Space news

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 crew members achieved a critical prelaunch milestone by completing their dry dress rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev practiced launch day operations, including suiting up, traveling to the pad, and boarding […]

Expedition 74 began the week setting up pharmaceutical and exercise research hardware continuing ongoing studies to advance human health on and off the Earth. The orbital trio aboard the International Space Station also simulated a quick return to Earth scenario aboard the Soyuz spacecraft as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission targets a new launch date.

The crew of NASA’s Crew-12 mission arrived at Kennedy Space Center on February 6th, ahead of their planned launch to the International Space Station on Thursday, February 12th.

Have you ever heard the saying, “You have to learn how to walk before you can run?” The same can be true in human space exploration. To push capabilities further and ensure safe, successful missions, NASA must test ideas and solve challenges ahead of time. While Earth-based research and engineering helps NASA progress through various […]

During a stretch of frigid weather in late January 2026, ice choked the Hudson River along Manhattan’s western shore. The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 captured this image of the wintry landscape around midday on Jan. 28. This image uses representational color to distinguish ice (light blue) from open water and snow. Vegetation appears red. Much of […]

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than 5:38 a.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 12, for launch of the Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Mission teams completed a weather review on Monday and elected to waive off a Wednesday, Feb. 11, launch opportunity due to forecast weather conditions along the flight path of the Dragon spacecraft. Weather will continue to be […]

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier 5:38 a.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 12, for launch of the Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Mission teams completed a weather review on Monday and elected to waive off a Wednesday, Feb. 11, launch opportunity due to forecast weather conditions along the flight path of the Dragon spacecraft. Weather will continue to be a […]

"SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon."

The European Space Agency (ESA) has approved the selection of the prime contractor for its Aeolus-2 weather satellite and is preparing to conclude an initial €70 million award to begin the next phase of its development. Aeolus-2 is the planned operational successor to the original Aeolus mission, which was built by Airbus Defence and Space […] The post ESA is Preparing to Announce Aeolus-2 Prime Contractor appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Germany’s top intelligence officials made waves last year by calling for the creation of a European spy network to lessen Europe’s dependence on American intelligence. After Washington’s sudden freeze of American intelligence sharing with Ukraine in March, German officials — and their European counterparts — have grown increasingly attuned to deficiencies in key capabilities they […] The post There’s a way forward for sovereign European space intel, but is there the will? appeared first on SpaceNews.

For its most powerful flight yet, Ariane 6 lifts off for the first time with four boosters.

New York NY (SPX) Feb 09, 2026 When Artemis II finally lights its engines and arcs away from Cape Canaveral, it will do more than send four astronauts on a ten-day loop around the Moon. It will fire the starting gun on a race that Washington and Beijing still insist does not exist and pull Elon Musk's SpaceX into the center of a contest that blends geopolitics, markets and myth. For two years, NASA has framed Artemis as

Washington, United States (AFP) Feb 9, 2026 SpaceX is putting its longstanding focus of sending humans to Mars on the backburner to prioritize establishing a settlement on the Moon, founder Elon Musk said Sunday. The South Africa-born billionaire's space company has found massive success as a NASA contractor, but critics have for years panned Musk's Mars colonization plans as overambitious. The move also puts Musk in alignment wit

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of February 8-14, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session […]

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev answered questions Sunday from the Astronaut Crew Quarters inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During their virtual briefing with the media, Crew-12 discussed their science objections aboard the International […]

The static fire test is an important precursor to the Crew-12 launch, scheduled for the morning of Feb. 11. Ignition at pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 3:16 a.m. EST (0816 UTC).

Washington, United States (AFP) Feb 6, 2026 Four astronauts will blast off to re-staff the International Space Station (ISS) next week, NASA said Friday, after an emergency medical evacuation of the previous crew. Crew-12 will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Wednesday, the US space agency said, with launch time "targeted for no earlier than 6:01 am" local time (1101 GMT). The confirmation provides a sliver of certainty

London, UK (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 Britain has contracted GMV to build a Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer system designed to deliver assured Position, Navigation and Time services for national infrastructure, defense operations, and the wider economy. The system will reduce dependence on Global Navigation Satellite Systems, which remain vulnerable to interference and disruption. GMV won the competitive tender t

London, UK (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 Gilat Satellite Networks has secured a multimillion order from a major global avionics company for its Sidewinder electronically steered antenna inflight connectivity terminals designed by Gilat Stellar Blu, with deliveries scheduled over the next six months. The new contract underscores growing momentum for the Sidewinder ESA platform as airlines and service providers look to deploy advan

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 The shimmering curtains of the aurora form when energetic electrons plunge into Earths upper atmosphere and collide with atoms and molecules, releasing light across the polar skies. For decades, scientists have known that these electrons are accelerated by intense electric fields above the auroral regions, but they lacked a clear explanation for how those fields are generated and sustained in ne

Paris, France (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 Around 14 hours before a partial solar eclipse crossed the Dolomites in northern Italy, a cluster of spruce trees showed a sharp, synchronized rise in electrical activity. A new opinion paper argues that this spike did not reflect any anticipatory response to the eclipse but was instead triggered by a local thunderstorm and nearby lightning. In a widely publicized study, Chiolerio and coll

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 A supermassive black hole that shredded a nearby star is blasting out a jet of energy that has kept brightening for four years, in one of the most powerful events ever recorded in the universe. The outburst comes from a tidal disruption event designated AT2018hyz, in which a star strayed too close to a black hole and was torn apart by intense gravitational forces in a process astronomers d

New Haven CT (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 An international collaboration of astrophysicists that includes researchers from Yale has created and tested a detection system that uses gravitational waves to map out the locations of merging black holes - known as supermassive black hole binaries - around the universe. Such a map would provide a vital new way to explore and understand astronomy and physics, just as X-rays and radio wave

Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 Mars has emerged from its holiday behind the Sun, and we here on Earth have been able to reconnect with Curiosity and get back to work on Mars. Our first planning day last Friday gave Curiosity a full weekend of activities, which wrapped up with getting us ready for our next drill. We checked out a broken white rock in the workspace with APXS, MAHLI, and ChemCam's laser spectrometer and fi

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 For upcoming human and robotic missions to the Moon and Mars, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will establish a new Human Exploration Control Center (HECC) at its site in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich. The new facility will expand the existing German Space Operations Center (GSOC) and is designed to manage complex, long-duration missions beyond low Earth orbit while reinforcing Germany and Europ

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 In a new study, researchers say that non-biological sources they considered could not fully account for the abundance of organic compounds in a sample collected on Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover. In March 2025, scientists reported identifying small amounts of decane, undecane, and dodecane in a rock sample analyzed in the chemistry lab aboard Curiosity. These were the largest organic compo

Munich, Germany (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 Isar Aerospace is expanding its test operations at Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden, by establishing a second test site in cooperation with SSC Space. The new infrastructure is intended to support the development and production ramp up of the companys Spectrum launch vehicle and to help make access to space more scalable for European customers. The expansion at Esrange is aligned wit

London, UK (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 Our Milky Way galaxy may not host a supermassive black hole at its center but instead an enormous concentration of dark matter that exerts an equivalent gravitational influence on nearby stars and gas, according to new research published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The authors argue that this invisible substance, which makes up most of the universe's mass, can account b

Tempe AZ (SPX) Feb 08, 2026 Almost as tall as a football field, NASAs Space Launch System rocket and capsule stack traveled slowly - just under 1 mile per hour - out to the Artemis II launchpad, its temporary home at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Jan. 17, 2026. That slow crawl is in stark contrast to the peak velocity it will reach on launch day, over 22,000 miles per hour, when it will send a crew of four on a j

German space technology company OHB announced on 4 February that it has established a new subsidiary, the European Moonport Company, to consolidate all its efforts related to future missions to the Moon. While only recently made public, company records show that the subsidiary, registered as Luna Europa – European Moonport Company, was founded in May […] The post OHB Establishes European Moonport Company appeared first on European Spaceflight.

A Falcon 9 launched a batch of Starlink satellites on Feb. 7 after SpaceX completed an investigation into an engine malfunction during the rocket’s previous launch five days earlier. The post Falcon 9 returns to flight after upper stage engine investigation appeared first on SpaceNews.

An investor in two space companies that went public in the past year said an upcoming SpaceX IPO could generate new investor interest while also triggering a wave of consolidation. The post SpaceX IPO could drive investor interest in other space companies appeared first on SpaceNews.

While pushing for Flight 12, SpaceX has received approval to nearly double the launch site’s… The post Starbase’s launch site lays groundwork to double in size appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Starfish’s Otter spacecraft will support relocation and life extension of military satellites The post Space Force awards $54.5 million contract to Starfish Space for GEO servicing vehicle appeared first on SpaceNews.

Crew-12 lifted off on Friday 13 February 2026 at 10:15 GMT / 11:15 CET (05:15 ET) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. Initially scheduled on the 11 February, the launch was postponed twice due to forecast weather conditions along the flight path of the Dragon spacecraft.

Crew-12 is scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, no earlier than Wednesday 11 February.

China launched its experimental reusable spacecraft for the fourth time late Friday, once again maintaining strict secrecy around the mission. The post China launches reusable spaceplane on fourth secretive orbital mission appeared first on SpaceNews.

SpaceX halted launches for less than a week following an in-flight anomaly. Liftoff of the Starlink 17-33 mission is scheduled for 9:21 a.m. PST (12:21 p.m. EST / 1721 UTC).

A dusting of white highlighted the Colorado Plateau around the deep gorge, while shadows created a visual illusion.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, all members of the Crew-12 mission, landed shortly after 8:30 p.m. EST Friday at NASA Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility in Florida. Crew-12 will head to Astronaut Crew Quarters inside Kennedy’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and […]

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission has been cleared to proceed with launch preparations following a Flight Readiness Review with NASA, SpaceX, and the agency’s international partners. Liftoff of Crew-12 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft remains on track for no earlier than 6:01 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 11, from Space Launch Complex […]

After losing about 20% of its civil servant workforce in the past year, NASA’s administrator says the agency plans to bring more expertise in-house and reduce its reliance on contractors. The post NASA seeks to bolster workforce, reduce reliance on contractors appeared first on SpaceNews.

The crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission are on their way to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to complete final preparations before their launch to the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev took off at 6:55 […]

The crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission are on their way to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to complete final preparations before their launch to the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev took off at 6:55 […]

While Viasat has no plans to join the rush to deploy orbital data centers, the satellite operator sees a role providing the communications links needed to connect such systems with users on Earth and other spacecraft. The post Viasat sees orbital data center partnership opportunity appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman issued a directive today to restore the agency’s “core competencies” in order to fulfill President Trump’s December 2025 Executive Order on Ensuring American Space Superiority. The […]

The last Dragon flight from pad 39A was the CRS-33 mission in August 2025. SpaceX is preparing for the just the second pad 40 launch supporting NASA's Commercial Crew Program no earlier than Feb. 11.

NASA will stream live coverage of the upcoming prelaunch, launch, and docking activities for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff is targeted for no earlier than 6:01 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 11, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The targeted docking time […]

This Feb. 4, 2026, image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captures a strong solar flare erupting from the star. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy that can, along with other types of solar eruptions, can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts. The flare pictured […]

The boreal forest—the world’s largest terrestrial biome—is warming faster than any other forest type. New research uses Landsat data to track how the forests shift.