MSR: Solicitations for input will go out tomorrow; Nelson said he's asking for responses by late this fall

MSR: The independent review board concluded the current MSR program could cost up to $11 billion; NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that was too much; he said the goal is to bring the cost down to around the $5.9 billion cited in the original NSF Decadal Survey that recommended…

MSR: NASA is not ruling out launches in the '27-'28 timeframe as currently planned, but it appears extremely unlikely at this point. The goal of the program redesign is to ensure samples are returned in the 2030s, and not in 2040 or beyond as suggested by current funding…

MSR: Responding to an independent review of the Mars Sample Return mission, NASA said today the agency will seek fresh ideas from JPL, other NASA centers and the private sector to come up with alternative mission designs to reign in sky-rocketing costs, to streamline management…

And just for grins, 90 minutes of my backyard sky using the NightCap app on my iPhone; proof the world turns on its axis and that lots of airplanes fly over!

More fun playing with my Seestar S50 'smart' telescope; M-42, M-51, M104, the Leo triplet - all with a quarter moon in the sky

F9/USSF-62: Payload deploy confirmed, bringing today's launch to a successful conclusion. Below left: deploy (SpaceX); below right: an artist's impression of the WSF-M satellite in operation (Ball Aerospace)

F9/USSF-62: 2nd stage engine restart and shutdown confirmed; good orbit; WSF-M satellite deploy expected in 5 minutes

F9/USSF-62: 2nd stage engine shutdown confirmed; the vehicle will now coast for 41 minutes before a second burn at 11:15am EDT (1515 UTC) to reach the payload deploy orbit

F9/USSF-62: 1st stage landing confirmed

F9/USSF-62: 1st stage engine shutdown, stage separation, 2nd stage engine ignition confirmed; the 1st stage, making its 3rd flight, is heading back to Vandenberg for landing

F9/USSF-62: LIFTOFF! At 10:25am EDT (1425 UTC)

Two WSF-M satellites are planned to eventually replace older-generation Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) weather stations

F9/USSF-62: Space Force says the Ball Aerospace-built satellite is designed to fill in gaps in space-based environmental monitoring, using a passive microwave radiometer and other sensors to collect data on ocean winds, tropical cyclone intensity and charged particles in…

F9/USSF-62: Good morning; we're standing by for launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the first Space Force Weather System Follow-on – Microwave (WSF-M) satellite; liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base is targeted for 10:25am EDT (1425 UTC)

D4H/NROL-70: Payload fairing separation confirmed; and with that, ULA is ending its live launch coverage at the request of the NRO; the rest of the flight will be carried out in secrecy; we'll stand by for a Space Force/NRO update later today on the outcome of the flight

D4H/NROL-70: Central booster core engine shutdown, stage separation and 2nd stage RL10C-2-1 engine ignition confirmed

D4H/NROL-70: The left and right 1st stage 'common booster cores,' or CBCs, have separated; the central core's RS-68A engine will continue firing for another minute and a half

D4H/NROL-70: The rocket is now past the region of maximum aerodynamic stress as it accelerates out of the dense lower atmosphere

D4H/NROL-70: LIFTOFF! At 12:53pm EDT (1653 UTC); the final Delta mission in a program dating back more than 60 years is on its way to space