SpaceFlight Insider

Starship SN10 sticks the landing, explodes minutes later

Nicholas D'AlessandroMarch 3rd SpaceX finally completed a key milestone in its Starship test program after three tries—successfully landing a Starship after a high-altitude flight and subsequent landing flip maneuver.
Emergency Flight Termination System for SN10 is in place; Starship test flight imminent

Nicholas D'AlessandroMarch 3rd On Feb. 28, workers installed the flight termination system, or FTS, on Starship SN10 in what has proven to be the key event in the testing campaign that separates the preflight testing phase from the flight attempt phase.
Cause of missed Falcon 9 landing announced; Starlink 17 expected to fly Thursday

Theresa CrossMarch 2nd SpaceX has announced their intention to launch the next batch of 60 Starlink satellites on March 4, 2021 – possibly as early as at 3:24 a.m. EST.
SpaceX’s Starship SN10 set to fly, aims to stick the landing

Nicholas D'AlessandroMarch 2nd SpaceX's Starship SN10 finally appears ready to fly after a several tumultuous weeks in Texas following the SN9 test flight.
Rocket Lab to build a medium-class rocket called Neutron

Cullen DesforgesMarch 1st Rocket Lab announced in a company-produced video that it will be building a new rocket called Neutron, which is expected to be capable of carrying eight metric tons of payload.
SpaceX Starship SN10 high-altitude test flight slips to March 3

Nicholas D'AlessandroMarch 1st The high-altitude test flight of Starship SN10 has slipped again, as is common with SpaceX's highly experimental test program.
Spacewalkers begin prepping space station for new solar arrays

Derek RichardsonFebruary 28th Expedition 64 flight engineers and NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover ventured outside the International Space Station for the first of two spacewalks to ready the outpost for new solar arrays later this year.
OPINION: In spaceflight testing, what defines a failure?

Cullen DesforgesFebruary 27th Recently, several companies have made great strides in the realm of advanced spaceflight testing, despite public perception some would label a failure.
Spaceborne Computer-2 to speed “time-to-insight” for ISS studies

Theresa CrossFebruary 26th Many different research investigations off Earth will be supported by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s pathfinding Spaceborne Computer-2, or SBC-2, to perform data processing and analytics.
Inspiration4 mission names 2nd crew member

Cullen DesforgesFebruary 25th Cancer survivor and frontline healthcare worker for St. Jude, Hayley Arceneaux, will join Jared Isaacman as part of the four-person Inspiration4 crew.
Perseverance rover transmits ‘iconic’ video from Mars

Derek RichardsonFebruary 22nd NASA has released never-before-seen video from Mars — the highly-anticipated views of the Perseverance rover from multiple entry, descent and landing cameras.
NG-15 Cygnus spacecraft brings supplies and experiments to ISS

Derek RichardsonFebruary 22nd Northrop Grumman's NG-15 Cygnus spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station early Monday morning with thousands of kilograms of crew supplies and experiments for the seven-person Expedition 64 crew.

Starship SN10 sticks the landing, explodes minutes later

Nicholas D'AlessandroMarch 3rd SpaceX finally completed a key milestone in its Starship test program after three tries—successfully landing a Starship after a high-altitude flight and subsequent landing flip maneuver.
Emergency Flight Termination System for SN10 is in place; Starship test flight imminent

Nicholas D'AlessandroMarch 3rd On Feb. 28, workers installed the flight termination system, or FTS, on Starship SN10 in what has proven to be the key event in the testing campaign that separates the preflight testing phase from the flight attempt phase.
SpaceX’s Starship SN10 set to fly, aims to stick the landing

Nicholas D'AlessandroMarch 2nd SpaceX's Starship SN10 finally appears ready to fly after a several tumultuous weeks in Texas following the SN9 test flight.
Rocket Lab to build a medium-class rocket called Neutron

Cullen DesforgesMarch 1st Rocket Lab announced in a company-produced video that it will be building a new rocket called Neutron, which is expected to be capable of carrying eight metric tons of payload.
Spacewalkers begin prepping space station for new solar arrays

Derek RichardsonFebruary 28th Expedition 64 flight engineers and NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover ventured outside the International Space Station for the first of two spacewalks to ready the outpost for new solar arrays later this year.
Perseverance rover transmits ‘iconic’ video from Mars

Derek RichardsonFebruary 22nd NASA has released never-before-seen video from Mars — the highly-anticipated views of the Perseverance rover from multiple entry, descent and landing cameras.
NG-15 Cygnus spacecraft brings supplies and experiments to ISS

Derek RichardsonFebruary 22nd Northrop Grumman's NG-15 Cygnus spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station early Monday morning with thousands of kilograms of crew supplies and experiments for the seven-person Expedition 64 crew.
NG-15 Cygnus takes aim on the ISS following successful launch

Derek RichardsonFebruary 20th Northrop Grumman’s NG-15 Cygnus cargo freighter has been sent on its way to the International Space Station after soaring into orbit atop an Antares rocket.
Northrop Grumman on track for launch of NG-15

