SpaceX is nearly done with short-hop Starship test flights. Elon Musk has shared (via TechCrunch) that the company’s SN8 Starship prototype should be finished in “about a week,” and will conduct Starship’s first high-altitude flight. After static fire tests and checkouts, SpaceX will attempt a 60,000-foot return trip with the rocket. The prototypes that SpaceX […]
NASA is officially in the market for Moon rocks and it’s willing to pay any company that’s capable of scooping them up. The space agency is putting out a call for proposals from companies, challenging them to snag small samples of rocks on the Moon’s surface. The companies will have to prove that they have […]
SpaceX’s history-making Crew Dragon mission has come to a close two months after it began. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley successfully landed in the Atlantic Ocean after starting their return to Earth nearly 20 hours earlier. This completes the first crewed orbital flight using a private spacecraft, not to mention the first crewed spaceflight […]
NASA TV is providing live coverage as astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley undock Crew Dragon and return to Earth. It marks the successful completion of the first round trip of a private crewed space capsule. While this kind of mission won’t be routine for a long time, it represents an important moment in the […]
Amazon has now officially joined the internet-from-space race to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink, Facebook Athena, and a few other ventures. Amazon filed its application for regulatory approval last year and was later sought to be rejected by SpaceX, OneWeb, and several other original licensees who accused the retail giant of jumping to the front of […]
Space Camp and its home, the US Space and Rocket Center museum in Alabama, are in danger of shutting down permanently due to the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation needs your help. The organization, which oversees the Space Camp program for young people in Huntsville, Alabama, will have to close […]
VIRGIN Galactic has unveiled the sci-fi cabin where passengers will one day gaze at Earth after paying $250,000 (£175,000) for a ticket to space. “Ultimately, the interior of the spaceship was designed with one primary goal in mind, and that is to get the perfect view of Earth from space,” the company said in a […]
An official logo and motto for the United States Space Force have been revealed, following the announcement of its official seal back in January, and flag in May. The Delta Symbol has been in use since 1961 by the Air Force’s department, and this image explains the various elements that reference the military branches, rockets […]
China has successfully launched its first major interplanetary mission to Mars. The launch begins a long seven-month journey through deep space, and once the mission reaches the Red Planet, China could become just the second nation ever to land and operate a rover on the Martian surface. Designed to check the Red planet’s geology, the […]
Some 17 years after slinging its Spirit and Opportunity rovers towards the Red Planet, NASA is making final preparations ahead of its Mars 2020 mission launch. NASA’s Perseverance rover is all packed away and ready to launch to Mars on Thursday, July 30. NASA will livestream the event as the car-sized rover takes off from […]
NASA is planning for the SpaceX Crew Dragon to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean on August 2nd, CNBC reports. This will mark the completion of the Demo-2 mission, SpaceX’s first crewed flight and the first mission to launch NASA astronauts from US soil since 2011. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will un-dock from the […]
Rocket Lab’s 13th mission ended in failure on Saturday, after the company’s rocket experienced “an anomaly” after launching to space. As a result, Rocket Lab lost its rocket, as well as all the satellites it carried on board. The company’s Electron rocket successfully took off at 5:19PM ET from Rocket Lab’s primary launch facility on […]
The UK is spending $500m (£400m) on a stake in failed satellite firm OneWeb as part of a plan to replace use of the EU’s Galileo sat-nav system. OneWeb went bankrupt in March while trying to build a spacecraft network to deliver broadband. The UK is part of a consortium with India’s Bharti Global which […]
NASA’s private spaceflight plans extend well beyond launching people into orbit. The agency is forming a plan to fly astronauts, investigators and other staff aboard suborbital spacecraft. Once a Suborbital Crew office inside the Commercial Crew Program has qualified a suborbital system as safe to use, NASA will buy seats aboard suborbital flights for various […]
Virgin Galactic announced that it has made a deal with NASA to bring private astronauts to the International Space Station. So far, Richard Branson’s company hasn’t done any paid suborbital trips, let alone orbital flights. However, the NASA contract only calls for Virgin to find commercial client prospects and coordinate their transport to the ISS, […]