U.S. Space Force general selected to lead Trump's $175 billion Golden Dome space defense program

Space Force general selected for Golden Dome program | NASA legend Gene Kranz returns to mission control | Private Ax-4 mission to the ISS is 'go' for launch June 8 Created for ceo.studentlike.spuniv@blogger.com | Web Version May 22, 2025 CONNECT WITH SPACE.COM       Something amazing every day. SIGN UP ⋅   WEBSITE   The Launchpad (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Space Force general selected for Golden Dome program U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a plan for his ambitious "Golden Dome" missile defense shield this week, stating it will cost $175 billion and take about three years to develop - but some experts say the price tag could be many times higher. Read More (NASA) NASA legend Gene Kranz returns to mission control Gene Kranz, who served in Apollo mission control as "White Flight," was at the head of the room when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Apollo 13 "had a problem." He may have never said "Failure is not an option," but his record of success has earned him a prestigious award. Read More Spaceflight (Axiom Space) Private Ax-4 mission to the ISS is 'go' for launch June 8 The next private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS) just completed a major milestone ahead of its upcoming launch. Houston-based company Axiom Space completed an internal Flight Readiness Review (FRR) on Wednesday (May 21) ahead of the launch of the company's fourth crewed mission to the ISS. Ax-4 is on track for a liftoff next month on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a multinational crew aboard a brand-new Dragon spacecraft. The mission is scheduled to get off the ground on June 8 at 9:11 a.m. EDT (1311 GMT), from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Read More (LandSpace) Tile-shedding private Chinese rocket launches 6 satellites The Chinese company LandSpace launched its methane-powered Zhugque-2E rocket on Saturday (May 17), carrying a batch of six satellites to orbit. Zhugque-2E lifted off Saturday at 12:12 a.m. EDT (0412 GMT; 12:12 p.m. in Beijing) from Site 96 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center's Complex-43, in northwestern China's Gobi Desert. The mission, carried out by LandSpace for commercial satellite maker Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute, known as Spacety for short, carried six Tianyi satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO). Read More Science & Astronomy (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) Jupiter used to be twice as big as it is now Long before it became the giant planet we see today, Jupiter was even bigger and had a much stronger magnetic field, according to a new study that looked back in time to reveal what the world was like in its early years. Read More Technology (Starfish Space) Starfish Space satellite will attempt 1st commercial docking Starfish Space plans to make history on its second-ever mission, which is set to lift off next month. On Tuesday (May 20), the Seattle-based startup unveiled the outline of the groundbreaking flight, which is called Otter Pup 2. It will send one of Starfish's small Otter satellite-servicing vehicles to low Earth orbit (LEO) on SpaceX's Transporter 14 mission, which is scheduled to lift off in June. Read More Search for Life (NASA/JPL-Caltech) Perseverance rover rolls into 'Crocodile' plateau on Mars NASA's Perseverance rover has made to a new region on Mars, which may contain some of the Red Planet's oldest and most interesting rocks. Perseverance landed inside the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero Crater in February 2021, on a mission to search for past signs of Mars life and collect dozens of samples for future return to Earth. Read More Star Wars (ILM/Lucasfilm) 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back' at 45: Stop-motion master Phil Tippett on creating the iconic Battle of Hoth Today marks the 45th anniversary of "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back," which was released in theaters by 20th Century Fox on May 21, 1980, and has been aptly christened by adoring fans and sagacious critics as one of the greatest sci-fi sequels ever made. Two-time Academy Award-winning visual effects wizard Phil Tippett ("Return of the Jedi," "Jurassic Park," "Starship Troopers") and his talented ILM team shot the movie's pivotal stop-motion sequences in Lucasfilm's warehouse headquarters in San Rafael, California. These iconic scenes transported audiences to the icy world of Hoth for the rebel base opening's camel-like tauntauns and menacing Imperial AT-AT Walkers. Read More   Sign Up  |    Update Profile  |    Unsubscribe Privacy Policy  |    Cookies Policy  |    Terms and Conditions CONTACT US: FEEDBACK  |    ADVERTISE Future US LLC © Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10036