Kennedy Space Center News

Marine Towing of Tampa announced it is expanding its ship assist services to Florida's east coast following a deal with E.N. Bisso & Son to acquire towing assets formerly owned by SEACOR Holdings' Seabulk arm.In September 2023, SEACOR divested its U.S. harbor towing operations, selling to Bisso 12 tugs across ports in Florida and Alabama.Under a recently executed asset purchase agreement with Bisso, Marine Towing of Tampa acquired the Port Canaveral operations and assets from the SEACOR-Bisso deal and will operate them in Canaveral under a newly formed affiliate…

Space tourism company Space Perspective is converting an offshore support vessel (OSV) to function as the world’s first "marine spaceport". The Florida-based company in November 2022 announced it had acquired the 292-foot-long vessel from Edison Chouest Offshore as the first in its planned global fleet of converted spaceport vessels to support the mobile launch of its balloon-driven passenger spacecraft.The 2003-built Jones Act vessel C Challenger has been renamed Voyager and is currently being converted by Conrad Shipyard following preparatory work by Gulf Ship.

Divers from a documentary crew looking for the wreckage of a World War Two aircraft off the coast of Florida found a 20-foot section of the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded and broke apart shortly after its launch in 1986, NASA said on Thursday.The divers contacted NASA after spotting a large, clearly modern object mostly covered in sand at the bottom of the ocean and bearing the shuttle's distinctive tiles, the space agency said in a written statement."This discovery gives us an opportunity to pause once again…

A joint team of NASA and U.S. Navy personnel are testing new equipment and practicing procedures for recovering astronauts that have splashed down in the ocean upon returning from space travel. NASA’s deep space exploration systems will send a crew through space at 25,000 miles per hour, travelling some 40,000 miles beyond the Moon before coming back home. When returning to Earth, the Orion spacecraft will slow to a mere 300 mph as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere, eventually slowing to 20 mph before it safely splashing down in the Pacific.

Inmarsat, a provider of global mobile satellite communications, has confirmed the successful launch of the fourth, high-speed broadband communications satellite in its transformational Global Xpress (GX) constellation. Inmarsat GX is the world’s first globally available, broadband connectivity service and was created to enable communities across the world to benefit from the emerging digital society. Inmarsat-5 F4 (I-5 F4) was launched by SpaceX on a Falcon 9 rocket at 00:21 (BST) / 19:21 (ET) from the historic launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Storm's eye nears Cape Canaveral. The first major hurricane threatening a direct hit on the United States in more than 10 years lashed Florida on Friday with heavy rains and winds after killing at least 339 people in Haiti on its destructive march north through the Caribbean. Hurricane Matthew packed gusts of 100 miles per hour (160 kph) as it tracked north-northwest along Florida's east coast, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The storm's eye was 25 miles (40 km) east of Cape Canaveral, home to the nation's chief space launch site. "We are seriously ground zero here in Cape Canaveral -- hunkered down, lights flickering, winds are crazy," said resident Sandy Wilk on Twitter.

A Middle Eastern-owned company landed its first North American port operations contract on Monday, a 35-year agreement with Port Canaveral on Florida's east coast. Under terms of the lease, Gulftainer, a wholly-owned subsidiary of United Arab Emirates-based Crescent Enterprises, will invest up to $100 million in equipment and employees to operate a container and cargo terminal under construction at Port Canaveral, just south of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center. "Our intent is to reach up into that southeast manufacturing belt and into the traditional heartland markets for distribution and logistics," Port Canaveral Chief Executive John Walsh said at a signing ceremony.

Oct. 13-17 conference to feature keynote addresses from USDOT’s Deputy Secretary, Canada’s U.S. Ambassador and Disney Cruise Line’s President. For the first time in its 60-year history, the Canaveral Port Authority will serve as host of the American Association of Port Authorities’ (AAPA) annual convention, which takes place Oct. 13-17. And, for the first time in AAPA’s 102-year history, the business meetings for its international conference will be split between two locations: Port Canaveral, Fla.—one of the world’s busiest cruise ports with growing cargo; and Orlando, Fla.—one of the busiest American cities for conferences and conventions.

After three days of practice, NASA conducted a stationary recovery test of their latest space craft, the Orion, in the well deck of the amphibious transport dock USS Arlington (LPD 24) while berthed at Naval Station Norfolk's Pier 12 on Aug. 15, 2013. This successful test of the four-man, 16-foot capsule paves the way for future testing of NASA's Orion Program, including a West Coast underway recovery test in January, and the recovery of a low-orbit module following splashdown in the fall of 2014.

Rear Adm. William W. Pickavance, Jr. has joined San Jacinto College as a consultant to the maritime program. Pickavance, who served as an officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine, spent 32 years on active duty as a commissioned officer with the U.S. Navy. He will assist with the development of the new San Jacinto College maritime facility along the Port of Houston. The facility will house multiple classrooms, labs, and simulators to increase the amount of U.S. Coast Guard-approved training to mariners.

Mr. Kranz led the effort to save Apollo 13, and is a New York Times bestselling author. His book, Failure Is Not An Option (2000), chronicles his work in Mission Control, from Project Mercury through Apollo 13 and beyond. Over 75 speakers will be presenting at this year's event (in Orlando, FL on March 18) filling over 15 unique industrial sessions. The presenters come from leading companies all over the world, and include but are not limited to the following: NASA Kennedy Space Center, Sikorsky Aircraft, TLG Aerospace, Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin Inc. (RWDI), Dupont Teijin Films U.K.

As oil from BP's sub-sea well laps coastal Louisiana, most ships in the Gulf have avoided contact with the spill but owners fear that regulations will be tightened after the disaster, raising their costs. “We've seen no delays from the spill, and it hasn't affected the operations of any of our ships,” said Dean Taylor, president of Tidewater Inc. in late May. Four vessels owned by Tidewater, which is headquartered in New Orleans, have been involved in recovery efforts. The company's work boat Damon B.

Waterfront Lifestyles International, a boutique maritime lodging company, is currently taking reservations for retirement condos on a mid-size cruise ship that will make monthly cruises to the Bahamas. Prices for individual condo cabins on the 300 ft Alegria range from $159,000 for a single room to a larger suite for $399,000 plus a nominal Resident's Care monthly fee which covers all the operating expenses of the ship including crew, staff, fuel, maintenance, insurance, three meals daily, port fees, the medical center, and housekeeping. A huge difference between a senior care facility and living on Alegria is that the residents actually own the ship. With the depressed economy the company realizes some seniors may have to put off retiring for a few more years.

Beginning next year, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Spirit will join Norwegian Dawn in weekly stops at Port Canaveral. In addition, the Norwegian Majesty will make a call in Port Canaveral next year, bringing the total number of port calls for Norwegian Cruise Line to 45 in the next two years. “Port Canaveral offers a wide variety of options to our guests. The shore excursion program we’ve introduced with Norwegian Dawn has been very successful and we’re looking forward to offering those options and more to our passengers onboard Norwegian Spirit and Norwegian Majesty next year,” says Andy Stuart, Executive Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Passenger Services for Norwegian Cruise Line.

Space may be the final frontier but in this instance, the craft setting out on a momentous voyage was not the starship Enterprise but Rickmers New Orleans, one of nine identical ships maintaining Rickmers-Linie’s bi-weekly Round-the-World Pearl String service for heavylift and project cargo. On board was the Experiment Logistics Module - Pressurized Section (ELM-PS), which forms part of the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo (meaning ‘hope’), part of the Japanese contribution to the International Space Station (ISS). Rickmers New Orleans loaded the ELM-PS in Yokohama on February 7 and discharged it in Port Canaveral, close to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.