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Crew-12 Splashes Down, Moon Base Sites & Europe's Crewed Vehicle Plan
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 returns after 237 days in orbit as ESA reveals a €10 billion plan for Europe's first crewed spacecraft by 2035. Plus: NASA selects lunar lava tube and South Pole ice investigations, and SpaceX launches 21 military satellites for the Space Development Agency.
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
Europe is making its biggest bet on space independence in fifty years. ESA Director Josef Aschbacher has unveiled a ten billion euro plan to give Europe its own crewed spacecraft and recovery system by twenty thirty-five, ending the continent's half-century of dependence on American and Russian launchers to get its astronauts off the ground.
While Europe plans for the future, four astronauts just got back from the present. NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 splashed down on October eighth after two hundred and thirty-seven days aboard the International Space Station.
NASA is also moving from planning to procurement on its lunar surface program. Three investigations have been formally selected under the PRISM initiative to prepare the groundwork for a Moon base.
On the launch side, SpaceX's Falcon Nine successfully deployed twenty-one Northrop Grumman satellites for the U.S. Space Development Agency from Vandenberg. This was the T1TL-A mission, adding to the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture constellation.
Two signals worth tracking from here. First, whether ESA's member states actually fund the ten billion euro crewed vehicle program.
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