Virgin Galactic has completed post-flight inspections and root cause analysis of last month’s thwarted suborbital flight test of SpaceShipTwo, the company said on Jan. 7.
Satisfied with the Space Launch System’s recent Wet Dress Rehearsal, NASA is looking to conduct the first simultaneous ground test firing of the heavy rocket’s four RS-25 engines as early as Jan. 17.
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus resupply spacecraft was unberthed from the International Space Station on Jan. 6 to begin the three-week, free-flight phase of its lengthy mission.
The European Commission (EC) has launched a feasibility study for an EU-owned, space-based communication system that would use quantum technology for secure connectivity.
The U.S. Space Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $4.9 billion undefinitized contract modification to build three geosynchronous Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared satellites.
NASA will invest nearly $110 million in a pair of solar science missions, one teaming the agency with the Japanese and European space agencies to study eruptive solar activity and another assessing electrical currents within the Earth’s atmosphere linked to auroral activity.
The White House has issued an interagency strategy for protecting the Earth and other planetary bodies from cross contamination of potentially harmful biological entities.
Arianespace has successfully delivered the French CSO-2 Earth observation satellite into Sun-synchronous orbit aboard a Russian-built Soyuz ST-A medium-lift launch vehicle.
Denver-based Voyager Space Holdings, Inc. plans to acquire a majority stake in XO Markets and its largest subsidiary, Houston-based Nanoracks, which earlier this month launched the commercial Bishop airlock to the International Space Station.
The decision late Dec. 22 by the U.S. Government Accountability Office blocks Raytheon’s repeated attempts to force the SDA to start over by issuing a new request for proposals.
Axiom Space, the space station startup, on Dec. 22 announced plans to create a 14-acre headquarters campus at Houston Spaceport to train private astronauts and begin production of its Axiom Station.
The latest challenge from Raytheon again risks delaying the schedule for fielding the first tranche of the SDA’s Tracking Layer of missile-warning satellites in low Earth orbit, but agency officials say the program remains on track.
The Space Launch System’s Exploration Upper Stage that is to support NASA’s Artemis initiative goal of establishing a permanent human presence at the Moon has cleared the Critical Design Review phase of its development.
NASA and prime contractor Boeing are probing the premature shutdown of a simulated countdown sequence during the Dec. 20 Wet Dress Rehearsal for the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket.
Nanoracks’ commercial airlock, which was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this month aboard the first launch of SpaceX’s upgraded cargo version of the Dragon capsule, has been successfully removed from the freighter’s unpressurized trunk and berthed to the port side of the orbital outpost’s U.S. segment Tranquility module.
The agreement on the all-cash transaction includes a $5 per share, pre-closing special dividends to Aerojet’s shareholders, reducing the post-dividend value of the deal to $4.6 billion.
