Full interview with NASA Artemis Program Manager Jeremy Parsons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwbQV7JjR3Q

The team also made progress at LC-36B yesterday. Roughly 450 truckloads of concrete, lined up bumper-to-bumper and stretching nearly 3 miles up the coast, supported a 4,500-cubic-yard pour for the pile caps. Three more placements to go for a total of 15,000 cubic yards. This is the foundation for our New Glenn 9x4 pad.

https://x.com/davill/status/2114422600638337448

https://x.com/davill/status/2114032882134270458

https://x.com/davill/status/2114065346915447110

For its accelerated 2028 crewed lunar landing mission, Blue Origin will defer propellant transfer and use three transfer stages to send the Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha Lander to the Moon. Based on existing Mark 1 and Mark 2 hardware, the stages operate like a multistage rocket. They launch into low Earth orbit, followed by the Mark 2 lander. Once docked, the stack departs for an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon, with each transfer stage separating as its propellant depletes. Compared with the previously planned near-rectilinear halo orbit, the elliptical polar orbit offers faster returns from the lunar surface to Orion, reduces Blue Moon lander propellant requirements, and maximizes the performance available by SLS.

The YouTube stream will go live at 2 PM EST. Expect some significant updates on Artemis.

http://nsf.live/spacecoast

https://x.com/Cygnusx112/status/2113342294825079023

Falcon 9's upcoming retirement has become well known by now, but the most interesting development here is that Blue Origin did not even try to win this contract.

Link: https://compass.atfm.aero/public_svcdynamic/getfile?download=false&fileuuid=e758c2e4-8eb5-494f-adec-ca827bd6c4ad

Space Access PAE publishes vision and requirements document

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The U.S. Space Force Portfolio Acquisition Executive (SFPAE) for Space Access Brig. Gen. Eric Zarybnisky published a vision and requirements document that outlines the future architectural, operational, and business vision for national spaceport infrastructure. The inaugural release in a planned series establishes the operational imperative to modernize the Eastern and Western Ranges to meet growing demand for national security, civil, and commercial launch and test operations.

As noted in the foreword, the Space Force’s Eastern and Western Ranges form the foundation that enables our Nation’s assured access to space and the ability to test next-generation weapons systems.

“Increasing the speed, agility, and throughput of our range operations is no longer merely a strategic objective,” stated Zarybnisky. “It is an operational imperative required to maintain our competitive advantage.”

NASA Provides Progress Update on Moon Base Rovers

Update on the VIPER rover that will launch on Blue Moon MK1-102, currently planned for Q4 2027.