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Soyuz MS-29 Docks, China Catches Its Booster & NASA's 3,000-Spec Station Plan
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
Anil Menon launches to the ISS today via the ultra-fast two-orbit rendezvous, while China becomes the second nation to demonstrate propulsive rocket recovery and NASA drops a 246-page commercial station blueprint. Five stories shaping the next era of space exploration, from reusable rockets to Artemis II heat shield fixes.
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
Anil Menon is launching to the International Space Station today, and what makes that worth your attention isn't the launch itself. It's the path he took to get there.
On Friday, China successfully caught the Long March ten-B booster mid-air, landing it in a wire cradle aboard a recovery ship called Linghanzhe. The booster used grid fins and a relighted engine to slow and guide itself in.
Europe is now publicly in that conversation too. A concept called RLV C-five proposes a winged booster caught mid-air by an aircraft, paired with an expendable upper stage.
NASA released a two-hundred-forty-six-page draft requirements document for future commercial space stations. Over three thousand individual specifications.
Watching Menon's launch today is the Artemis II crew, who have their own milestone approaching. Reid Wiseman commands that crew alongside Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
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