The second-ever private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS) remains on track to lift off this weekend. NASA, SpaceX and Houston company Axiom Space held a flight readiness review (FRR) today (May 15) for the Ax-2 mission, which is scheduled to launch four people toward the International Space Station on Sunday afternoon (May 21). “At the end of that review, the full team polled ‘go,'” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said during a post-FRR press conference this afternoon.
If all goes according to plan, Ax-2 will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:37 p.m. EDT (2137 GMT) on Sunday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The Ax-2 astronauts will ride a SpaceX Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab, getting there around 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) on Monday (May 21). The mission will spend eight days docked to the ISS, team members said today. That’s a slight change from the previous plan, which had called for a 10-day ISS stay.
If Ax-2 can’t get off the ground on Sunday, it has another chance on Monday (May 22). If the mission misses that backup opportunity, however, it will have to wait a while to get to space: NASA and SpaceX will then shift toward preparing for the launch of CRS-28, SpaceX’s 28th robotic cargo mission to the ISS, which is slated to lift off from KSC on June 3. “And then, at that time, Axiom, NASA and SpaceX will get together and look for the next best opportunity as we look at the missions that we have this summer,” Joel Montalbano, manager for NASA’s International Space Station Program, said during today’s telecon.
https://www.space.com/spacex-ax-2-astronaut-mission-go-for-launch
https://spacelaunchnow.me/launch/falcon-9-block-5-axiom-space-mission-2/
Interesting patch. What does the thing that looks like a paint brush represent?
leith,
I thought it might refer to the science experiment they’re going to carry out, but here’s the full explanation:
“A sea of bright stars and constellations shine through the black canvas honoring the mission’s focus on inspiration, education and teaching, symbolized by the five S.T.E.A.M symbols. Science represented by a DNA strand, Technology represented by a set of connected circles, Engineering represented by a cog, Arts represented by a brush, and Math represented by the Pi symbol.”
https://www.axiomspace.com/news/ax2-mission-patch#:~:text=The%20Ax%2D2%20patch%20is,by%20the%20five%20S.T.E.A.M%20symbols.
thanks TTG
Free retirement home with private cellphone numbers for Madam Helena and her Short-Skirted Five included for first person to uncover the meaning of the mysterious purple area bounded by white curvilinear geodesics which appear to be parallels in Lobachevsky Space. TTG has agreed not to participate.
f&L,
The meaning of the lavender color is explained in the link I provided leith. I had no idea it had special meaning in the KSA.
“The color lavender has a special cultural meaning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), representing the color of the nation’s deserts and plateaus in the spring when they are covered in flower blooms. Lavender is also the color used in KSA’s ceremonial events and a symbol of hospitality. In the patch, the color reflects the nation’s desire to be a part of the space sector and position itself as a contributor to the global space community.”
Speaking of “Science.”
Look what arrived in my Inbox this morning, presented below in browser form.
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Good morning. Many Americans can’t get the medications they need.
https://tinyurl.com/2hzh5v2n
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Cute. The powers which transmit Count Dracula’s decisions down to the Whitehouse and then to the New York times for our grateful consumption have decided:
! We can’t admit that we knowingly, yes knowingly, poisoned several generations of the pleasant, oops peasant, children with a toxic addictive drug for a nonexistent disease ADHD that we also made up and
!! Therefore we will advise our victims of perversion that there is a “shortage” of the necessary medications but
!!! It’s mainly so we can kill all the old folks when we cut off their life sustaining prescription medications, and this will make the simpletons accept it more easily because they will say: “Yup. I heard about them drug shortages on the news.”
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“I see the article is authored by “German Lopez” rather than my favorite author, Adolph Himmler,” said the Count. (We are talking about Count Dracula).
“Yes, I noticed that too,” said the Queen of Giggles, in line to be promoted to Empress of Cackling according to rumors.
The weather is iffy for Sunday.
Since our host has not received the necessary clearances or permissions which authorize him to reveal that the entire Ukraine v Russia “Special Operation” is in actual fact either
1- an entire hoax on the part of evil humorists who switched from Horror to Humor about the same time that male homosexuals turned gay, or
2- a benevolent condescension on the part of the ghost of General Dwight D Eisenhower who after meeting with aliens in a secret underground cavern in an undisclosed location in 1957 agreed to wait 66 years until revealing to humanity that in fact they are living in a Computer Simulation,
I feel called upon to shoulder the burden of doing so myself and let you read this message which our network of global listening devices and secret supercomputers have intercepted and decoded this morning.
