NASA Artemis and CLPS updates minus the PR fluff, as all things should be

Artemis updatesIllustration of a SpaceX Starship lunar lander prototype docked with the Orion spacecraft in Earth orbit, as would be attempted for NASA’s Artemis III mission. Image: SpaceX / NASAOn September 14, SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy rocket reached orbit for the first time, seven years later than originally touted, continuing its slow progress in building a Lunar Starship ready to land Artemis astronauts on the Moon for NASA. As Marcia Smith reported, the orbital flight was shorter than planned but SpaceX did manage to achieve the primary goal of deploying 26 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit. The flight does make some headway for Starship’s flight part of Artemis III, an upcoming test mission in Earth orbit before NASA attempts to land astronauts on the Moon with Artemis IV. Even there though, SpaceX’s lapses against their own promised timelines unfortunately continue since the Starship lander prototype will not fly with an environmental control and life support system.…