Space Flight

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. […]

NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson passed away today at the age of 101. Johnson was known for her work on historic missions and projects including America’s first human spaceflight (Alan Shepard—Freedom 7) and first orbital spaceflight (John Glenn—Friendship 7), syncing Project Apollo’s lunar module with the command module, the Space Shuttle program and the Earth Resources […]

Michael “Mad Mike” Hughes was killed in the crash of his homemade steam-powered rocket Saturday in California. It was the second launch for Hughes in his mission to prove the Earth is flat by eventually taking photos of the lack of curvature of the planet from space. Hughes, 64, launched from the desert northeast of […]

Boeing came close to losing its Starliner crew capsule during the abortive test flight in December in which the spacecraft failed to reach the correct orbit. A software-related timing issue caused that problem but another software glitch almost sent the vehicle tumbling out of control after it had reached orbit. Had engineers not caught the […]

The Airbus-built Solar Orbiter satellite has been successfully mounted on top of an Atlas V 411 launch rocket and is ready to fly, Airbus announced on Tuesday. The European Space Agency (ESA) mission is designed to study “how the Sun creates and controls the giant bubble of plasma surrounding the Solar System and influences the […]

SpaceX says it could send astronauts to the International Space Station as early as April after achieving the last major milestone of its Dragon manned capsule program on Sunday. The company fired off a Falcon 9 rocket topped with a crew capsule and tested the emergency escape system before blowing up the rocket, which had […]

The U.S. Air Force announced on Monday that the Fourteenth Air Force has officially been redesignated as Space Operations Command (SPOC). With the redesignation, all military and civilian personnel previously assigned to the Fourteenth Air Force are now assigned to SPOC. According to the Air Force, SPOC will support the United States Space Force’s (USSF) […]