Category Archives: Rockets

Education, Rockets, Space participation

Rocket Lab to launch an Electron with 5 payloads including Irvine CubeSat built by high schoolers

This evening US time and Saturday afternoon New Zealand time, Rocket Lab will attempt to launch the third Electron rocket into orbit.

The Electron on the pad at Mahia. (Photo credits Kieran_Fanning)

The rocket is to lift off from the Mahia Peninsula on the east coast of New Zealand‘s North Island. You can watch the launch via the rocketlabusa.com/live-stream webcast.

The vehicle is carrying four payloads for commercial companies plus the Irvine CubeSat built by high school students in Irvine, California.

The Irvine CubeSat Program is a revolutionary STEM initiative based in Irvine, California. With over 100 members from six public high schools, the program collectively strives to assemble, test, and launch a solar powered CubeSat. It aims to inspire the next generation of innovative thinkers, creators, programmers, and explorers.

Here is a video about the program:

The company’s press kit (pdf) has lots of information about the mission. See also Rocket Lab set for first operational Electron launch with five payload elements – NASASpaceFlight.com.

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Rockets, Simulators, Space Models

Videos: Big rockets look even bigger when put in “everyday places”

Here are two new videos that can give one a much better sense of just how big the big rockets that are launching, and in some cases landing, today really are:

Bonus: Enjoy more of The Everyday Astronaut‘s soundtrack to the video at top:

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Rockets, Space industry

Video: Rocket Lab prepares for 3rd Electron launch from New Zealand

The company Rocket Lab plans to launch an Electron rocket from the Mahia Peninsula on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island during a two week long launch window that opens on June 23rd. This will be the company’s third launch and, they hope, the second one to successfully put payloads into orbit. Here is a NZ TV news report on the company:

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Contests and Games, Education, Rockets

Base11 Space Challenge: $1M prize for a student team whose liquid-fueled rocket reaches 100km

The non-profit organization Base 11 led by Landon Taylor has organized a rocketry competition for university students that is offering a $1M cash prize:

The Base11 Space Challenge is a $1 million+ prize for a student-led university team to design, build, and launch a liquid-propelled, single-stage rocket to an altitude of 100 kilometers (the Karman Line) by December 30, 2021. Annual competitions and prizes mark milestone achievements in the process including design of the liquid-fuel rocket, static testing of the engine, and smaller pop-up innovation challenges to be announced. The biggest purse, which is fully funded, is the $1 million prize for launching the rocket to the edge of space.

The mission behind the Base 11 Space Challenge is to dramatically increase the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) talent in the United States with greater representation and inclusion of women and minorities, while empowering the future workforce with the education and skill-training necessary for jobs in the aerospace and related industries.

This video gives an overview of the program:

And a video of the debut event held for the program last week:

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Living in Space, Rockets

Video: New ISS crew launched on Russian Soyuz rocket

A Soyuz launcher lifted off today from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency), and Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. They will dock to the International Space Station on Friday and join the three crew members already there: Astronauts Safely in Orbit Following Launch to ISS | NASA

This launch had a rocketcam that sent views from the Soyuz all the way to orbit. Here is a screen capture of the upper stage falling away from the capsule:

Find more about the crew and their mission:

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