Kenneth Lafferty Hess
American - (BO)
Occasional Spaceflight
Date of Birth: Jan. 22, 1953
Age: 73
Ken is a software engineer and entrepreneur who shaped today's technology-based family history industry when he developed the Family Tree Maker product line in the 1990s. The company was acquired by Ancestry.com in 2003. In 2001, Ken gave back by founding Science Buddies, a K-12 nonprofit created to level the playing field and improve STEM literacy by inspiring students through free, personalized, hands-on projects in all areas of science, including space exploration. Science Buddies has reached one-quarter billion users. Ken’s lifelong passion for space exploration is in his DNA, with numerous early American pioneers in his mother’s lineage and many engineers and technicians in his father’s.
Blue Origin is an American privately funded aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos with its headquarters in Kent, Washington. The company is developing technologies to enable private human access to space with the goal to dramatically lower costs and increase reliability. Blue Origin currently launches its New Shepard sub-orbital vehicle from its West Texas launch site, they are currently constructing a launch pad for their orbital vehicle New Glenn at Cape Canaveral LC-36.
Falcon 9
Cygnus CRS-2 NG-24 (S.S. Steven R. Nagel)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USAThis is the 24th flight of the Orbital ATK's uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its 23rd flight to the International Space Station under the Com…
Smart Dragon 3
SatNet test satellite
South China Sea (launch location 3) - Haiyang Oriental SpaceportOfficially described as "Satellite-Internet Technology Demonstration Satellite". Probable 1 (?) test satellite for the Chinese state-owned LEO commun…
Falcon 9
Starlink Group 17-21
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USAA batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Long March 6A
SatNet LEO Group 21
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of ChinaA batch of 5 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…
Long March 8
SpaceSail Polar Group 07
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China18 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…
