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Course contre-la-montre en orbite : la NASA tente une mission historique pour sauver le télescope Swift

Swift Pegasus XL

Victime d’une activité solaire intense, le télescope spatial Swift de la NASA perd rapidement de l’altitude. Pour éviter qu’il ne se désintègre dans l’atmosphère, une mission de sauvetage privée inédite s’apprête à décoller fin juin pour tenter de le remorquer. Une première historique pour la maintenance en orbite.

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Jamais il n’avait volé aussi vite : le X-59 casse ses records de vitesse supersonique

x-59

Quelques jours seulement après avoir passé le mur du son, l’avion expérimental X-59 de la Nasa passe à la vitesse supérieure. En atteignant Mach 1,4 le 12 juin 2026, l’appareil vient de valider les conditions de vol réelles de sa future mission : prouver qu’un vol supersonique peut s’effectuer en toute discrétion.

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Artémis : SpaceX vient-il de donner le coup de grâce à la méga-fusée de la NASA ?

sls lune mort

C'est une petite phrase de SpaceX qui peut changer fortement les plans du programme Artémis. Le 9 juin, SpaceX a déclaré que sa fusée géante Starship pourrait tout à fait assurer la propulsion de la capsule Orion jusqu'à la Lune à l'avenir. Une capacité qui apparaît déjà comme une sérieuse menace pour le devenir du lanceur SLS de la NASA.

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NASA Announces Astronauts For Its Artemis III Mission

NASA has named Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano, Frank Rubio, and Andre Douglas as the crew for Artemis III, which has been reworked from a moon-landing mission into a roughly two-week Earth-orbit test of lunar landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. NBC News reports: Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas are expected to launch into Earth orbit next year, with the goal of testing two commercially developed lunar landers that are slated to carry astronauts to the surface of the moon during the Artemis IV mission in 2028. Bresnik will be the mission's commander, with Parmitano, an Italian astronaut with the European Space Agency, serving as the pilot. Douglas and Rubio will be mission specialists, and Bob Hines will train with the crew as a backup member. "This test flight will enable us to prove we can carry out highly choreographed operations with our partners across hardware interfaces, software propulsion systems and life support elements with crew in the high-stakes space environment," Jeremy Parsons, NASA's Artemis program manager, said during NASA's announcement on Tuesday. Bresnik has been to the International Space Station twice, most recently as commander of an expedition in 2017. A retired U.S. Marine colonel, he was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2004. Bresnik has helped oversee development and testing of spacecraft for the Artemis program as an assistant to the chief of the Astronaut Office, which manages astronaut training and operations. Parmitano has also done two stints on the ISS and served as commander of an expedition in 2019. He has completed a total of six spacewalks and also performed the first live DJ set in orbit. Before becoming an astronaut, Parmitano was a test pilot for the Italian air force. For Rubio, a physician with 28 years of service in the Army, Artemis III will be his second trip to space. From 2022 to 2023, he spent 371 days on the space station, breaking the record for longest-duration spaceflight by an American, according to NASA. Douglas is the only crew member making his spaceflight debut. An engineer who previously worked on space exploration and robotics at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, he became a NASA astronaut in 2022. Douglas was the backup crew member for the Artemis II mission around the moon earlier this year. He told NBC News in an interview after Tuesday's announcement that the role had at times been a challenge. "It was hard to figure out how do you balance getting ready to go, not go, all that stuff," he said. "But to go now is just fantastic."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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For All Mankind rempile pour un énorme succès avec son spin-off soviétique

La plateforme à la pomme passe à la vitesse supérieure. Réputée pour ses productions soignées mais isolées, Apple TV cède à son tour à la fièvre des franchises pour fidéliser ses abonnés en ce milieu d'année 2026. Pour ouvrir le bal, le streamer a choisi de miser sur son plus ancien fleuron de science-fiction, For All Mankind, qui avec sa saison 5 devient top 1 en termes de succès sur la plateforme.

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