Startup Rhea Space Activity is to study a solar-thermal propulsion system capable of rapidly repositioning a deep-space communications spacecraft for the U.S. Space Force.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory ended a mission on May 31 that was studying advanced spacecraft control techniques and the challenges of flight in medium Earth orbit.
Rocket Lab has modified the design and manufacture of the igniter for the Rutherford engine after a fault in this system was identified as the root cause of the company’s Electron launch vehicle failure on May 15.
A Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft was transported to its launchpad at Cape Canaveral and mounted on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in preparation for liftoff on July 30.
The Hubble Space Telescope, now 31 years old, resumed science operations over the weekend following a June 13 interruption eventually traced to the observatory’s Primary Payload Computer.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said the spacecraft blasted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and landed “horizontally” in Inner Mongolia.
An 18-year-old student on a gap year before college will join Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and aviation pioneer Wally Funk on Blue Origin’s first human spaceflight, slated to launch on July 20, the company said on July 15.
In its latest defense white paper, the Japanese defense ministry names China as its main security threat and for the first time includes the stability of Taiwan in the annual report.
NASA is making progress in the development of a new spacesuit design to return human explorers to the Moon’s surface and outfit a wide range of male and female astronauts.
Masten Space Systems will demonstrate a prototype of a GPS-like positioning, navigation and timing system on the Moon for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Mojave, California-based company announced on July 13.
The newly formed U.S. Space Force has not done enough to realize the space force vision, which was founded in large part to fix lasting issues with acquisition, according to draft legislation passed by the House Appropriations Committee.
The FAA has approved a modification to Blue Origin’s launch license to fly passengers, clearing the way for company founder and financier Jeff Bezos and three crewmates to fly on the New Shepard suborbital launch system on July 20, pending weather and technical checks.
SpaceShipTwo Unity glided to a landing at 9:32 am on July 11 after successfully providing a six-member crew, including Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, a few minutes of weightlessness in space.
Footage of VMS Eve taking off from the runway of Spaceport America in New Mexico on the 22nd flight test for VSS Unity, this one with a crew of two pilots and four mission specialists.
NASA and Northrop Grumman have finalized a $935 million contract for development of the lunar Habitation and Logistics Outpost module, which along with the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) will comprise the initial components of the agency’s human-tended, lunar-orbiting Gateway.
