Derek Newsome

NASA has just picked up the countdown for the Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal. The test is aimed to put the vehicle through its paces ahead of the planned launch NET February 8th.

The first major step will be loading the water tower at LC-39B for the sound suppression system.

After asking around it sounds like the estimated number of launches for this is 17 *thousand*…

That is more than every combined orbital launch in history.

This year is kind of insanely stacked for movies.

Project Hail Mary
Supergirl
Masters of The Universe
Devil Wears Prada 2
The Odyssey
Dune: Messiah

And thats not at all exhaustive

Here we go again

Exciting Day. Very Exciting Day.

Lot of work to do but a lot of work paying off.

Can't wait to share with you whats up 😎

YouTube video by KEXP Public Service Broadcasting - Go! (Live on KEXP)

I cant wait to see what creative projects people looking back on Artemis will make.

Apollo certainly gave us some gems.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8hz...

Exclusive: Musk's SpaceX in merger talks with xAI ahead of planned IPO, source says Elon Musk's SpaceX and xAI are in discussions to merge ahead of a blockbuster public offering planned for later this year. The combination would bring Musk’s rockets, Starlink satellites, the X social...

I don't even have the words at this point

www.reuters.com/world/musks-...

I'm not qualified whatsoever at the moment but I think ESA should let me drive a P120C to the pad one day.

For a company that has claimed to be super cashflow positive they sure have done a lot of fundraising in the past few years…

A long exposure of the GPS III SV09 launch from Cape Canaveral. In the foreground is a monument statue of the Gemini Program's logo atop a black marble structure with names of workers from the program. Surrounding it are four black marble planters with overhead lights surrounding that.

The soft rumbles of a GPS satellite climbing away from Florida echo over Titusville's Space View Park.

Blue Origin has just posted a video showing their docking adapter for Blue Moon undergoing testing at Johnson Space Center. This will be used for the Blue Moon Crew lander as well as for the Orbital Reef space station.

Oh yeah it'll be a hot minute for sure. But with how often these are used by both Government Agencies and Commercial Users its almost definitely going to be repaired (Unless they decide to pull another one out from somewhere to get flight worthy like they did a few years ago)

Photo of The University of Colorado CORE (Chlorine Oxides in Rocket Exhaust) instrument in a three-foot unpressurized pallet.

That's true, but at the same time if the damage was mostly localized to the aircraft's payload bay, which video seemed to suggest was the main part it rested on during the slide, that would drastically simplify repairs as that is a modular pallet system that sits under the vehicle.

The aircraft is (expectedly) damaged from the incident, though the extent is likely not too severe, as most of the damage is likely to the exterior skin and wingtips as they scraped along the runway.

At a glance I would expect this specific vehicle to be returned to service after repairs.

One of NASA's WB57 aircraft had a belly landing today in Houston. Footage of the landing itself showed it to be a near textbook belly landing, with the aircraft sliding carefully down the center of the runway.

No injuries were reported and the aircraft appears to be fully in tact.

Oops I'm making another mini documentary

A photo of Pluto taken by New Horizons, showing the dwarf planet's thin but notable atmosphere.

Nine and a half years from Earth to Pluto, and perhaps the most fascinating photo that New Horizons took of the dwarf planet was when it was looking back.

Been making a lot of pan cooked Gnocchi lately.

Highly recommend it paired with a pasta sauce of ones choice

Memba this? (I would later work with Ben Collins on a bunch of stories about Musk, the platform changes he made to Twitter and the company and ideology Musk keeps. So I memba this one well.)

Best of luck to you and the teams.

I'll do my best to make sure you get some damn good views after she's gone 🫡

I really just wanted to enjoy watching the Daytona 24 today. That is all I wanted to do.

Unbelievable cowardice from the people who have been elected right now.

The line was crossed months ago, what more do you need to see. Who else are you going to need to see killed.

Do your jobs for once in your pathetic lives.

once again i am asking literally anyone in a position of power to do literally anything so that our neighbors stop getting fucking murdered in the street

Be strong Minneapolis.

Be incredibly strong.

A big step in preparation for Artemis II just took place. The crew has begun their planned two week quarantine ahead of their NET February 6th launch date.

This quarantine is to ensure the crew does not get an infection in orbit during their mission.

www.nasa.gov/blogs/missio...

YouTube video by IMSA Official 2026 IMSA Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup at Daytona International Speedway | Race 1 | Daytona Beach, Florida

You ever seen 45 Miatas race around Daytona?

Well we're about to.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aKh...

And shutdown.

Looked like a good test.

Was shorter than a typical qualification test (300 seconds vs 500 seconds) but this was the planned duration for today.

YouTube video by NASA Stennis NASA Stennis Live Stream

NASA is about to run an RS-25 through a test firing at the Stennis Space Center. This is engine no. 2063, which was planned to fly on Artemis II but was removed after a hydraulic leak. This test is to check the repair ahead of being used on Artemis III or IV.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAF9...

I think as long as it doesn't take itself too seriously it will be an incredibly fun movie.

A view near the top of Core Stage 3 during the "Forward Join". Closest to the camera is the Forward Skirt, with the Liquid Oxygen tank to the left of it moving away from the camera.

While all eyes have been in Florida for Artemis II, over in Louisiana, NASA has been hard at work on Artemis III.

The final join of the LOX and LH2 tanks was completed in late December, with the stage expected to ship to Florida for final outfitting in the coming weeks.