Spaceflight

I went off to the multiplex over the weekend to see Gravity, fully expecting to be underwhelmed by a film thats been exceptionally hyped. I walked out of the theatre dumbstruck, wondering how director Alfonso Cuarn pulled this thing off and impressed with how, a day later, I was still in its grip. If no […]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking to build a “reusable hypersonic aircraft” capable of speeds beyond Mach 10 to deliver payloads of up to 5,000 pounds into low earth orbit for less than $5 million per launch. DARPA will more fully explain the project in October, but for now is seeking to […]

Virgin Galactic tested its SpaceShipTwo, space-tourist-carrying vehicle Thursday over the Mojave Desert, exceeding Mach 1 and achieving an altitude of nearly 70,000 feet while demonstrating less than rock-solid stability. The vehicle was dropped at 46,000 feet and climbed under rocket power for 20 seconds, reaching 69,000 feet and 1.43 Mach (nearly 1,100 mph) with two […]

The 10-story “Grasshopper” rocket created by SpaceX was successfully flown to hover on August 13, and then returned to land on its launch platform after executing a lateral maneuver, the company said Wednesday. The test carried the rocket to an altitude of 250 meters and incorporated a lateral shift of 100 meters. The Grasshopper rocket […]

The SpaceShipTwo space tourism vehicle operated by Virgin Galactic is expected to fly into space this year during testing with commercial operations to commence “not too long after,” the company said Tuesday. Virgin Galactic is finalizing customer options and says there will be different price ranges for different experiences. Some 580 customers ranging in age […]

A retired Air Force Lt. Colonel and a former NASA space shuttle commander have been hired to fly space tourists in Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, the company has announced. Michael “Sooch” Masucci has 30 years of civilian and military operational and test flying, according to the company, has served as a U-2 pilot with the Air […]

Don’t see a video screen?Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page.If that doesn’t work, click here to watch on YouTube. The first powered flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo propelled the passenger spacecraft faster than the speed of sound in a milestone test flight over the high desert of southern California Monday morning. “The first […]

The NASA/JPL Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Project Team will receive the 2012 Robert J. Collier Trophy, the National Aeronautic Association announced on Tuesday. In choosing the project from a field of seven nominees, the committee cited the”extraordinary achievements of successfully landing Curiosity on Mars, advancing the nation’s technological and engineering capabilities, and significantly improving humanity’s understanding […]