Spaceflight

One test pilot has died and another has been seriously injured in the crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo during a test flight from Mojave Air and Space Port, California. The company said that the spacecraft suffered an anomaly that resulted in loss of the vehicle. Parachutes were reportedly sighted in the area. One witness said […]

Shortly after liftoff of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares Rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia on Tuesday, Oct. 28, it became apparent to the operators that there was a problem with the launch and they hit the destruct button. Barron Beneski, vice president of corporate communications at Orbital, confirmed that the flight termination system was […]

Friday’s world-record high-altitude skydive by computer scientist Alan Eustace pioneered a new space suit and life support system and the data collected from the jump may inform the design of a six-person capsule now in the works. Eustace, a Google senior executive, established the new record by exiting a balloon at 135,890 feet over Roswell, […]

AVweb’s weekly search of the news in the world of aviation turned up a new exhibit exploring the future of space travel, a major award for Civil Air Patrol, a partnership to support the Unmanned Aircraft System Community and approval of a new flight simulator for the Socata TBM-series aircraft. Space Center Houston’s newest exhibit, […]

Virgin Galactic, the privately funded space company owned by Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Group and Abu Dhabis aabar Investments PJS, and Spaceport America announcedthat they have signed a joint agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration that helps clear the path for commercial flights of SpaceShipTwo. The agreement sets out the parameters for how routine space […]

At last weeks UAV show in Orlando, the pre-day was held at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Ostensibly, the AUVSI had a flight display line there, but because of what Id call overbearing safety concerns from the FAA, they chased us too far away to see them flying. Disappointing for sure, but also a […]

Although I try to remain detached and aloof from the vulgarity of international politics, I couldnt resist just this one time. Did you see this news itemin which Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin, torqued at U.S. sanctions against Russia for stealing Crimea, suggested that we use a trampoline to deliver our astronauts to the […]

A crowd-funded campaign for the not-for-profit Perlan Project aims to raise more than $2 million to build the Perlan II sailplane and send it to a near-space altitude of more than 90,000 feet. The project hopes to use stratospheric mountain waves and the polar vortex to reach the target altitudes and to collect atmospheric data […]

An Air Force mission will on November 19 deliver into orbit a small satellite, dubbed TJCubeSat, which will be the first orbiting satellite designed and built by high school students. The launch will take place at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport operated at NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. Students from the Thomas Jefferson High […]

That faint humming sound you hear is the media-industrial complex gearing up for the first commercial space tourism flights, which Virgin Galactic seems likely to pull off next year, if not sooner. On NBC news Friday, I saw an advance story on Virgin Galactic with an interview with Richard Branson. Its pre-promo; NBC has signed […]