Space news

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson released this statement Thursday following approval by the U.S. Congress for the NASA Authorization Act of 2022, which is part of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act of 2022.

It was December 29 of last year when Ship 20 performed its fourth and final static fire test. That was the last time any Starship vehicle had performed a static fire test. However, Ship 24 is now being readied to undergo a similar test campaign in preparation for the launch of Starship’s first orbital test flight.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on July 28 unveiled 12 appropriations draft bills for the upcoming fiscal year, including a defense spending bill recommending $792 billion for the Defense Department.

Northrop Grumman does not expect an ongoing antitrust review of its acquisition of Orbital ATK to have any “adverse impact” on the company, said CEO Kathy Warden.

The NASA Armstrong Employee Exchange Council presented the 2022 John W. Russell Memorial Scholarship Award to Katelyn Perez.

Are the moons of Uranus "relic" ocean worlds like Ceres or active ocean worlds like Enceladus? A proposed flagship mission aims to find out.

Boeing said July 27 it will take another charge against its earnings because of the CST-100 Starliner commercial crew program as the company and NASA get closer to a first flight of the vehicle with astronauts on board.

President Biden has nominated Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, U.S. Space Force deputy chief of operations, for promotion to four-star general and selected to become chief of space operations

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck: All the talk about responsive launch often ignores the reality that if satellites aren’t ready on time, they can’t take advantage of rapid launch capabilities

NASA and the European Space Agency have revised their plans to return samples from Mars, removing a rover and its lander from the effort and replacing them with helicopters modeled on Ingenuity.

Satellite operator Iridium Communications said July 26 it has entered into a development agreement to enable its technology in smartphones.

Rocket Lab's solar power business will supply solar cells for three missile-warning satellites that Lockheed Martin is building for the U.S. Space Force.

NASA will host a pair of briefings on Wednesday, Aug. 3, and Friday, Aug. 5, to preview the upcoming Artemis I lunar mission.

NASA’s Shane Kimbrough is retiring after 22 years, including 18 years as an astronaut. His last day with the agency is Sunday, July 31.

The newly deployed Sojourner rover – the first of its kind on the Red Planet – sits on the Martian surface after driving down Pathfinder’s ramp.

With the Artemis 1 mission just weeks away from launch, teams at NASA and the program’s contractors are carrying out final preparations for this major milestone in the effort to return humans to the Moon. NASASpaceflight sat down with Mike Hawes, the Vice President and Program Manager for Orion at Lockheed Martin to discuss how the company was preparing its spacecraft for this mission.

The sixth and final Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO 6) satellite is atop its United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket for delivery into a customized geosynchronous transfer orbit that will enhance spacecraft resil...

NASA has finished the system requirements review for its Mars Sample Return Program, which is nearing completion of the conceptual design phase.

NASA is preparing to award a contract to a Boeing-Northrop Grumman joint venture for Space Launch System missions that could run through the middle of the next decade.

Chinese launch services provider CAS Space successfully placed six small satellites in orbit early Wednesday with the first launch of the Lijian-1 solid rocket.

Five missile-detection satellites built by L3Harris under Pentagon contracts are projected to launch in 2023.

Lockheed Martin and Maxar Space won contracts worth $5 million apiece to help define the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s future geostationary weather satellites.

SpaceX has applied for more spectrum to upgrade Starlink satellite broadband services for mobile users.

OneWeb and Eutelsat announced plans to merge Tuesday, bringing together OneWeb’s network of internet satellites in low Earth orbit with Eutelsat’s fleet of larger video, data relay, and broadband platforms in geostationary orbit. OneWeb says it is on track to resume deploying its remaining internet satellites as soon as September, with three SpaceX flights and two Indian launches on tap to replace Russian Soyuz rockets no longer available after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Viasat said July 26 it has been selected to study multi-orbit satellite networks for the European Space Agency.

Wallaroo Labs won a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research study contract from the U.S. Space Force to model the performance of machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms during space missions.

As NASA prepares for the first integrated flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft to the Moon this summer as part of Artemis, the agency is moving toward a services contract model for long-term SLS hardware production and operations to reduce costs.

The first stage of the Long March 5B rocket which launched China’s Wentian space station module could reenter the atmosphere around July 31, according to a prediction from the Aerospace Corporation.

As tensions continue to grow between Russia and the West over the ongoing war in Ukraine, Moscow has announced it will quit the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024.

Russia will pull out of the International Space Station project after 2024, the new director of the Russian space program said Tuesday, but no firm dates or plans were revealed and it was not immediately clear what, if anything, might change in the near term.

Recently analyzed data from an asteroid surface-sample collection performed by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed that asteroid 101955 Bennu’s surface regolith is much looser than previously thought. Had OSIRIS-REx not fired its thrusters to back away from Bennu after collecting its sample, the spacecraft likely would’ve sunk straight into Bennu’s surface.

NASA officials said July 26 they have received no official notification from Roscosmos of plans to end cooperation on the International Space Station despite comments from that agency’s new leader.

Astronomer Jane Greaves presents new findings that could support of phosphine in the clouds of Venus.

Sierra Space has created a group of former government officials, including a retired vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a NASA deputy administrator, to advise the company as it seeks to win national security business.

Orbit Fab, a startup that is developing an infrastructure for in-space refueling of spacecraft, announced plans to purchase a small amount of lunar regolith and transfer it to a trust to promote sustainable management of lunar resources.

HawkEye 360 has opened a new manufacturing facility near its northern Virginia headquarters that will help the company accelerate the deployment of its constellation of radio-frequency (RF) monitoring satellites.

The Defense Innovation Unit is funding space projects that the agency hopes will spur commercial investments in satellite refueling technologies and support services for geostationary satellites.

NASA will highlight groundbreaking discoveries, benefits for humanity, and how the agency and its commercial and international partners will maximize research and development aboard the International Space Station at the 11th annual International Space Station Research and Development Conference.

Dennis Andrucyk, director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has announced his intent to retire after more than 36 years of federal service, including multiple leadership roles at NASA and as Goddard’s director since January 2020.

Boeing is continuing final assembly work for the second Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, with plans to complete production and deliver the rocket stage to NASA next year in March 2023. The space agency’s prime contractor for SLS Core Stages is wrapping up standalone integration of the engine section/boattail assembly of the most complicated element of the launch vehicle.

NASA will highlight groundbreaking discoveries, benefits for humanity, and how the agency and its commercial and international partners will maximize research and development aboard the International Space Station at the 11th annual International Space Station Research and Development Conference.

SpaceNews spoke with Kyle Whitehill, Avanti’s chief executive officer, to learn more about the British satellite operator’s plans to expand across Africa.

A weekly European spaceflight update with exclusive infographics, in-depth analysis, and a review of the week's biggest announcements.

Eutelsat and OneWeb said July 26 they have agreed a plan to merge their businesses to create a global multi-orbit satellite broadband operator.

SpaceX and NASA have delayed the launch of the next U.S. crew flight to the International Space Station from early September to no earlier than Sept. 29, allowing time for ground teams to replace an interstage on the mission’s new Falcon 9 booster after it was damaged during transport.

China’s Tiangong space station received a new room Sunday with the docking of the Wentian laboratory module, a half-day after launching on a heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket. The three-person crew on the Chinese space station later opened hatches and floated inside the new science module for the first time.