Space Flight

Elon Musk’s casual, even celebratory attitude toward the spectacular explosions that destroyed earlier tests of his Starship launch system may have come back to bite him. NASA says it won’t allow launches of the massive rocket from SpaceX’s pad at Cape Canaveral because it could endanger launches to the International Space Station. The pad in […]

The FAA is requiring SpaceX to take more than 75 actions to mitigate the potential environmental impact of its planned Starship/Super Heavy launch operations in Boca Chica, Texas, the agency announced on Monday. The requirements are the result of a recently completed environmental assessment conducted by the FAA as part of the decision-making process for […]

NASA’s Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, has set new records for its longest and fastest flight to date, according to an announcement from the agency on Friday. During its 25th flight, which lasted 161.3 seconds, the rotorcraft covered a distance of 2,310 feet (704 meters) at a speed of 12 MPH (5.5 meters per second) after climbing […]

Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule parachuted safely to Earth at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on Wednesday afternoon, capping a mostly successful uncrewed test trip to the International Space Station. The capsule was back on the ground less than four hours after it detached from the ISS and carried garbage from the station […]

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time on Friday evening. The uncrewed mission, Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), launched from Space Launch Complex-41 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday. As previously reported by AVweb, OFT-2 was originally expected to launch last year but […]

Using the most diplomatic language possible, the three billionaires who paid $55 million each for a trip to the International Space Station told a news conference they were overworked on their epic adventure. “With the value of hindsight, we were way too aggressive on our schedule, in particular the first couple days,” said Larry Connor, […]

The National Aeronautic Association has awarded the coveted Collier Trophy to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter team for “the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet, thereby opening the skies of Mars and other worlds for future scientific discovery and exploration.” The little drone with counter-rotating rotors has logged a […]

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, setting a new record for the longest single spaceflight in history by an American. Vande Hei launched on April 9, 2021, for a mission total of 355 days, 15 days longer than the previous record. According to NASA, he completed approximately […]

NASA has officially extended flight operations for its Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, through September, according to an announcement from the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on Tuesday. Ingenuity, which travelled to Mars onboard the Perseverance rover, recently completed its 21st successful flight. The rotorcraft’s future flights will focus on supporting Perseverance as it explores the Jezero […]

Russia may reconsider its involvement in the international partnership that keeps the International Space Station (ISS) aloft, according to a statement from Dmitry Rogozin, who is the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos. Rogozin said that the agency is taking the position due to economic sanctions enacted by the U.S. in response to Russia’s invasion […]