Page 13 - Flight Opportunities Program News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

NASA high-altitude balloon experiment launches in Madras, ends near Prineville (Update: Adding video, comments from Near Space Corp. president) Goal is to eventually be able to drop items from the International Space Station safely to Earth MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- In the early hours of Thursday morning, a NASA partner's critical space experiment was underway in Central Oregon. A stratospheric scientific balloon successfully launched from the Madras Airport around 6 a.m. The high-altitude balloon flew over 100,000 feet into the air, venturing above the Earth's atmosphere, traveling more than 22...

High-altitude balloon in NASA test soars aloft from Madras Airport Project's goal is to safely drop items from space back to Earth MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A large high-altitude balloon soared aloft from the Madras Airport early Thursday morning, ascending more than 22 miles to test for NASA a new way of returning items to Earth, without rockets. The balloon, which launched around 6 a.m., is part of an experiment to test the accuracy of landing items dropped from the International Space Station safely and precisely back on the ground. The project is sponsored by NASA's Flight Opportunities Prog...

Virgin Galactic aborts its first crewed flight  Dec 12, 2020, 08:38 PM facebook Quinn Tucker for Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic on Saturday appeared to abort a manned flight of a rocket-powered spaceship from a New Mexico spaceport.  "Take off! VMS Eve and SpaceShipTwo Unity have taken to the skies above Spaceport America, New Mexico," the company said on Twitter at about 8.30 local time. The company posted updates, saying it was about to launch, but then abruptly said: "SpaceShipTwo Unity is headed for home. We will share more information once we have it." Vir...

The Zia Sun Symbol can be seen on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Unity. (Quinn Tucker/Virgin Galactic) The window opened Friday for Virgin Galactic’s first rocket-powered test flight from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico as the company prepares for commercial flights next year, but the exact timing of the launch will depend on the weather. Virgin Galactic posted on social media that the flight crew is ready but does not plan to fly before Saturday. “We have range clearance through the weekend and can extend into next week if necessary,” the company tweeted. “Evaluating high-...

UCF science getting more time in zero-G with Virgin Galactic --and soon Virgin Orbit Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo set for liftoff this weekend Updated:  Tags:  Virgin Galactic's mothership plane and SpaceShipTwo in the hangar in New Mexico. (Image: Virgin Galactic) (WKMG 2020) ORLANDO, Fla. – The avenues to send science into a space-like environment is increasing as the number of small launch companies continue to grow. This weekend the University of Central Florida will have a payload flying in Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and then as soon as next week another research experiment fl...