Oh what a week: a moon landing, a crewed Starliner launch, and a Starship launch! I had so much fun following all three of these events. I am inspired by the accomplishments of these teams. The future is now!

ULA Atlas V Boeing Starliner Abort

This triple whammy week started off Sunday 6/1/24 with a scrub (cancel) due to a leak. Then Tuesday 6/4/24, it scrubbed again right before the Atlas V launched. All teams had given their go approval and Astronaut Butch Wilmer had just delivered a patriotic speech. With four minutes to go, the launch sequencer computer aborted. The teams quickly pivoted, and not a hint of disappointment showed. The professionalism showed by NASA, ULA, and Boeing was exceptional. In the video below, listen to the poll for launch and Butch’s speech (4:08:48), then see if you can catch the moment when it scrubs:

Did you catch it? Hold, hold, hold (4:10:45). Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita (Suni) Williams had to exit the Starliner a second time that week.

One day later, Wednesday 6/5/24, they were ready to try again. This time was the charm. The launch went great! Astronauts Butch and Suni docked at the International Space Station (ISS) about 24 hours later on Thursday. Watch how Suni, an experienced astronaut, makes an entrance (0:53) onto the ISS!

Chang’e 6 Lunar Mission

Saturday 6/1/24 the unmanned Chinese Lunar Lander successfully landed on the far side of the moon! After delivering scientific instruments and a rover, it collected a sample of moon dirt and launched up to redocked with its spaceship. It is expected to land back on Earth June 25th, in China’s Inner Mongolia region.

SpaceX Starship Test Flight 4

Thursday 6/6/24 was the launch I was most excited for: Starship Super Heavy, the fourth test flight. The goal for this flight was to have a controlled re-entry. Flight three ended with a RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly, aka explosion) for both the booster and the spaceship upon re-entry. This fourth test was a success! Both booster and spaceship made the re-entry and had a controlled soft-landing into the ocean. The Starship was pretty beat up with a nose fin almost completely melted off, but that little fin kept steering! The Starship uses Starlink satellites on the rocket body to transmit a live video feed, and it broadcast all the way to its watery end. It was Epic.

Watch all four of Starship’s test flights at one time:

What Else Is Up In Space?

Humans in Space:

There are now 12 humans in space! Astronauts Butch and Suni were the latest arrivals. See the complete list at Who Is In Space.

Rocket Launches:

There have been 6 rocket launches this past week, 5/31-6/6/24.

5/31/24 SpaceX: More Starlink internet satellites made it to orbit. SpaceX Falcon 9 launched Starlink Group 6-64 out of Florida. The booster landed on A Shortfall of Gravitas.

6/4/24 SpaceX: Starlink Group 8-5 launched on a Falcon 9 out of Florida, landing on Just Read the Instructions.

6/4/24 Rocket Lab: Electron launched PREFIRE and Ice out of New Zealand. This was the second and final launch for NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission.

6/5/24 Galactic Energy: The Ceres 1 launched from China, carrying 3 satellites to polar orbit.

6/6/24 SpaceX: the Starship-Super Heavy (Prototype) launched from Texas for suborbital test flight 4. It successfully re-entered and preformed a soft splashdown into the Indian Ocean.

Watch launch replays on Next Spaceflight.

Stargazing:

Remember to look up at the stars!

We had a new moon Thursday 6/6/24, which keeps the skies extra dark at night. This is when you can see the most stars. In the early morning, Saturn and Mars are in the East.

For deep looks into space, the Hubble Space Telescope will continue to operate as-is for a few more years. The 34 year old telescope recently had a part break, and NASA has decided fixing it is too risky for the amount of science we can still get from the telescope. Check out these Hubble Telescope activities from NASA to learn more about the telescope.

Forward-gazing:

It will be hard to top a week like this, but there are tons of exciting missions still ahead. See what is launching next on Next Spaceflight.

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References

• YouTube Video clips: @NASA @Boeing @BBCNews @scientia_plus @GoToSpace_GTS
• Rocket launch schedule. (n.d.). https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/
• NASA Image and Video Library. (n.d.). NASA Image and Video Library. https://images.nasa.gov/
• PREFIRE. (n.d.). https://prefire.ssec.wisc.edu/
• Stellarium Web Online Star Map. (n.d.). https://stellarium-web.org/
• Hubble Online Activities – NASA Science. (n.d.). https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/multimedia/online-activities/