Aerospace & Defense Roundup: Feb. 01

Entrepreneur Hires SpaceX For St. Jude’s Benefit Flight

The founder and CEO of e-commerce platform Shift4 Payments is chartering a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight for himself and three passengers, part of a fundraiser and public outreach for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and a business opportunity for a Shift4 entrepreneur. Shift4 CEO Jared Isaacman, 37, will fly as commander of the mission, known as Inspiration4 and slated to launch in the fourth quarter of 2021. Credit: spacex.com

NASA To Repeat SLS Hot Fire

NASA has decided to repeat the static test fire of the first Space Launch System (SLS) core stage following an abbreviated burn of the vehicle’s four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines two weeks ago. The full-duration, 8-min. engine firing at Stennis Space Center’s B-2 test stand in Mississippi is targeted for the last week of February. Credit: NASA

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SpaceShipTwo Flight Test Window Opens Feb. 13

Virgin Galactic is targeting Feb. 13 for the next flight test of SpaceShipTwo, the six-passenger, two-pilot spacecraft designed for privately operated, suborbital flight services. Based near Las Cruces, New Mexico, Virgin Galactic is nearing the end of a decades-long development effort following a trio of X Prize-winning suborbital flight demonstrations of the SpaceShipOne prototype in 2004. Credit: Virgin Galactic

NASA Spacewalkers Complete ISS Battery Exchange

NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover on Feb. 1 completed the final task in a multiyear swap out of the International Space Station’s (ISS) solar power system batteries. Performing their second spacewalk in five days, the astronauts also replaced or upgraded three external cameras and continued preparations for an upgrade to the aging solar panels that generate electricity for the orbiting science laboratory. Credit: NASA TV

The Weekly Debrief: U.S. Army Taps Outsiders For FVL Systems Integrators

The U.S, Army was expected to work with an independent MSI on the pair of Future Vertical Lift programs: the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft and the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft. Mission systems and aircraft systems will be isolated from each other in the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, with bidders narrowed to the Bell 360 (top) and Sikorsky Raider X. Right: An Increment 2 version of the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft should arrive about four years after either the Sikorsky/Boeing SB-1 (top) or Bell V-280 enters service in 2030.

Taiclet Adds Chairman To Lockheed Titles, Ulmer Takes Over Aeronautics

Lockheed Martin CEO and president Jim Taiclet will complete his leadership takeover of the Pentagon’s leading contractor by annual sales with the additional role of becoming chairman of the board of directors effective March 1, Lockheed announced Jan. 29. Current executive chairman Marillyn Hewson will step aside and become a strategic adviser to Taiclet, her chosen successor, through Feb. 22, 2022. Hewson started handing over the reins to Taiclet on June 15, 2020, when he became chief executive and a director. Credit: Lockheed Martin