Space Flight

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 […]

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft has started its return journey after almost five years in space. The trip is expected to take 2.5 years with OSIRIS-REx currently due to reach Earth on Sept. 24, 2023. As previously reported by AVweb, the spacecraft touched down briefly on asteroid Bennu last […]

NASA is expanding the test envelope for the Ingenuity space copter after a series of successful sorties on Mars. Last month, Ingenuity, become the first lift-supported aircraft to fly on another planet. With Ingenuity having met its early goals, NASA has expanded the experiment to an “operational demonstration,” planned to stretch Ingenuity’s range and explore different […]

The FAA has announced that it is adding more space launch activity area markers to pilot navigation charts with the goal of “increasing pilot safety and airspace awareness.” Citing a significant increase in commercial space operations, the agency emphasized that pilots flying near space launch activity areas should check the NOTAM database for any space […]

SpaceX wrapped up the fifth high-altitude flight test of its Starship prototype with a successful landing on Wednesday evening. The prototype used for Wednesday’s flight, SN15, is the first to avoid what SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has termed “rapid unscheduled disassembly” during testing. While the testing procedure was similar to that of the four previous […]

The unsuccessful bidders in NASA’s lunar lander contract have protested the award to SpaceX so the process is on hold until the Government Accountability Office assesses the protests. NASA announced two weeks ago that SpaceX had been awarded a $2.9 billion contract to build the vehicle that will return astronauts to the moon for the […]

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Thursday to confirm former astronaut and senator Bill Nelson as the 14th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He takes over from acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk. Nelson, who went to space in 1986 as payload specialist on space shuttle Columbia, represented Florida in the U.S. […]