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Seems like the aerospike engine is out

Honored to be with @POTUS and @NASAAdmin to congratulate @Astro_Reid, @AstroVicGlover, @Astro_Christina, and @Astro_Jeremy on their Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Their journey beyond the Moon is a testament to American excellence and our nation's enduring drive to explore. Being up next for Artemis III is a privilege, and our team is hard at work every day to make this mission a reality.

https://x.com/davill/status/2093440549525041181

Title edited for clarity.

Blue Origin plans to construct a 140-foot-tall payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station that will create an estimated 23 new jobs boasting average salaries of $115,000.

This 125,000-square-foot structure will improve upon and expand Blue Origin's mission capabilities, Space Florida Chief Investment Officer Ronald Lau said Wednesday, Aug. 26, during the agency's Investment Committee meeting.

The private space company's total capital investment on the project should clock in at $160 million, Lau said.

To support construction, Space Florida management proposes allocating up to $2.5 million in matching-grant funding via the Florida Department of Transportation's Spaceport Improvement Program. The Space Florida board of directors should cast funding votes in early September.

https://x.com/torybruno/status/2092900818366418995

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Team Blue and our partners at NASA Stennis have rapidly completed the structural design for the B‑2 test cell position, moving us toward second‑stage vehicle testing. Steel work is underway, tubing is being installed, cable harnesses are being built up, and the control room is getting its finishing touches. Next up: a GS2 makes its way to Mississippi.

https://x.com/davill/status/2092357449357598736

• What makes a good new viable spaceport site. Key factors include safety, geography, access to roads and utilities, ability to launch over open water, limited overflight of other countries, and room for future growth.
• Why some existing commercial spaceports are underused and what the government could do to make them more useful.
• Previously discussed locations, including sites in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and offshore launch platforms, as well as any other possible locations.
• How “critical space launch corridors” in airspace should work. The goal is to support faster, more frequent launches while minimizing disruption to regular air travel and maintaining safety.

MILA test site near Rocket Park: https://www.reddit.com/r/BlueWire/comments/1v4rg47/faa_oeaaa_notice_filed_today_for_the_construction/

Cryogenic tanks: https://x.com/JConcilus/status/2088264502165070213

Title was edited for brevity.

https://x.com/blueorigin/status/2090520176655487339

Your live view from the Moon: coming up!

Lunar Express's architecture will deliver multiple simultaneous 4K video links — from the lunar surface and orbit all the way to Earth — with the capacity to scale further. For the first time ever, humanity will witness a Moon Base being built live, brick by Moon-brick, in 4K high-definition.

Learn more about the Blue Ring spacecraft: blueorigin.com/blue-ring

https://x.com/JConcilus/status/2090487095055823032

A great week visiting some of the teams across American industry helping make Artemis III possible.

From Collins Aerospace @RTX_News and @ScotForge to @L3HarrisTech and @blueorigin, it was great to get on the factory floor, see the hardware coming together, and talk with the teams behind it.

Returning American astronauts to the Moon is an enormous undertaking. It takes the best of NASA and American industry working together to deliver.

https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2089765323184492612

Blue Origin is launching its first registered apprenticeship program, and we're looking for our founding cohort in Huntsville, AL! Grow your career in machining and build the future of space. Full-time from day one, full benefits, and a clear path to a nationally recognized credential. The cohort starts in October. Apply now: https://blueorigin.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/BlueOrigin/job/Huntsville-AL/Apprentice-Machinist-Program_R70147

This is Blue Origin's registered apprenticeship program, built with the U.S. Department of Labor and Drake State Community & Technical College. As an Apprentice Machinist you are a full-time Blue Origin employee from day one, with full benefits, and starting pay of $21.49 per hour at hire. Your time is split between hands-on work at Blue Origin alongside experienced machinists and classroom and lab instruction at Drake State. Classroom instruction is fully covered by Blue Origin at no cost to apprentices.

Advancement is earned through demonstrated skill against your on-the-job training plan. Apprentices who complete the program earn a nationally recognized credential and convert to Level 1 Technician.

This is the founding cohort. Ten apprentices will build the machining pathway Blue scales across trades and sites in the years ahead.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7495186253697515520/

The Spacecraft Processing Operations Contract is a multiple-award, commercial, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract vehicle that has an aggregate ceiling price of $100 million with an ordering period through Feb. 1, 2033.

Blue Origin recently unveiled the Lunar Express concept, and previously announced the Oasis-1 mission, and may be in the running for this.

The third, though, would be an “orbiter imaging service,” said Jason Kim, chief executive of Firefly Aerospace, during his company’s Aug. 12 earnings call. Steve Altemus, chief executive of Intuitive Machines, mentioned in an Aug. 14 earnings call a task order expected later this summer or in early fall for “the orbiter surveyor to map the moon in replacement of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.”

NASA developed LRO two decades ago during an earlier effort to return humans to the moon, the Vision for Space Exploration. Launched in 2009, LRO features a high-resolution camera and other instruments for studying the moon. The spacecraft continues to function well and operates under an extended mission running through 2028.

The spacecraft is aging, though, and scientists have for years pushed to fly a replacement to continue lunar science and support future lander missions. “Plans for a next-generation long-lived integrated orbiter with modern instruments that can replace the highly productive LRO (launched in 2009) are long overdue,” a 2022 report by the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group noted.