Space news

The European Space Agency has contracted Spanish company EMXYS for the first CubeSat designed to operate on the surface of an asteroid. Don Quijote is a shoebox-sized spacecraft that will be deployed onto the Apophis asteroid by ESA’s Ramses mission before the asteroid flies by Earth on 13 April 2029.

An Atlas 5 lifted off July 2 carrying a set of Amazon Leo satellites in the final launch by that vehicle to carry a satellite payload. The post Final Atlas 5 Amazon Leo mission launches appeared first on SpaceNews.

Building on the remarkable success of the Earth Explorer Aeolus wind mission, the European Space Agency has given Airbus Defence and Space in the UK the authorisation to proceed to begin the development of Aeolus’ successor, Aeolus-2 – which is set to be built to enhance operational weather forecasts.

A predawn Moon-and-planets meetup, a returning comet, a great chance to see the Milky Way, and Saturn’s rings at a new angle. Skywatching Highlights Transcript An early morning hangout with the Moon and planets, a comet swings by, prime time for the Milky Way, and Saturn’s rings shine at a new angle. That’s What’s Up […]

The Leo Atlas 8 mission is also the final flight of an Atlas 5 551 configuration. Liftoff from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 12:24 a.m. EDT (0424 UTC).

A new report links the long-running technical problems with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle to a combination of overconfidence, unrealistic schedules and NASA’s lack of insight into the vehicle. The post Report links Starliner problems to overconfidence and unrealistic schedules appeared first on SpaceNews.

In June 2026, NASA announced four new lunar landers as part of its Moon Base… The post NASA announces new lander contracts for Moon Base Phase One appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

A new result using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that the outer spiral arms in the Milky Way galaxy may reach wider than previously thought. This finding may lead astronomers to adjust their understanding of our home galaxy’s structure. A team of astronomers made this discovery by making precise measurements of distances to dust clouds […]

"We've got time into 2027 before we're getting nervous."

The FCC is set to vote July 22 on an order to overhaul its satellite application process, creating a “licensing assembly line” to keep up with increasingly large and complex constellation plans. The post FCC to vote on satellite licensing overhaul July 22 appeared first on SpaceNews.

Four Expedition 74 astronauts had a light duty day on Wednesday following the previous day’s spacewalk for external robotics maintenance. The remaining three crew members from Roscosmos focused on cardiac research and lab maintenance aboard the International Space Station.

The Starlink 17-46 mission will fly on the 77th Falcon 9 rocket launch of the year. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 7:57 p.m. PDT (10:57 p.m. EDT / 0257 UTC).

NASA is recruiting research participants for the agency’s next simulated deep space mission. Beginning no earlier than August 2027, research volunteers will spend one year living and working in interplanetary environments at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, operating under isolated conditions expected during crewed missions to the Moon or Red Planet. Insights from this […]

A first-of-its-kind mission to raise the orbit of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is poised for launch no earlier than Thursday, July 2, 5:09 a.m. EDT (9:09 p.m. UTC+12), from Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. A robotic servicing spacecraft called LINK, built by Katalyst Space, will blast […]

An international team of astronomers has used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to watch the Jupiter-sized exoplanet WD 1856 b transit its host star, measuring the planet’s mass and temperature and even detecting its atmosphere.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is giving us new insight into the far-future of solar systems like our own, as the agency continues to reveal the secrets of the universe and our place in it. Billions of years ago, a Sun-like star nearing the end of its life swelled tremendously in size to become a […]

Written by William Farrand, Senior Research Scientist, Space Science Institute Earth planning date: Friday, June 26, 2026 There were two planning cycles over this span of sols. The Monday planning took place with Curiosity situated within a unit that from orbital imagery appeared light-toned, and from earlier rover positions appeared smooth. Reaching this unit, the […]

Ray Jayawardhana begins his tenure today as the 10th president of the California Institute of Technology. His selection as Caltech’s president, and as the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of astronomy, was announced Jan. 6. Jayawardhana succeeds Thomas Rosenbaum, who had served as Caltech’s president since 2014. Founded in 1891, Caltech manages […]

From the ESA Blogs.

One month after the New Glenn anomaly that severely damaged Launch Complex-36 at Cape Canaveral… The post Blue Origin accelerates LC-36 recovery via hybrid plan appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

One small, errant drone can scrub a space launch at the cost of millions of dollars in delays, with further repercussions spanning across multiple commercial and government launch service providers. […] The post Unseen threats overhead: Drones endanger U.S. rocket launch sites appeared first on SpaceNews.

For the first time, NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission has identified a planet orbiting a distant star thanks to ripples in space-time. Unlike the star-hugging transiting planets TESS regularly reveals, the newfound world is a super-Jupiter orbiting far from its host star. “When TESS launched, no one expected it to ever be capable […]

SAN FRANCISCO – Vantor, the company previously known as Maxar Intelligence, unveiled WorldView 3D July 1, to provide customers with updated and high-definition imagery. “WorldView 3D is driving towards currency,” […] The post Vantor offers up-to-date imagery with WorldView 3D appeared first on SpaceNews.

