Ken Kremer, Author at Universe Today

Successful Engine Test Firing for SpaceX Inaugural Falcon 9

13 Mar , 2010 by Ken Kremer

[/caption] SpaceX announced that today’s (Mar 13) test firing of all 9 Merlin first stage engines was successful at Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral. This is a major milestone towards the planned inaugural first flight of the Falcon 9 rocket which SpaceX is building. This success follows an aborted test firing attempt on Thursday (Mar […]

NASA manager says Shuttle Extension Possible; Key Issue Is Money not Safety

10 Mar , 2010 by Ken Kremer

[/caption] NASA Shuttle program manager John Shannon said on Tuesday (Mar 9) that the Space Shuttle Program can indeed be safely extended beyond the existing plan to retire the fleet after completing the four missions currently remaining to fly by the end of 2010. The key issue now is money not safety. “Where the money […]

Spirit Hunkered Down for Winter; Stuck Forever ? Maybe Not !

3 Mar , 2010 by Ken Kremer

[/caption] The plucky Mars rover ‘Spirit’ may yet rove again ! She’ll just have to outwit and outlast the unavoidably harsh cold and desperately low power levels of the looming winter in Mars southern hemisphere. Rather long odds to be sure – but she’s done it before. Remember – at this moment on Sol 2192, […]

Phoenix Still Silent as Martian Ice Recedes

1 Mar , 2010 by Ken Kremer

[/caption] As expected, NASA’s February 2010 listening campaign for the Phoenix Mars Lander has failed to detect any signals emanating from the long silent vehicle. NASA’s attempts to reestablish contact with Phoenix were restarted in January 2010 and timed to coincide with the onset of springtime and disappearance of ice at her location in the […]

STS 130: Cool Night Landing Video from the Shuttle Strip

28 Feb , 2010 by Ken Kremer

For my farewell from the Cape (for now) and STS 130 coverage, please check out this cool video of the STS 130 Night Landing which took place exactly 1 week ago on Sunday night, Feb 21. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to work as a team for Universe Today; Nancy Atkinson and Ken […]

Endeavour Crew Preps for Sunday Landing as Showers Threaten Delay

20 Feb , 2010 by Ken Kremer

[/caption](Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is at the Kennedy Space Center for Universe Today covering the flight of Endeavour) The crew of Endeavour is packing up their gear in the crew cabin and preparing for a Sunday evening (Feb. 21) landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida as a […]

Cupola Bay Window bolted to face Earth; Stunning 38 Second Video

15 Feb , 2010 by Ken Kremer

The Cupola, which is akin to a ‘bay window’ in a house back on earth, was relocated overnight to the Tranquility modules Earth-facing (nadir) port and put in place at 1:25 AM EST this morning. The so called ‘Room with a View’ was then securely latched and bolted into place. Cupola is an innovative 7 […]

Space Plumbers hook up crucial Tranquility cooling and power to Space Station

14 Feb , 2010 by Ken Kremer

[/caption] (Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is at the Kennedy Space Center for Universe Today covering the flight of Endeavour) Astronauts Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick completed the second of their three spacewalks (EVAs) planned for the STS-130 mission early this Sunday morning Feb 14 at 3:14 AM EST. The pair worked essentially as plumbers today […]

Tranquility attached to Space Station

12 Feb , 2010 by Ken Kremer

[/caption] (Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is at the Kennedy Space Center for Universe Today covering the flight of Endeavour) The new 15 ton Tranquility module which had been carefully nestled and carried to orbit inside the cavernous payload bay of shuttle Endeavour, was bolted onto the left side port of the centrally positioned Unity module […]

NASA Sun Probe rolled to Pad; 10 hours to Blast off

10 Feb , 2010 by Ken Kremer

[/caption] (Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is at the Kennedy Space Center for Universe Today covering the launch of SDO and Endeavour.) NASA’s nearly $1 Billion hi tech sun probe, the Solar Dynamics Observatory or SDO, was rolled out today (Feb 9) to Launch Pad 41 on a rainy day here in Florida at 1 day […]

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