Recent Updates

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 […]

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 […]

Urban air mobility aircraft (UAM) company Volocopter unveiled the design for its newest electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) at EBACE Connect on Monday. The four-seat, retractable gear VoloConnect is expected to have a range of 100 km (54 NM) and a top cruise speed of 250 km/h (135 knots). Volocopter is also developing […]

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 […]

It’s said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. In the world of homebuilt aircraft, usually more power is better than less, but it’s also true that power without control is just heat and noise. (And there ends your monthly ration of overused aphorisms.) Power is speed and climb performance, but it can also […]

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 FAA has announced that it will be hosting a second virtual edition of its two-part unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/drone) symposium later this year. The first segment of the symposium, called Episode III, is scheduled to take place on June 9-10 followed by Episode IV on Sept. 14-15. As previously reported by AVweb, Episodes I […]

Air taxi developer Wisk Aero has announced plans to provide up to 30 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for short-distance routes in Blade Urban Air Mobility’s U.S. network. Pending certification of its eVTOL design, Wisk says the aircraft will be chartered by Blade while being owned, operated and maintained by Wisk. The partnership […]

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. […]