Space news

NASA’s Orion spacecraft fired its main engine Friday to slip into a distant lunar orbit, putting it on course to range farther from Earth than any of the Apollo astronauts flew in humanity’s first exploration of the moon.

SpaceX launched an all-new Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule Saturday from Kennedy Space Center on a mission to deliver new roll-out solar arrays, belated Thanksgiving treats, CubeSats, and a cornucopia of experiments to the International Space Station.

A brand new SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched a new cargo Dragon spacecraft Nov. 26, carrying supplies, experiments and new solar arrays for the International Space Station.

SpaceX’s 26th commercial resupply mission for NASA is on its way to the International Space Station.

Together for the first time. She's a longtime SLS critic who served a decade in senior NASA roles under Clinton and Obama. He's a Republican ex-congressman who ran NASA for three years under Trump.

India’s space agency ISRO launched a one-ton Earth observation satellite and eight nanosatellites to sun-synchronous polar orbit Nov. 26 aboard the nation’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.

India launched a satellite Saturday to measure ocean winds and water temperatures, adding a key data source for weather forecasters tracking tropical cyclone development around the world.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft entered a high-altitude orbit around the moon Nov. 25 in the latest major step in the Artemis 1 uncrewed test flight.

NASA will host a news conference at 5 p.m. EST Monday, Nov. 28, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to discuss the status of the uncrewed Artemis I flight test as the Orion spacecraft reaches the mid-point of its Moon mission and its farthest distance from Earth at nearly 270,000 miles away.

India launched a new ocean monitoring satellite on Saturday morning, using its PSLV rocket to deliver the EOS-06 spacecraft into a low Earth orbit. The mission, PSLV C54, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11:56 local time (06:26 UTC).

NASA has selected Rocket Lab to launch the remaining four cubesats of a constellation to monitor tropical weather systems after the first two were lost in an Astra launch failure.

RS Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #56: During preparations for today’s Russian EVA, both the primary and backup cooling pumps on EV1’s Orlan showed unstable behavior. After unsuccessful attempts at troubleshooting, the EVA has been cancelled. The European Robotic Arm (ERA) has been returned to its stowed configuration, and the crew and ground teams are backing out of the …

Arianespace said Nov. 25 it is delaying the first commercial flight for Europe’s upgraded Vega C rocket by nearly a month to replace defective equipment.

Earlier this year, Astra set out to launch a mission with its now-discontinued Rocket 3.3 vehicle. With midday trading underway on stock exchanges, Astra’s stock plunged after the rocket triggered an abort shortly after igniting its engines. The launch was halted, and so was the stock.

ESA has selected its first new astronauts in more than a decade, although long-term flight opportunities for the agency’s astronaut corps remain uncertain.

European Space Agency member states have provided the agency with 16.9 billion euros ($17.5 billion) for the next three years, a significant increase over 2019 but more than 1.5 billion euros below what the agency sought.

Payloads: ISS Ham Pass: The crew participated in an ISS Ham pass with Five Bridges Junior High School, Stillwater Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada. Some of the questions asked by the students included if the ISS crew works in different shifts, what will replace the ISS in low Earth orbit if it is retired in 2030, …

With the Orion spacecraft soaring through its mission with flying colors so far, the capsule will soon enter its Distant Retrograde Orbit of the Moon with significant tests of various capsule and service module systems progressing.

"I am very glad to say that we have found a positive way forward."

NASA has selected Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Long Beach, California, to provide the launch service for the agency’s Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission, as part of the agency's Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract.

SpaceX overcame a bleak weather forecast to launch a satellite Nov. 22 that expands Eutelsat further into fast-growing markets for providing broadband to planes and ships.

Echostar said Nov. 22 that Maxar Technologies is providing compensation for production issues that have delayed the launch of its Jupiter 3 satellite to at least the first half of 2023.

China intends to use its newly-completed Tiangong space station to test key technologies required for space-based polar power.

