Space Flight

It would appear an engine swap is next for Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity suborbital spacecraft after an aborted test flight from its new spaceport near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. “The ignition sequence for the rocket motor did not complete,” the company tweeted after the early-morning flight. “Vehicle and crew are in great shape. We […]

SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype exploded during landing following a successful high-altitude flight test on Wednesday. The uncrewed prototype, serial number 8 (SN8), flew for 6 minutes 42 seconds, completing a series of planned maneuvers and returning to the landing pad before the crash. The test took place at SpaceX’s facility in Cameron County, Texas. “Successful […]

NASA has chosen 18 astronauts who will train for missions on and around the Moon as part of the agency’s Artemis program. The Artemis Team was introduced by Vice President Mike Pence during the eighth National Space Council meeting at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. The program aims to land the first woman and […]

SpaceX plans to launch the eighth version of its Starship interplanetary rocket SN8 to about 50,000 feet with an ambitious test schedule that CEO Elon Musk wouldn’t take odds on its success. The silo-like stainless steel cylinder, which looks a little more spaceship-like with its nose cone attached for the first time, is hoped to […]

Four astronauts, three Americans and one from Japan, are on their way to the International Space Station courtesy of the first operational manned launch by a private company. The four occupants of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, named Resilience, rode a perfect launch from the Kennedy Space Center early Sunday evening after sitting out a […]

Sir Richard Branson hopes to become the second billionaire to go to space in early 2021 to kick off his space tourism business. Branson, the owner of Virgin Galactic, will be on the first flight after the operation is certified by the FAA to take “space tourists” to the edge of space in a reusable […]

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft successfully made contact with asteroid Bennu on Tuesday. The purpose of the brief touch-and-go, the first of its kind accomplished by NASA, was to collect a sample from the asteroid’s surface. Sample collection was conducted using a sampling arm, called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition […]

The FAA has finished a wholesale overhaul of its commercial space launch and reentry regulations, giving launch companies more flexibility and responsibility in scheduling and managing operations. “The old regulations were woefully out of date and really out of step. Industry told us that loud and clear,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in an online […]

In partnership with seven other nations, the United States signed an agreement on Tuesday designed to establish the principles that will guide cooperation among international participants in NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration program. Rooted in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the principles laid out in the Artemis Accords include a commitment to peaceful exploration, transparency and […]

NASA and Boeing have announced that NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore will replace Chris Ferguson as commander for the first crewed mission of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner. Ferguson, a three-time NASA space shuttle veteran, is stepping back from the position for undisclosed personal reasons. He will assume the roles of director of Mission Integration and […]