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https://twitter.com/rwapodcast/status/1659002613310935040
The video appeared to show American documents that identified the fallen soldier as retired Army Staff Sgt. Nicholas Maimer, a native of Idaho. Maimer’s uncle confirmed his identity to the Idaho Statesman. In the video, Prigozhin oddly said the group will send the body back to the US covered in an American flag as an act of respect. “So we will hand him over to the United States of America, we’ll put him in a coffin, cover him with the American flag with respect because he did not die in his bed as a grandpa but he died at war and most likely a worthy [death], right?” Prigozhin said in the video, according to a translation by CNN.
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We disapprove of the death penalty so provide one last clue:
https://twitter.com/rwapodcast/status/1659002398847770625
And close by saying that anyone who after reading the intercepted and decoded message, can’t see for themselves why conclusions 1 and 2 above are inescapably true, is not going to be invited to our exclusive Bowling for Shrimp Cocktails contest which is held in the high Carpathian Alpine retreat of one of the Frankenstein Monster’s closest friends, and features a delicious original spicy Cocktail Sauce which reminds him of someone’s favorite food.
For those of you who honorably served your country and suffered injury or are simply old, bitter, angry and too impatient, we will provide you with another helpful intercept soon.
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“Count Dracula?”
Yes.
“Did you perchance happen to notice the name of the Staff Sgt reputedly ..”
To atone for the sense of shame I feel for being so selfishly off-topic, an offering.
First creatures in space? I thought that would be Laika, the heroic street dog from Moscow:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika
Belka and Strelka and their numerous companions including mice and bunnies, made it back safely.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belka_and_Strelka
But I was wrong. The interesting thing here is that the fruit flies flew, flying in a captured German V-2, captured by the armed forces of the United States.
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https://www.newsweek.com/laika-dog-all-animals-space-1469393
On February 20, 1947, the U.S. launched fruit flies to an altitude of around 68 miles above the Earth aboard a captured German V-2 rocket in order to study the effects of radiation exposure in living organisms. After passing the Kármán line at 62 miles high—the commonly accepted boundary of Earth’s atmosphere—these flies became the first animals to enter outer space. The fruit flies were recovered alive.
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I often wonder if the US was taken over by the agents of the 3rd Reich who infiltrated our high society with the assistance of people like the actress Marlene Dietrich who slept with every prominent man in America including President John F Kennedy, which she reportedly bragged about while twirling around on her hands the pink underpants that she had worn for the occasion.
There are many things I regret about the passing of Colonel W Patrick Lang. One is that I never got to ask him anything about that seemingly crazy idea. He did comment before his departure upon the jarring visual correlation between spectacles like the Nuremberg movie Triumph of the Will and the garish backdrop to one of President Joe Biden’s speeches in Philadelphia. I was going to write Adolph and then “Joe” in quotes parenthetically between his first and last name – sort of like this – Adolph (“Barack”) Obama or Adolph (“Harry”) Truman, but I thought better of it.
I see however that the G-7 are holding their meeting now in Hiroshima with Zelensky in attendance. President Joe (“Harry, or Adolph to his very close friends”) Biden will be there.
Not very subtle guys. No it isn’t.
If you think I’m joking, fine, just don’t look away at the 2 minute mark when President Adolph Truman cracks up with laughter while announcing to the American people that he nuked Hiroshima the day before.
President Truman Announces Bombing of Hiroshima:
https://youtu.be/n_A8LPtuX5c
Sorry, English Outsider, this is not meant to upset your project to enjoy the day, but I’m not over there and you might better evaluate this article’s veracity.
Features a link to Nigel Farrago, oops, Farage on Twitty-Bird being grilled by the nice brunette lady who I used to find attractive. Get this:
“Ours is now forecast to be one of the worst performing economies in the world, not merely seventh in the G7 but 20th in the G20 – behind even a Russia under toughening international sanctions – according to the International Monetary Fund.”
My take on Brexit is that it was a project of your high and mighty Intelligence covens who wanted to get away from the continent due to what they couldn’t help but foresee would be the likely outcome on the greater Yurpeen continent of their planned war on the Man from Glad and his nation. Or maybe it was really a referendum which was conducted due to the Tory party’s consciousness concern for the opinions of the citizens of the realm. Possibly it’s a bit more complex and they knew what Obama had in store for the place. Oops. Hilary. Certainly they were banking on her victory in 2016. But I don’t know because I haven’t been to the British Isles since the 70s and then only briefly. No answer necessary. Because as usual, I am scheduled to pick up my next bottle of Auntie Maggie’s Homemade Remedy.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/19/brexit-failed-blame-remoaner-elite-refugees
George Formby – Auntie Maggie’s Homemade Remedy (1941).
https://youtu.be/TY9MmnT2oYg
back to our favorite Space Cadet…
NASA is covering its bets.
he won’t know what hit ’em.
good.
https://nordot.app/1032390872229806259