Sean CostelloFebruary 20th Blue skies and a positive forecast (holding at 75% favorable) greeted the NG-15 Antares launch vehicle this morning, as NASA and Northrop Grumman continue preparations for today’s launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Touchdown confirmed!: Perseverance rover lands on Mars

Cullen DesforgesFebruary 18th After a long flight originating in Florida, Mars has gained another robot resident with NASA's Perseverance rover successfully landing in Jezero crater.
NG-15 Cygnus set to send new experiments to the space station

Theresa CrossFebruary 18th Northrop Grumman is set to send its NG-15 Cygnus resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.
Cosmonaut remotely guides Progress MS-16 to ISS docking port

Derek RichardsonFebruary 17th After a two-day trek, the unpiloted Russian cargo ship Progress MS-16 docked with the International Space Station after a cosmonaut remotely took manual control of a normally automatic process.
Progress MS-16 freighter launched on two-day trek to space station

Derek RichardsonFebruary 15th The next Russian cargo ship bound for the International Space Station, Progress MS-16, has launched from Kazakhstan with fuel and supplies.
NASA chooses Falcon Heavy for first segments of lunar gateway

Matt HaskellFebruary 13th In a contract award as part of NASA’s Artemis program, NASA announced on Tuesday, February 9, that they have awarded the launch contract for initial elements of the Gateway Lunar Outpost to SpaceX and their Falcon Heavy rocket.
Vulcan rocket progresses towards first launch with pathfinder arrival

Matt HaskellFebruary 13th Progress continues to advance for United Launch Alliance’s newest rocket, as the pathfinder for the Vulcan rocket arrived by the company’s cargo ship and was unloaded at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday, February 15.
SpaceX VP Hans Koenigsmann set to retire

Cullen DesforgesFebruary 11th SpaceX's fourth technical employee said he would be retiring from full-time work, as reported first by CNBC. Hans Koenigsmann served as vice president of mission assurance for the company since 2011.

The Range

Cause of missed Falcon 9 landing announced; Starlink 17 expected to fly Thursday

March 2nd
SpaceX has announced their intention to launch the next batch of 60 Starlink satellites on March 4, 2021 – possibly as early as at 3:24 a.m. EST.
SpaceX Starship SN10 high-altitude test flight slips to March 3

March 1st
The high-altitude test flight of Starship SN10 has slipped again, as is common with SpaceX's highly experimental test program.
OPINION: In spaceflight testing, what defines a failure?

February 27th
Recently, several companies have made great strides in the realm of advanced spaceflight testing, despite public perception some would label a failure.
Spaceborne Computer-2 to speed “time-to-insight” for ISS studies

February 26th
Many different research investigations off Earth will be supported by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s pathfinding Spaceborne Computer-2, or SBC-2, to perform data processing and analytics.
Inspiration4 mission names 2nd crew member

February 25th
Cancer survivor and frontline healthcare worker for St. Jude, Hayley Arceneaux, will join Jared Isaacman as part of the four-person Inspiration4 crew.
Artemis 1 SLS booster stacking nearing completion

February 11th
The stacking of the twin solid rocket boosters for NASA’s Space Launch System is nearly complete with only one set of segments remaining.
Various icy compounds make up Pluto’s atmospheric haze

February 8th
Pluto's famous blue atmospheric haze likely formed differently from the hazes surrounding Saturn's moon Titan and Neptune's moon Triton, study finds.
Amount of water on the Moon varies by location and time of day

February 6th
Two Earth-based studies confirm water molecules are present on the Moon, but amounts vary depending on location and time of day, Casey Honniball of NASA.
Asteroid naming contest sparks discussion of women in astronomy

January 26th
The selection of the late astronomer Ada Amelia Carrera Rodriguez as the winner of an asteroid-naming contest sparked an online panel discussion by the contest's sponsors about the role of women in astronomy.
Gallery: Preparations for Starship SN9 test flight continue

January 25th
NASA adds New Glenn to Launch Services Program

January 14th
Last month, the U.S. space agency awarded a NASA Launch Services contract to Blue Origin and its New Glenn rocket.
Moon Dialogs bring together stakeholders in near-future lunar activity

January 12th
Moon Dialogs, a partnership that seeks to bring together a wide variety of stakeholders to brainstorm about near-future lunar activity, organized Zoom sessions throughout 2020 exploring the wide range of topics pertinent to policy and governance on the Moon.
Remembering Apollo 8, celebrating Christmas from a distance

December 24th
As 2020 draws to a close, families worldwide are gathering for Christmas Eve celebrations in various degrees of isolation, driven in large part to public health restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Probe finds deep space is not completely dark

December 1st
Now more than four billion miles away from Earth, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, acting as a distant space observatory, has found that deep space is not entirely dark.
Arrokoth’s flattened shape could shed light on planetesimal formation process

November 15th
The flattened shape of the two lobes that make up Arrokoth, the Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) visited by the New Horizons spacecraft in January 2019, may hold clues to the formation process of planetesimals and even planets.