A former Air Force test pilot & astronaut--hoping to pass along my passion for space & the country I love--I dare you to dream! Views are my own
Houston, Texas
Joined October 2011
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Jack Fischer retweeted
$LUNR - Intuitive Machines has been selected by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to provide the spacecraft platform and system-level integration for FALCON-RADAR, an Earth observation mission that will study clouds and convection from space.
FALCON-RADAR, which is part of the Fleet for the Atmospheric Linking Commercial Observations with NASA, will fly on the IM 300™ spacecraft bus and is targeted for launch in no earlier than 2029. The mission consists of a single polar-orbiting, sun-synchronous satellite carrying a W-Band Cloud Profiling Doppler Radar instrument designed to observe shallow light precipitation and small-scale cloud dynamics. Through the FALCON-RADAR mission, millimeter-wavelength radar technology may support advances towards Moon and Mars applications.
globenewswire.com/news-relea…
We have a new baby dragon in the family - Go Trinity!
Trinity brings the heat! 🔥🌕
2,500°F. 900 pounds of thrust.
Intuitive Machines' Trinity lunar lander lit up the night during its latest hot fire test, successfully completing engine ignition, main-stage operation, and multiple throttle sequences as we prepare for our third lunar mission, IM-3, targeted for Q1 2027.
Lessons from our first two lunar missions are shaping a more advanced Nova-C lunar lander, with expanded sensing capabilities, precision landing technology, and enhanced navigation systems. From successful NavPod testing this past summer to ongoing payload testing and now Trinity's latest hot fire, our teams are knocking down milestones across the mission. During the hot fire test, our team tested the engine's full throttle range, demonstrating the vehicle's readiness for the lunar landing burn.
IM-3 will deliver 13 payloads to the Moon's Reiner Gamma region, advancing the lunar transportation capabilities and infrastructure needed to support NASA's Moon Base.
#IntuitiveMachines #IM3 #Trinity #LunarExploration
Happy Move-in-Iversary to the International Space Station—humanity’s home in the sky and the best daily reminder that remarkable things happen when we cooperate.
You think your airplane seat is cramped? Try riding in a Soyuz seat. It's made from a mold of your body so it's really more like wearing your seat than sitting in it. The silver lining is that you are so pumped about the ride that the knees-in-your-chest thing hardly registers for the first hour or so.
There is nothing easy about putting a lunar lander on the Moon. With no air, no lift, and no drag, the only way to brake is to use a rocket. The descent onto the Moon lasts about 12 minutes and the lander's engine burns the whole time as it throttles down. As the lander burns off fuel, its weight constantly shifts, requiring continuous adjustments to the throttle. It's a monstrous challenge that must be handled autonomously. To top it off- just before the lander touches down on the Moon's surface it needs to be moving about 1 meter per second (that's slower than an average walking speed).
When footrails aren't cutting it and you gotta get some work done, you improvise and make a space chair. It may not be officially HR approved, but it gets the job done! (it was actually part of an experiment, but it was pretty comfy 😉)
On the list of absurdly difficult places to explore the lunar south pole is near the top. From the temperature and lighting to the terrain - it's a beast. So we did what any good flight team does: we stopped arguing with the environment and started adding sensors. Lots of sensors. Our team was even able to feed it real south pole imagery from IM-2 to train the navigation software with actual polar lighting instead of reference maps. Trinity is going to the Moon fully stacked and loaded.
The United States Space Academy is a chance to build, from the ground up, the people who will take us farther than we’ve ever gone. Space isn’t a destination you visit once and write home about. It’s a profession. If we treat it that way, we stop scrambling for the next operators, engineers, flight directors, and explorers who can actually carry the load. We teach the next generation how to reach for the stars. Graduates will know how to lead a team while integrating civil and commercial systems. That's how you get sustainable exploration. Dream big - then build the people who can make the dream hold.
I adapted to life on Earth pretty quickly — as long as my eyes were open. Getting your vestibular system to work again is a whole different animal. Vision will cover for you and you think you’re fine, but close your eyes and that inner-ear compass you spent months ignoring suddenly starts shouting the wrong directions. That’s why they run the platform test and why you’re harnessed in for a reason. Without the strap you’d be eating the floor in about two seconds. Scott Kelly’s readjustment is actually really impressive, especially after being in space for almost a year. The nicest way I can describe my platform test is: comical.
Jack Fischer retweeted
$LUNR - Listen to Trent Martin (SVP for Advanced Space Systems, Intuitive Machines) talk about the CLPS program at the 2026 AAS Glenn Symposium. Full panel discussion now available on YouTube.
youtu.be/YwJ75sgkqtc
Intuitive Machines has a long history of building spacecraft for SiriusXM and this bird is flying high (it isn’t a small one). More than 15,000 pounds at launch. About 28 feet tall. Solar arrays stretching 106 feet tip-to-tip. SXM-11 is the highest-power spacecraft in the SiriusXM fleet. I’m constantly impressed with this team. Whether they’re stacking a lunar lander, standing up a communications system, or flying a giant satellite, they keep showing up — and they keep making life a little better for everyone down here.
Sixty-eight years ago today, NASA opened its doors. A handful of dreamers walked in as one agency and walked out as the team that would take us to the Moon, build a laboratory in orbit, and take us back with Artemis, still pointing humanity toward the stars. Happy Birthday NASA - you're still the coolest team on - or off - the planet.
I love coffee on Earth, it's pretty much my favorite thing ever. But I loved it even more in space because it turned into little caffeinated balls of awesomeness. Can't let today slip by without celebrating those little spheres of yummy! #ILoveCoffeeBalls #NationalCoffeeDay
Leadership never sleeps when you’re building something nobody’s ever done before. You can’t draw the lines in advance—there aren’t any yet. What you can do is build the blueprint on trust and mutual respect, so the team grows together and figures out what “right” actually looks like. That’s what we’ve got at Intuitive Machines, and I’m darn proud to chase the stars every day with this crew. Big things are coming ✨
Jack Fischer retweeted
“Now is absolutely the best time to be in the space business”. Check out KHOU’s inside look at Intuitive Machines’ IM-3 lunar lander with @CrainTim
khou.com/article/tech/scienc…
This view hits quicker than a kid who just heard the first note of the ice cream truck. It's easy to see why it's called the 'window to the world.'
Jack Fischer retweeted
Gov. Abbott announced @DrGregBonnen will lead a team securing Texas as the permanent home of the U.S. Space Academy.
No state matches what TX offers: NASA's Johnson Space Center, a leading commercial space industry, military installations, & an unmatched aerospace workforce.
Jack Fischer retweeted
Congratulations to SiriusXM! SXM-11 is on orbit and fully operational.
Following a successful launch and in-orbit testing, SiriusXM’s newest satellite is now in service, marking another milestone in our more than 20-year partnership and 13 spacecraft built together. Learn more: tinyurl.com/47rha3ad
#spaceinfrastructureleader #BuildConnectOperate #IM1300Series
