The News from Space: Week of 5/3/20

A scene from the Space Force’s new recruitment ad.

Credit: USSF

Join the SPACE FORCE———China’s Shiny New Spacecraft———Tom Cruise is going to Space

The Week of 5/3/20

Happy Friday.

Space POLITICS recap for this week: HERE.

Rocket Report for this week 🚀: HERE.

NASA

• The SpaceX/NASA Crew Dragon Demo-2 Mission (American Astronauts on American Rockets from American Soil for the first time since 2011) is on track for a May 27 launch.

  • “How the coronavirus pandemic has affected SpaceX’s first crewed mission for NASA.” More HERE.

  • NASA and SpaceX enter the Critical month of May on track to END THE GAP. More HERE.

  • SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Mission has been officially extended by NASA. More HERE.

• The Space Launch System is over budget and behind schedule.

  • Aerojet-Rocketdyne ~explains~ why it is reasonable to pay $150 million for a single SLS rocket engine. More HERE.

  • The Government Accountability Office is not having it. More HERE.

• Congress is upset that NASA is going commercial for the Artemis lunar lander.

  • “House members criticize NASA lunar lander awards” More HERE.

  • “House Democrats disappointed with HLS awards” More HERE.

China

• China successfully launched and tested its next generation crew capsule capable of carrying 7 TAIKONAUTS to low earth orbit and potentially lunar orbit on the new Long March 5b rocket.

  • “China’s largest rocket takes flight with its next generation spacecraft” More HERE.

  • “China’s new space capsule test flight is going well” More HERE.

  • “New Chinese spacecraft landing marks step toward future crewed lunar missions.” More HERE.

SpaceX

• Complete SpaceX Recap for this Week: Watch HERE.

• A surprising turn of events: Starship didn’t explode during its static fire test. More HERE. 

• The scene is split over the controversial, new, and beautiful Lunar Starship concept.

  • It's revolutionary: HERE.

  • It's risky: HERE.

• Musk Tweets: Starship’s Super Heavy booster is getting a design change. More HERE.

• A Falcon Heavy will launch NASA’s Lunar Gateway in 2023. More HERE.

SPACE FORCE

• The SPACE FORCE released a 30 second recruitment ad. Watch HERE.

• Gen. John Raymond, who is the chief of the Space Force, tells Steve Carrell, who plays the chief of the Space Force, to get a haircut. More HERE. 

Honorable Mentions

• Tom Cruise is going to shoot a movie in SPACE. More HERE.

• The Department of Defense is angry that the FCC didn’t tell them before potentially jeopardizing the Global Positioning System. More HERE.

• New York to Shanghai in under one hour with Virgin Galactic. More HERE.

Reading List

• Dr. Robert Zubrin, who championed the idea of Mars direct and the use of methalox engines (which went on to directly influence Elon Musk), gives a fantastic talk about his ~new~ book: The Case for Space. More HERE.

• In 1978, the then pre-Nobel Prize Winning economist Paul Krugman wrote a paper on SPACE ECONOMICS: The Theory of Interstellar Trade. It's a surprisingly good READ.

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Have a good weekend y’all.

Harry Thomas is a junior in the College studying Economics and Science, Technology, and International Affairs (STIA). He is a Co-President and Co-Founder of Georgetown University Space Initiative.