EchoStar subsidiaries tied to its satellite TV and abandoned 5G network businesses have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, advancing a prepackaged restructuring plan to repay debt early after selling spectrum to SpaceX and AT&T. The post EchoStar’s satellite TV and wireless subsidiaries file for bankruptcy appeared first on SpaceNews.

French startup Latitude intends to perform the first launch of its small launch vehicle from a spaceport in Oman in late 2027. The post Latitude plans to conduct first launch from Oman appeared first on SpaceNews.

The European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra X-ray space telescopes have spotted the aftermath of three bright explosions echoing through the outer spiral arms of our galaxy, the Milky Way. By measuring the distance to these echoes, they find the outer arms to be up to 10% further away than we thought.

A month after a devastating pad explosion, Blue Origin reiterated plans to return its New Glenn vehicle to flight from a rebuilt launch pad by the end of the year. The post Blue Origin outlines new launch pad approach as it pushes to return New Glenn to flight appeared first on SpaceNews.

When SpaceX publicly listed, the coverage focused on the rockets, the valuation, and the personalities. That’s understandable. But the more important story is what the IPO signals about where the […] The post The SpaceX IPO tells one story. Here is the more important one. appeared first on SpaceNews.

French rocket builder Latitude has signed a letter of intent to conduct the planned inaugural flight of its launch vehicle from Oman’s Etlaq Spaceport. The company declined to disclose details of how the project would be funded. Latitude is developing a small two-stage rocket that remains unnamed and will be capable of delivering payloads of […] The post Latitude to Launch Inaugural Flight from Oman appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Millions of stars. Thousands of hidden worlds. One unprecedented view of our galaxy.

Five explorers from three space agencies have successfully completed ESA’s CAVES training course in Italy.  

NASA selected three companies to fly four lunar lander missions worth nearly $600 million as part of its lunar base ambitions, as it weighs also launching a spare Mars rover. The post NASA awards nearly $600 million in lunar lander missions appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA awarded about $600 million in contracts to three companies today to put robotic landers on the Moon carrying NASA payloads. They are part of NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman’s “Moon […]

On May 27, flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston noticed one of the Canadian-built arm's seven joints was drawing more current than expected and not moving properly.

The explosion of a New Glenn rocket on May 28 is still under investigation. The company said it’s moving to a hybrid horizontal-vertical integration for its rockets moving forward.

TechnoMile, the leading AI solution that unifies growth, contracts, compliance, and security workflows, today announced it has been included in Forrester’s report, The Contract Lifecycle Management Platforms Landscape, Q2 2026. […] The post TechnoMile Recognized among Notable Vendors in Contract Lifecycle Management Platforms Landscape Report appeared first on SpaceNews.

Several orbital launches are scheduled worldwide this week. A mission to rescue the Swift observatory… The post Launch Preview: Swift rescue mission, final Atlas satellite launch appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

"That would be an awesome capability."

In celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States, NASA has unveiled four cosmic images from its Chandra X-ray Observatory rendered in red, white, and blue that represent the wonders of the universe the agency explores. The images are accompanied by a trio of new sonifications – a technique that translates astronomical data into […]

NASA astronauts Chris Williams and Jessica Meir concluded their spacewalk outside the International Space Station at 3:40 p.m. EDT. During the 7-hour, 20-minute spacewalk, Williams and Meir completed their primary objective to remove and replace a wrist joint on the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

The system known as Meadowlands is transitioning to operational use as the military places greater emphasis on electronic warfare The post Space Force fields mobile satellite-jamming system  appeared first on SpaceNews.

Flight testing is a team sport. For nearly 80 years, teams at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, have used flight testing to push the limits of aerodynamics and advance aviation. Earlier this year, NASA’s Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) initiative tested a wing concept that would maximize the smooth flow of […]

Read this news release in English here. La NASA anunció el martes la selección de tres empresas para llevar a cabo cuatro nuevas misiones a la Luna a finales de 2028 como parte del programa Base Lunar de la agencia. Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace e Intuitive Machines entregarán cargas útiles científicas de la NASA a la […]

Notice ID: Coming Soon NASA’s Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate is seeking innovative ideas from industry partners through a new solicitation appendix under the NextSTEP-3 Omnibus Broad Agency Announcement. Appendix B: Moon Base Demonstrations calls for industry-led demonstrations, risk reduction, and special topic activities that enable an enduring human presence on the lunar surface. NASA’s Moon […]

NASA announced Tuesday the selection of three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program. Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines will deliver NASA science payloads to the lunar surface as the agency builds the first outpost on another celestial world. “These new […]

June 30, 2026 – Washington, D.C. — The Commercial Space Federation (CSF) announced today that Matthew Williams, a former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and Chief of Staff to […] The post Matthew Williams Joins the Commercial Space Federation as Senior Advisor, National Security appeared first on SpaceNews.

Spacewalkers Chris Williams and Jessica Meir successfully removed the wrist joint that malfunctioned on May 27 during Canadarm2 robotic arm operations. They now are working to install the replacement joint, which was already attached to the orbital complex.

The farms and gardens of Mount Vernon played a central role in the life of America’s first president.