EasternShoreSpaceflight
@EShoreSpaceflt • 3,376 subscribers
Space nerd & IT Engineer 🤓🚀 Grew up with shuttle launches in FL. Family of Alan Bean (4th man on the Moon). Contributor for NSF at Wallops
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NASA Wallops Island update — Rocket Lab Neutron Launch Complex. The second stage static fire test stand has been lifted off the pad. Crane was already rigged when I arrived this morning. About 20-30 minutes later the lift began, 9 minutes total, a controlled 180-degree swing, stand set down to the right of the pad at LC-3 / LP-0D. Notable: no transport trailer on site, no indication the stand is leaving the area. That points to further work nearby, possibly further integration, or even the addition of the Neutron second stage, which would be a significant milestone. Full lift video (4K, sped up 10x): More to come. NSF - NASASpaceflight.com
EasternShoreSpaceflight49,618 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
Rocket Lab Neutron AIC update — the Hungry Hippo lift. Photos and full timelapse video. Here is how the operation went down. The Hungry Hippo was sitting on its red support stands inside Building 01. The team slid the blue transport trailer underneath it, lifted it off the stands, backed it out to the lift position, set it back down on the same stands outside, then pulled the trailer out to make room for the cranes. Then nearly six hours of rigging, harnesses attached to the open base, boom lifts positioned on both sides, every connection point checked. All that for a lift that took about 30 minutes, running right through sunset. To my knowledge building 01 does not have crane infrastructure for a vertical lift of this scale, so this appears to be the first time the Hungry Hippo has been stood up vertically at Wallops. Last time it was vertical was in New Zealand. Hopefully the next lift puts it on the interstage. Congratulations to Rocket Lab and the lift crew. Full timelapse (30x) below. NSF - NASASpaceflight.com
EasternShoreSpaceflight37,142 görüntüleme • 1 ay önce
The Antonov AN-124 has officially landed at NASA Wallops Flight Facility — presumably carrying Rocket Lab Neutron hardware. The aircraft traveled all the way from New Zealand, making stops in Fiji and San Bernardino, California before departing this morning for Wallops. Pictures really don’t do this thing justice. It’s a massive aircraft and was very cool to finally see in person. There was also a really nice crowd gathered at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center observation deck to watch the arrival. During the landing, I shot another high-speed continuous photo sequence, so I may be able to put together a video from it later. For now, I focused mostly on photos and a short video after touchdown while it rolled down the runway. The aircraft is currently parked near the end of the runway being unloaded. Definitely an exciting day out at Wallops. Thanks to all of the rocket lab community who help track this all the way to Wallops. MurrayJ jaustin175 NSF - NASASpaceflight.com
EasternShoreSpaceflight42,266 görüntüleme • 4 ay önce
NASA Wallops Island launch update — Shortstop is away. DOD sounding rocket off the pad at Pad 1A, Wallops Flight Facility — 1:11 PM EDT. Successful launch. No countdown, no livestream, no real-time updates — so none of my cameras were running. The dashcam saved the day. Video below. NSF - NASASpaceflight.com
EasternShoreSpaceflight14,421 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce
NASA Wallops Island update — June 18, 2026. Pegasus media event recap. Yesterday we attended NASA's media event for the Pegasus XL launch carrying Katalyst Space's LINK servicing spacecraft, which will attempt to rendezvous with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and boost it back to a stable orbit using LINK's three robotic arms. We recorded about 33 minutes of the briefing on GoPro, covering the first 15 minutes of speaker intros and mission overview plus part of the Q&A. Rookie mistake: I left it recording in 5K60, and it overheated, cutting things short. Lesson learned. NASA's event was not video livestreamed, but they ran a live audio stream, available here: After the briefing, media were bused out to see Pegasus mounted under Stargazer, Northrop Grumman's L-1011 carrier aircraft. As we got off the bus, the Air Force Thunderbirds happened to be taking off from an adjacent runway. Great bonus moment. Swift's orbit has been decaying faster than expected due to increased solar activity. If LINK succeeds, it will be the first time a commercial robotic mission has captured an uncrewed NASA spacecraft never designed to be serviced in space. Great day at Wallops. Video Link: NSF - NASASpaceflight.com Northrop Grumman Katalyst Space NASA Wallops
EasternShoreSpaceflight14,345 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce
Wallops Island update — June 3, 2026. Sloop Gut dredging, take two. Went back out today for more shots and video of the Sloop Gut dredging we reported yesterday — and caught it in action. The dredge is working the channel toward the NASA North dock, pulling wet sediment off the bottom. At the transfer area, a long-reach excavator scoops the spoil into a bin, dump trucks haul it out, and it's spread across the VSA upland farmland to dewater. You can already see the gray spoil drying on the field. Refresher: Salmons Incorporated, permit NAO-2024-02948 / VMRC #25-0521, running May 4 – October 31, 2026. A dredged Sloop Gut means reliable, tide-independent barge access to Wallops — exactly what Rocket Lab needs to move Neutron hardware onto the island. Video and shots below. Things are moving. Stay tuned. NSF - NASASpaceflight.com 4k Video Here:
EasternShoreSpaceflight14,087 görüntüleme • 4 ay önce
Correction and update from earlier today — and the real story is actually better news. What I initially thought was concrete construction activity on the VSA farmland near Arbuckle Neck Road turns out to be dredge spoil operations. Sloop Gut — the tidal channel providing access to the NASA North dock at Wallops Island — is finally being dredged. This is a big deal. Rocket Lab has long cited Sloop Gut's shallow, tide-dependent access as a major logistical challenge for moving Neutron hardware by barge. The company filed a dredging application with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission specifically to address this bottleneck. Salmons Incorporated is the contractor, operating May 4 through October 31, 2026, using an excavator, material barge, and pushed boat Gail Waring on the Chincoteague Channel and Sloop Gut. The operation I witnessed today was dredge spoil — sediment from the channel bottom — being mixed with aggregate to stabilize the wet material, then transported to nearby VSA farmland for dewatering. Per VDEQ permits, approximately 55,000 cubic yards of dredge material will be spread across roughly 78 acres at 4-5 inches depth for up to 364 days. A dredged Sloop Gut means reliable, tide-independent barge access to Wallops Island. That is exactly what Rocket Lab needs for Neutron. Things are moving. NSF - NASASpaceflight.com 4K Video Here:
EasternShoreSpaceflight12,626 görüntüleme • 4 ay önce
Remote Cam Footage — HASTE “That’s Not a Knife” First of several videos from the remote camera setup. It was a long day — early morning camera deployment, then waiting through delays until nearly the end of the launch window before HASTE “That’s Not a Knife” finally flew. I originally set the cameras for a daytime launch, but we ended up launching at night… and somehow it still worked out. This version is sped up about 5x with audio intact. Full real-time and slow-motion versions coming soon. 4k Video Here: NSF - NASASpaceflight.com Rocket Lab
EasternShoreSpaceflight16,860 görüntüleme • 7 ay önce
NASA Wallops Island Update — Dec 22, 2025 • LP-0A (Antares / Firefly): Very quiet today — not much visible work. • LC-2 (Electron): Also quiet from what we can see. • LC-3 (Neutron): Some solid activity despite the holidays. • A boom lift was raised nearly to the top of the Second Stage test stand, with workers moving around the structure. • Another boom lift was up on the right side near the light poles — possibly installing cameras or additional lighting. • Even this close to the holidays, Rocket Lab isn’t slowing down. • Caught a short video clip of the work at the Neutron pad. 4K Video Here: NSF - NASASpaceflight.com
EasternShoreSpaceflight20,438 görüntüleme • 9 ay önce
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