Space Flight

Environmental groups are asking the FAA to do a full-scale environmental assessment on SpaceX’s explosion-prone facility in Texas. Seven organizations have jointly signed a letter to three FAA administrators to look into the activities at the Boca Chica assembly and live test site in south Texas. The site is used for development and testing of […]

A joint NASA-Boeing independent review team has completed its evaluation of three anomalies that occurred during the December 2019 orbital flight test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew capsule. During the uncrewed test, the Starliner team ran into intermittent space-to-ground communication issues and two software coding errors that resulted in the capsule failing to make it […]

NASA has announced the selection of Kathy Lueders as the agency’s next associate administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate. Lueders replaces Doug Loverro, who resigned from the position on May 18, less than two weeks before the first crewed launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. Although the exact circumstances that led to […]

SpaceX is four for four on the loss of prototypes of its silo-like Starship interplanetary vehicle after Serial Number 4 (SN4) blew up on the test bed in Boca Chica, Texas, on Friday. The spectacular explosion came on the eve of SpaceX’s first manned launch of its Crew Dragon capsule at Cape Canaveral on Saturday. […]

NASA has announced that it will provide nearly $2.4 million in funding to six universities as part of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges program. According to NASA, the program is designed to “connect … students to the science, technology and missions of Artemis through authentic, mission-driven experiences and learning opportunities.” Artemis Student Challenges is led […]

NASA has announced that it is planning to launch the first crewed mission using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft at 4:32 p.m. EDT on May 27, 2020. The Crew Dragon will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard. According […]

Elon Musk’s prediction of multiple failures of SpaceX’s Starship program came true again on Thursday with a different kind of utter destruction. The SN3 prototype of the silo-like vehicle that is purported to be the future of interplanetary space travel this time appeared to implode before collapsing in a heap of twisted stainless steel. The […]

NASA astronaut Alfred “Al” Worden passed away on Wednesday at the age of 88. Worden was the command module pilot for the 1971 Apollo 15 lunar landing mission, orbiting the Moon while David Scott and James Irwin landed on the surface. On the return trip to Earth, Worden became the first person to conduct a […]

SpaceX blew up another spacecraft on Friday and the company says it likely won’t be the last. The second prototype for the Starship interplanetary vehicle blew to pieces during a liquid nitrogen pressure test at the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, facilities. Friday’s spectacular failure was the second in six months and CEO Elon Musk has […]

Northrop Grumman subsidiary SpaceLogistics successfully docked its first mission extension vehicle (MEV-1) with commercial communications satellite Intelsat 901 (IS-901) on Tuesday. The maneuver marks the first time two commercial satellites have docked in orbit. MEV-1 will remain docked with IS-901 for five years, using its own thrusters and fuel supply to extend the satellite’s life. […]