Space Race in 48 Hours: Starship Roars, Moon Mission Nears & Space Tourism Soars
Solar Probes Take Flight: On Sept. 24, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 thundered off pad 39A in Florida carrying three solar science spacecraft: NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, a small Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA’s SWFO-L1 space-weather monitor science.nasa.gov science.nasa.gov. Liftoff was targeted for 7:30 a.m. EDT, with the booster aiming to hurl the payloads toward the Sun-Earth L1 point, about a million miles out nasa.gov nasa.gov. This mission inaugurates a new era in heliophysics – IMAP will map the boundaries of the heliosphere to better understand cosmic radiation and solar storms nasa.gov. It’s a ride-share trio: alongside IMAP, NASA’s Carruthers Observatory will image Earth’s outermost atmosphere and NOAA’s SWFO-L1 will serve as an early warning beacon for solar eruptions that could disrupt power grids and GPS nasa.gov nasa.gov. The Falcon 9 launch, managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, was eagerly awaited after a one-day weather delay science.nasa.gov, and live coverage streamed on NASA’s new NASA+ platform.
