule, developed under the same NASA program as Starliner, has already flown five astronaut crews for the U.S. space agency.

NASA hopes Boeing can provide additional options to carry astronauts to the space station. NASA in March awarded SpaceX three more missions to make up for Boeing's delays.

A team of Boeing and NASA engineers is in general agreement that the cause of the stuck valves involves a chemical reaction between propellant, aluminum materials and the intrusion of moisture from Starliner's humid Florida launch site.

Aerojet engineers and lawyers see it differently, blaming a cleaning chemical that Boeing has used in ground tests, two of the sources said.

An Aerojet representative declined to comment.

'ROOT CAUSE'

"Testing to determine root cause of the valve issue is complete," Boeing said in its statement, and the work did not find the problems described by Aerojet.

NASA shares that view, Steve Stich, who oversees the Boeing and SpaceX crew programs for the space agency, told Reuters.

Boeing also said Aerojet did not meet its contractual requirements to make the propulsion system resilient enough to resist the problems caused by the chemical reactions.

Boeing last week wheeled Starliner back to the launch pad for a third time ahead of the upcoming launch, having swapped out the propulsion system for a new one with a temporary fix that prevents moisture from seeping into the valve section.

Boeing and NASA said they did not recreate any fully stuck valves during nine months of testing, instead measuring the degree to which valves struggled to open.

This approach was used in order to get Starliner back to the launchpad quickly, two of the sources said.

NASA, Boeing, Aerojet and independent safety advisers are set to meet this week to reach a final determination on the cause of the valve problems and decide whether the temporary fix will work.

Boeing officials privately regard Aerojet's explanation for the faulty valves as a bid to deflect responsibility for the costly delay for Starliner and to avoid paying for a redesigned valve system, two of the sources said.

"It's laughable," one person involved in the joint Boeing-NASA investigation of the value issue said of Aerojet's claim, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential supplier relations. "Getting a valve maker or propulsion system provider to write down, 'Yeah, I screwed that up' ... that's never gonna happen."

After testing and software issues caused Starliner's 2019 failure to dock at the space station, NASA officials acknowledged they had trusted Boeing too much when they decided to devote more engineering oversight to the newer SpaceX than the aerospace giant.

The feud with Aerojet is not Boeing's first Starliner subcontractor quarrel. In 2017, Starliner had an accident during a ground test that forced the president of a different subcontractor to have his leg medically amputated. The subcontractor sued, and Boeing subsequently settled the case.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Will Dunham and Ben Klayman)

[Guest1]

Thursday, May 19
6 p.m. – Coverage of the Launch of NASA's Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. (Launch scheduled at 6:54 p.m. EDT; coverage continues through the orbital insertion engine firing for Starliner approximately 31 minutes after launch)
9 p.m. – NASA's Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 post-launch news conference (time subject to change) 

NASA Live | NASA

[Guest1]

Boeing's Starliner capsule headed to space station in key test flight

http://newsletters.cbc.ca/i/amf_cbc/project_1/CP156928871.jpg?size=1212x0&w=BfC73rYcZM00tB4Cf2QGY9xWeXIE

(John Raoux/The Associated Press)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Boeing Starliner capsule lifts off on an uncrewed second test flight to the International Space Station from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force station on Thursday. The capsule is due to dock with the space station on Friday. Read about the launch here.