Private Flight

 Billionaire Jared Isaacman and three others are scheduled to make a three day private spaceflight aboard a SpaceX Dragon in the fall.

The flight will also benefit St. Jude's hospital.

Imagine

 Virgin Galactic is unveiling its first Spaceship III today.

The ship's name is the VSS Imagine.

Uranus. Neptune, And More

 Some scientists are pushing for probes to Uranus and Neptune.

They argue that, properly done, such missions could also search for gravitational waves.

UFO

Former Pentagon official Christopher Mellon says the upcoming UFO report could have "massive implications."

The report is due out in June.

TESS

The planet-hunting TESS spacecraft has found 2,241 candidate worlds in two years.

NASA has extended the mission for another two years.

Ingenuity

The Mars helicopter Ingenuity carries a small piece of fabric from a wing of the original Wright Flyer.

We humans, for all our technology, remain a sentimental lot.

UFO

 According to former DNI John Radcliffe, the Pentagon will declassify and release more UFO/UAP video in June.

Some of it is "difficult to explain," he says.

Moon

 On this date in 1840, the first photograph of the Moon was taken.

That was more than two centuries after Galileo first looked at the Moon through a telescope.

Oumuamua

 Scientists now think Oumuamua is a chunk sheered off a Pluto-like world.

They also say it is smaller than previously thought, and shaped like a pancake.

Nelson

 President Biden has chosen former Florida senator Bill Nelson to be the next NASA administrator.

Nelson, while a senator, flew on the space shuttle in 1986.

SLS

 NASA successfully test fired the main engines of its  SLS rocket yesterday.

There's no indication of when a test flight might take place.

Mars Sounds

 NASA has released audio from Mars.

Listen as Perseverance bangs and grinds and rolls along.

Mars

 A new study finds Mars may still have huge amounts of water under its crust.

That would be great news for eventual human settlement.

Nashville

The FBI says paranoia centered on alien lizard people controlling Earth led to the Nashville Christmas Day bombing.

The bomber died in the blast.

Nine

 SpacceX laumched the same Falcon 9 for the 9th time yesterday.

It again stuck the landing.

MUFON

 According to MUFONTV, the U. S. Defense Intelligence Agency has admitted it has material from an extraterrestrial craft.  The DIA officially denies that.

So does the Pentagon.

Gj 1132 b

 Scientists have found a world they call Gj 1132 b that seems to be developing a new atmosphere.

It tightly orbits a red dwarf 41 light years away.

Bigelow

 Bigelow Aerospace shut down last year under COVID restrictions.

There are no indications it will ever come back.

Russia and China

 Russia and China have agreed to jointly establish a research station on or orbiting the Moon.

No timetable for the project was announced.

Mars

 A new study suggests Mars has only been wet and warm sporadically and for short periods.

That doesn't preclude life, the study says.

Dark Matter

 A new theory argues the gamma rays being emitted from the center of the galaxy are the result of dark matter particles annihilating each other.

The theory seeks new ways to study dark matter.

Starliner

 An  uncrewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule has been delayed.

It's the second such delay.

Gliese 486 b

 Scientists say studying Gliese 485 b can teach them a lot about planetary atmospheres.

It's a world about three times bigger than Earth orbiting a red dwarf 26 light years away,

Starship

 SpaceX launched and landed a prototype Starship yesterday.

Minutes after landing, it exploded.  The company said the test flight was nevertheless a success.

Rocket Lab

 San Francisco startup Rocket Lab is looking at going public.

RL operates in the small satellite market.

UFO

 Ira Rosen, veteran 60 MINUTES producer, writes in a new book that President Carter asked for a briefing on UFOs, but then CIA Director George H. W. Bush refused the request.

Bigger question: What else can the intelligence community simply refuse to tell the President of the United Srates?

 

Hotel

 Orbital Assembly, a Texas startup, plans to have a hotel in orbit in 2027.

The hotel is designed to accommodate 400 guests.