The Hungarian government plans to spend $100 million to send an astronaut to the International Space Station in two years through a deal with Axiom Space.

An agreement among three European countries could help secure near-term funding for launch vehicle development but have a bigger effect in the long term on how future projects are financed.

Despite a bleak weather forecast, SpaceX took advantage of a break in cloud cover over Cape Canaveral Tuesday night to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with the Eutelsat 10B communications satellite, a high-throughput relay platform to beam in-flight WiFi signals and maritime data services across a coverage zone from the North Atlantic to the Middle East. SpaceX did not attempt to recover the Falcon 9’s first stage booster.

The U.S. Special Operations Command awarded Viasat a $325 million contract to provide communications equipment and networking services over the next five years.

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting 2:20 p.m. EST Saturday, Nov. 26, to launch the company’s 26th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station.

The Space Force on Nov. 22 formally established a unit within U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

SpaceX has launched the Eutelsat-10B communication satellite into a supersynchronous geostationary transfer orbit. A Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket carrying the satellite lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 9:57 PM EST (02:57 UTC on Nov. 23).

The satellite communications industry could be just years away from being able to run modems and other ground station hardware in the cloud, although many technical challenges remain to be solved.

NASA is seeking public comments on a draft environmental impact statement for the agency’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign. Comments are due by Monday, Dec. 19.

"This is a dream for many of us who work at NASA."

The European Space Agency is looking to create a more sustainable path for space, starting with growing commercial partnerships in lunar exploration.

As European ministers gather to allocate funding for European Space Agency programs for the next three years, agency leadership is optimistic about winning support for its priorities.

SpaceX has expended a Falcon booster for the third time this month, breaking an odd internal record for a company famous for...

SpaceX called off a launch attempt Tuesday due to bad weather at Kennedy Space Center, delaying until Saturday the start of a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

NASA’s unpiloted Orion moonship, sailing smoothly toward a remote lunar orbit after a spectacular low-altitude flyby Monday, is operating in near-flawless fashion, mission managers reported Monday, out-performing expectations on a flight needed to pave the way toward the first piloted mission in 2024.

The first test flight of ABL Space Systems’ new small satellite launcher from Alaska has been delayed until no earlier than December after technical issues cut short three launch attempts in the last week.

Update: The first of two SpaceX launch attempts scheduled on Tuesday, November 22nd has been called off by poor weather. The weather...

NASA has awarded the NASA Financial Support Services (NFSS) contract to MM Technologies LLC (MMT) of Huntsville, Alabama, to provide financial support and related services...

The Space Force is researching industry interest in the follow-on to the $94 million Launch Manifest Systems Integration contract that Parsons Corp. won in 2019

Payloads: Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Media Take Part 2: Using a JAXA camcorder, the crew participated in a live interview and recorded a session to discuss several subjects. The JAXA Public Relations Activity (JAXA EPO) includes conducting cultural activities such as writing reports about and filming video of activities aboard the ISS. These tools …

NASA's CAPSTONE spacecraft has completed final maneuvers to place it in its target orbit around the Moon, refining its path in the orbit it arrived to last week.

NASA’s unpiloted Orion spacecraft fired its main engine for two-and-a-half minutes Monday just before the capsule soared 81 miles from the surface of the moon, completing a flyby maneuver to bend its trajectory toward a distant orbit for more testing ahead of future lunar missions with astronauts.

A second pair of new roll-out solar arrays to upgrade the International Space Station’s power system is set for launch as soon as Tuesday on a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship. Astronauts will help deploy the power-generating solar wings during a pair of spacewalks next week.

The silvery spacecraft is on its way to an elongated orbit around the Moon.

A Canadian startup is developing a rover it plans to launch to the moon in the next few years to provide power to other spacecraft on the lunar surface.

NASA will host a news conference at 5 p.m. EST today, Monday, Nov. 21, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to discuss Orion’s lunar flyby as part of the Artemis I mission.

The Space Force is bucking traditional military procurement programs with a shop built to buy technologies that the space industry provides as a service.