Spaceflight

How about a wager? Which comes first, the FAA’s vaunted NextGen collapses in scandal and budget overruns or someone—anyone—actually launches a space tourist without turning him or her into a cosmic cinder? Although there’s a Voodoo doll with my name on it at 800 Independence Ave. and restraint has never been a long suit of […]

Vice President Mike Pence visited NASA’s Johnson Space Center on Thursday and spoke about human spaceflight and the future of U.S. space exploration. The vice president reiterated intentions to provide support for manned missions to the moon and eventually to Mars. The administration’s space exploration goals were initially laid out in Space Policy Directive 1, […]

The FAA has designated Front Range Airport in Colorado as a spaceport, local authorities announced this week. The general aviation airport, located just outside Denver, is now the 11th spaceport in the U.S. and the first in Colorado. “Leaders across our state made the case that Colorado—with its robust aerospace and tech industries, strategic location […]

With their giant satellite-launching high-altitude plane now preparing for first flight, Stratolaunch announced on Monday they are developing “a new family of launch vehicles” that will begin regular service in 2020. The vehicles will launch from the airplane and carry satellites to orbit to “make access to space convenient, affordable and routine,” the company says. […]

NASA has announced new partnerships with six U.S. companies to develop technologies related to space exploration. The accepted proposals cover three strategic technology focus areas: Expand Utilization of Space, Enable Efficient and Safe Transportation Into and Through Space, and Increase Access to Planetary Surfaces. Altogether, NASA will be awarding approximately $44 million dollars to the […]

NASA has announced the names of nine astronauts who will be among the first people to launch into space aboard commercially built spacecraft. After the initial test flights, crews will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) using the Boeing Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner and the SpaceX Crew Dragon. These missions will mark the […]

Virgin Galactic test pilots flew VSS Unity from the Mojave Air and Space Port to 170,800 feet on Thursday morning, the company said, marking the company’s highest flight yet. The rocket-powered ship, flying at supersonic speeds, flew though the stratosphere and reached the mesosphere for the first time. “This was a new altitude record for […]

As private space launches increase and diversify, those activities are causing “significant impacts” on commercial aviation, according to a white paper (PDF) published by ALPA last week. Those impacts include flight delays, flight-plan alterations, increased distance flown, longer flight times, flight cancellations, crew duty cycle changes, gate slot management and added fuel burn. As one […]

Boeing’s New Hypersonic Concept I’d love to see the technology advance. I’ve been following Reaction Engines in the U.K. for several years. The have a very interesting concept for using ultra-high-efficiency heat exchangers to produce oxygen from the air to use in rocket propulsion, thus reducing the need for the weight of O2 on board. […]

Congress needs to take action now to ensure that commercial space operations are safely integrated into the national airspace, ALPA president Tim Canoll told the U.S. House aviation subcommittee on Tuesday. The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation must work with the industry to develop standards for communication, navigation and surveillance, Canoll said, and certify […]