Spaceflight

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called for the resignation of FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker, following testimony the FAA chief gave earlier this week, as tensions between the company and FAA heat up. During a hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Tuesday, Whitaker addressed the more than $630,000 in fines the […]

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is drawing criticism from both industry stakeholders and members of Congress regarding its handling of commercial space launch licensing During a House space subcommittee hearing this week, industry officials and  lawmakers called out the agency on its implementation of new launch licensing regulations known as Part 450. According to SpaceNews, […]

NASA confirmed Boeing’s Starliner will undock from the International Space Station and make its return to earth on Friday evening without astronauts onboard. Boeing and NASA expressed confidence that Starliner would not encounter any issues before making a planned parachute landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. However, astronauts Suni Williams and Butch […]

When it leaves the International Space Station next Friday, Boeing’s troubled Starliner crew capsule may not be going quietly into the night. The spacecraft started making a funny noise on Saturday shortly after it was announced that Boeing would attempt to return the vehicle autonomously to Earth on Sept. 6. Astronaut Butch Wilmore, who rode […]

Former astronaut Gen. Joe Engle died July 10 at the age of 91. Engle was an accomplished Air Force pilot with the distinction of flying two different winged spacecraft, the X-15 and the Space Shuttle. Beyond that he flew 185 aircraft and accumulated 15,400 hours, including the first operational shuttle flight and another later on. […]

SpaceX’s ubiquitous Falcon 9 rockets have been grounded after one malfunctioned while attempting to deliver a batch of internet satellites into orbit on Thursday night. The launch, which occurred around 10:30 p.m. local time at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, is a rare mishap for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which routinely flies NASA astronauts […]

Plans to break ground on a new Las Vegas airport are progressing following the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) recent approval of the project. Las Vegas Executive Airport will be located some 30 miles southwest of Harry Reid International Airport and will accommodate single-engine, multi-engine and rotorcraft operations. Clark County Commissioners unanimously approved runway construction for […]

A valve issue caused NASA to scrub the first crewed launch of the Boeing Starliner capsule on Monday. The problem with the relief valve on the upper stage of the Atlas rocket was detected about two hours before the scheduled 10:34 p.m. launch from Cape Canaveral. “In a situation like this, if we see any […]

The FAA has officially closed its investigation into the crash of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket system shortly after launch on Sept. 12, 2022. According to the agency, the loss of the uncrewed research mission was the result of the “structural failure of an engine nozzle caused by higher than expected engine operating temperatures.” […]

The NASA-SpaceX Crew-6 mission made a safe return to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, splashing down off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev spent 186 days in space for Crew-6. The mission was the […]