Ryan Caton

A new chapter begins. The first Vulcan booster is vertical in the new Vertical Integration Facility (VIF-A) dedicated to @Amazonleo. This milestone enables testing of first use technologies and validates systems supporting Amazon’s LEO constellation.

The Antonov AN-124 has officially landed at NASA Wallops Flight Facility — presumably carrying Rocket Lab Neutron hardware. The aircraft traveled all the way from New Zealand, making stops in Fiji and San Bernardino, California before departing this morning for Wallops. Pictures really don’t do this thing justice. It’s a massive aircraft and was very cool to finally see in person. There was also a really nice crowd gathered at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center observation deck to watch the arrival. During the landing, I shot another high-speed continuous photo sequence, so I may be able to put together a video from it later. For now, I focused mostly on photos and a short video after touchdown while it rolled down the runway. The aircraft is currently parked near the end of the runway being unloaded. Definitely an exciting day out at Wallops. Thanks to all of the rocket lab community who help track this all the way to Wallops. @Muzznzer @jaustin175 @NASASpaceflight

STARSHIP FLIGHT 12: A Ground-5,000ft Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) has been placed above the Massey's Test Site. This only occurs when Ship Engine Testing is on the table. Ship 39 could head the wrong way down Highway 4 for more pre-flight testing. 🗺️ @NeedPizza42

Saddle up. Ascending Node just launched. 🤠🚀 Blue Origin's new podcast, hosted by @ToryBruno and Tabitha Lipkin, is about the people, ideas, and breakthroughs building a road to space. Available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the first episode: bit.ly/4uNKYzh

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches CRS-34 to the ISS twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Artemis III orbit type confirmed, @NASA wants new commercial comms system for Live 4K Video COMMUNICATIONS As Orion is designed to fly into deep space, it's designed to rely the Deep Space Network (DSN). That's not available in LEO, and TDRSS is already congested. @NASA would like "live 4K imagery during rendezvous and docking operations, and downlink of large files in other phases of flight." A new request for information (RFI) has just been released, looking for a commercial solution with the following objectives: - Near continuous communication (goal: >75%) - >12 Mbps Downlink (goal: 20-50Mbps) - >500 kbps Uplink - System must provide a broad field of regard or steerable antenna/aperture (Orion has many driving attitude constraints so precise vehicle pointing of a fixed antenna/aperture is not available) I wonder who has a flight-proven, self-steering, on-orbit system for high-bandwidth communications... cough cough @SpaceX @Starlink OTHER DETAILS The RFI says to assume a Summer 2027 launch, and a 460km (250nmi) circular 33° orbit. @NASA had been deciding between a High Earth Orbit (HEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO), and it looks like the latter has been selected. A LEO probably doesn't require the use of an upper stage, saving an ICPS. 📷 L: @NASA | R: @SpaceX

STARSHIP FLIGHT 12: @SpaceX confirms No Earlier Than (NET) May 19th, 22:30 UTC / 17:30 CDT