History – Brian Christian

Congratulations to Team SpaceX & Elon Musk!
Video: Go to the 29 minute mark to replay the launch!
“Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb)—a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel—Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost. Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9.”

“Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars.”

SpaceX
Elon Musk
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
NASA Johnson Space Center

#SpaceX #ElonMusk #Mars #JourneyToMars #NASA #Science #Technology #Engineering #KSC #Kennedy #UnitedStates #History #Apollo #SolarSystem #Exploration #Moon

July 1, 2016: Following its historic first-ever flyby of Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons mission has received the green light to fly onward to an object deeper in the Kuiper Belt, known as 2014 MU69. The spacecraft’s planned rendezvous with the ancient object—considered one of the early building blocks of the solar system—is Jan. 1, 2019.

“The New Horizons mission to Pluto exceeded our expectations and even today the data from the spacecraft continue to surprise,” said NASA’s Director of Planetary Science Jim Green. “We’re excited to continue onward into the dark depths of the outer solar system to a science target that wasn’t even discovered when the spacecraft launched.”

Based upon the 2016 Planetary Mission Senior Review Panel report, NASA this week directed nine extended missions to plan for continued operations through fiscal years 2017 and 2018. Final decisions on mission extensions are contingent on the outcome of the annual budget process.

The Kuiper belt is a circumstellar disc in the Solar System beyond the planets, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies, or remnants from the Solar System’s formation. Although many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed “ices”), such as methane, ammonia and water. (Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Release Date: July 1, 2016

NASA New Horizons
NASA Solar System Exploration
NASA’s Marshall Center
NASA Goddard
JHU Applied Physics Laboratory
Johns Hopkins University
Lunar and Planetary Institute

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #2014MU69 #KuiperBelt #NewHorizons #Pluto #Dwarf #Planet #Spacecraft #JPL
#SolarSystem #MSFC #JohnsHopkins #JHUAPL #APL #STEM
#Education #PlutoFlyby #Exploration #History #SwRI
#SouthwestResearchInstitute

Tag: History

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch Successful!

NASA’s New Horizons Receives Mission Extension to Kuiper Belt