NASA completed a two-day Flight Readiness Review (FRR) for the Demo-2 test mission, confirming a launch attempt on May 27 for SpaceX’s first human spaceflight and NASA’s first launch of astronauts on a U.S. system since 2011.
Launch service companies could be given the discretion to decide the optimal launch plan to support the 30 satellites in Tranche 0 of the Space Development Agency’s future military surveillance and communications architecture in low Earth orbit, the agency said May 20.
NASA’s Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return mission team is relaxing previous plans to descend to the surface of its target, called Bennu, to gather surface pebbles and soil for return to Earth, in part due to work constraints imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
British satellite launcher firm Skyrora has undertaken a full static fire test of its Skylark-L rocket, the first test of this scale since the UK’s Black Arrow program 50 years ago.
LONDON—Four UK space companies have teamed up to form a consortium to secure roles in British government programs as the country looks to grow its presence in space.
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 20 for final preparations ahead of launch next week to test SpaceX’s Crew Dragon system.
NASA has renamed its struggling Wide Field Infrared Space Telescope in honor of the late Nancy Grace Roman, a longtime pioneering woman astronomer sometimes referred to as the “Mother of Hubble.”
Boeing, which was shut out of nearly $1 billion of NASA funding to develop human-class lunar landers, said it does not plan to protest the awards, which went to teams led by Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s ninth resupply mission was on course to reach the three-person International Space Station (ISS) early May 25 following a May 20 liftoff from the Tanegashima Space Center.
The concept of planetary protection—the prevention of life forms on other planets from infecting Earth and preventing terrestrial life forms from contaminating other worlds—has a long history.
Two days before he was to chair the Flight Readiness Review for the SpaceX Demo-2 mission, marking the return of U.S. human orbital flight capability, NASA Associate Administrator Douglas Loverro is leaving the agency.
NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility began a reopening May 18 for some mission-critical activities due to a decrease in COVID-19 illness reported in the New Orleans area.
Citing concerns about Tropical Storm Arthur, which was passing off the coast of North Carolina on May 18, SpaceX is standing down from its planned May 19 launch of a Falcon 9 rocket to build out its Starlink network, putting the long-awaited flight test of a crewed Dragon spacecraft next on the launch schedule.
BEIJING—China is likely to finish its Beidou 3 satellite navigation system six months before the original program target of the end of 2020, with the 30th and final spacecraft due to go into orbit next month.
After a one-day delay due to poor weather, the 197-ft. (60-m) tall Atlas V lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41 at 9:14 a.m. EDT to deliver an Air Force X-37B test vehicle into orbit for a sixth mission.
Virgin Orbit completed a second dress rehearsal of its LauncherOne small satellite launch system on May 15, but plans to conduct some additional testing ahead of the vehicle’s orbital test flight, targeted for later this month.
The U.S. Defense Department has signed a contract with Capella Space to provide airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and analytic services to the U.S. Navy.
Seeking a future, energy-efficient ride to cislunar space, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has launched a demonstration program for a spacecraft powered by a nuclear thermal propulsion system.
Using the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty as a blueprint, NASA on May 15 unveiled a framework for conducting missions on and around the Moon that it hopes to parlay into a series of bilateral agreements with other countries.
