Space Flight

NASA announced that it successfully switched the Hubble Space Telescope over to backup hardware on Friday, starting the process of bringing the telescope back online after a payload computer failure last month. The issue, which resulted in the suspension of Hubble’s data collection, is believed to have stemmed from the telescope’s power control unit. With […]

A jubilant Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson celebrated the “experience of a lifetime” as one of six people aboard what was officially the first passenger flight to the edge of space Sunday morning. All the other people on the Unity 22 spacecraft were Virgin employees but it was the first flight after the FAA […]

The FAA has activated a new tool to minimize disruption of atmospheric flying machines when those headed for space are passing through. The Space Data Integrator tracks all spacecraft going up and coming down and transmits the location of those vehicles directly to the air traffic control system. “This new capability increases safety for all […]

The FAA has upgraded Virgin Galactic’s commercial space transportation operator license to allow the company to carry paying passengers to space. It has been reported that Virgin Galactic currently has over 600 reservations for its planned commercial passenger spaceflights with ticket prices running between $200,000 and $250,000. The licensing update comes after the company successfully […]

Former astronaut and retired U.S. Air Force officer Pam Melroy was sworn in as NASA Deputy Administrator during a ceremony at the agency’s Washington headquarters on Monday. Melroy was nominated for the position in April and confirmed by the Senate on June 17. Selected as an astronaut candidate in 1994, she served as pilot on […]

SpaceX has found a perhaps unexpected ally in its quest to democratize space—the FAA, according to CNBC. FAA associate administrator for commercial space operations Wayne Monteith launched a spirited defense of the company he had criticized a few months before in front of a congressional committee last week. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee had […]

While most of the attention thrown on SpaceX’s reusable rockets is directed at the moon and planets, an Earthier role could turn out to be pivotal in further developing the technology. The Air Force Rocket Cargo Initiative, a new partnership between the U.S. Air Force and the Space Force, will use what SpaceX and other […]

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Aviation Museum has announced that it will be displaying a collection of the personal archives and memorabilia of NASA astronaut Joe Engle. Engle, who participated in the X-15, Apollo and space shuttle programs, and his wife, Jeanie, donated the collection to the EAA Aviation Foundation in 2020. The exhibit will […]

Virgin Galactic got back in the manned space launch business Saturday with the successful flight and recovery of its VSS Unity manned vehicle. The craft, carried by its jet aircraft mothership Eve, took off from Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and was released at 44,000 feet. It rocketed to an altitude of 55.45 […]

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) released the first two images taken by its Zhurong Martian rover on Wednesday. The rover touched down on Utopia Planitia in the planet’s northern hemisphere on May 15, making China the second nation ever to successfully land on Mars. The Tianwen-1 mission, of which the rover is part along […]