Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is officially on its way to the International Space Station, marking a historic first for the long-delayed astronaut transportation program.
If all goes to plan, Boeing will become NASA’s second astronaut transportation provider, joining Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Boeing did execute a successful uncrewed mission to the ISS in May 2022, but this is the first time the spacecraft has carried humans.
While Boeing has struggled, SpaceX has soared: Using its Crew Dragon capsule, SpaceX has been providing astronaut transportation to and from the ISS since 2020.
This is the last major step before Starliner can be certified as an operational crew system, and the first Starliner mission is expected to launch in 2025.
A spacecraft containing pharmaceutical drugs that were grown on orbit has finally returned to Earth today after more than eight months in space.
Varda Space Industries’ in-space manufacturing capsule, called Winnebago-1, landed in the Utah desert at around 4:40 p.m. EST.
The first-of-its-kind reentry and landing is also a major win for Rocket Lab, which partnered with Varda on the mission.
Rocket Lab hosted Varda’s manufacturing capsule inside its Photon satellite bus; through the course of the mission, Photon provided power, communications, attitude control and other essential operations.
Varda’s mission launched on June 12 and was supposed to be just a month long, but it was extended after the company encountered regulatory issues.
I’ve recommended plenty of their products over the years and have been tempted to check out an Anker Nebula projector for some time.
Just ahead of the holidays, I contacted the company to check out a review unit, and shopped around for a decently priced projector screen.
The story of how I ended up with a 100-inch projector screen in my bedroom is an entirely unexciting combination of pricing, comparison shopping and reading reviews.
Released earlier this year, the Anker Nebula Capsule 3 is more or less exactly what I’ve been looking for in a projector.
Factor in the projector screen and that’s another $70 in my case.
