Worms of school projects onboard Antares rocket have been also lost

Dear readers and followers,

few days after the terrific failure during take-off of the Antares space rocket, the space community starts to see the consequences for the all projects linked to this dramatic event. The rocket was carrying more than 2200 kg of equipment and supplies for the international space station. No one was injured when the rocket, built and launched by +Orbital Sciences and Technologies, Inc., exploded into what witnesses said looked like a "ball of fire" after lifting off from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.

Credit image: +NASA 

Actually, over a dozen school projects were onboard the U.S. supply rocket that exploded shortly after liftoff from the Virginia regional space launch pad. Fortunately, a group of California students will have another shot at getting their project. 

Credit image: Urban promise academy middle school

The project, developed by students at the Urban Promise Academy middle school in Oakland, would have sent the worms to the International Space Station to study the effects of space on composting."They were very distressed initially when the rocket blew up. Of all the points of potential failure, that wasn't one that students or staff had anticipated," said Flint, a staff member of the school leading this student project. But Flint added that school officials were assured they would have a second chance to send the project into space on an upcoming launch, though it was not immediately clear when.

The study of life in space is a huge topic and many experiment are done in orbit, such as the last one of the Russian space program with gecko. 

The project was among 18 student investigations onboard the rocket when it exploded, according to a NASA statement. The winners were selected from a pool of nearly 1500 proposals from across the country, +NASA  said.

It was not immediately clear whether the other projects would also be included on another flight.

Source: +NASA 

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A private capsule launched with success to ISS

Dear followers,

yesterday was a busy day for the space launches in USA. Actually after the successful liftoff of the space rocket Atlas5, the private company, Orbital Sciences, became the second private challenger to successfully launch a cargo vessel to the International Space Station. The lift off could be watched from New York was depicted on the picture below.

Credit: Orbital Sciences / +Google Earth 

The next step for the Cygnus spacecraft is four days of tests while its in orbit. If successful, the mission will take a rendezvous and dock with the International Space Station on Sunday, September 22th , as the ATV4, from +European Space Agency, ESA did few weeks ago.

The liftoff of the space rocket Antares happened from the center of Wallops Flight, located on an island near the coast of Virginia. Cygnus is separated from the second stage of the launcher ten minutes after launch to reach the Earth orbit. 

For this first flight, Cygnus carries 589 kg of supplies including food and clothing. It will remain docked to the ISS thirty days. Upon his return, Cygnus will be destroyed in the atmosphere.

Source

Successful NASA's launch of suborbital rocket dedicated for student experiments

Dear followers,

yesterday morning, a suborbital rocket, carrying experiments developed by university students from all USA, was successfully launched at 6:00 am from +NASA's launch range at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.  

Credits: +NASA / Chris Perry

The Rocksat-X program is conducted with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. The goal of the program is to provide a hand-s on experience in developing experimental setup dedicated for space flight. This great experience leads the students to participate to a real life space project.

The rocket launched yesterday reached the approximated altitude of 94 miles above the Atlantic ocean before landing using parachute close to the Wallops Flight Facility. The recovery of the payload is still in process.

The students will get back their experimental equipment later to see how they performed and begin data analysis. Moreover, they will use data sent by other experiments during the flight via the telemetry system on board the rocket.