News Archive / Author: Derek Richardson

Derek Richardson has a degree in mass media, with an emphasis in contemporary journalism, from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. While at Washburn, he was the managing editor of the student run newspaper, the Washburn Review. He also has a blog about the International Space Station, called Orbital Velocity. He met with members of the SpaceFlight Insider team during the flight of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket with the MUOS-4 satellite. Richardson joined our team shortly thereafter. His passion for space ignited when he watched Space Shuttle Discovery launch into space Oct. 29, 1998. Today, this fervor has accelerated toward orbit and shows no signs of slowing down. After dabbling in math and engineering courses in college, he soon realized his true calling was communicating to others about space. Since joining SpaceFlight Insider in 2015, Richardson has worked to increase the quality of our content, eventually becoming our managing editor. @TheSpaceWriter

Articles By Derek Richardson

• NG-11 Cygnus released to begin multi-month post-ISS mission

  August 6th, 2019

  Northrop Grumman’s NG-11 Cygnus departed the ISS after a 109-day stay aboard the outpost to begin a multi-month free-flying secondary mission.

• Progress MS-12 makes fast-track flight to ISS

  July 31st, 2019

  Two orbits after launching from Kazakhstan, Russia’s Progress MS-12 cargo spacecraft rendezvoused and docked with the International Space Station.

• CRS-18 Dragon arrives at ISS with new docking adapter

  July 27th, 2019

  Days after threading the needle with weather to launch, SpaceX’s CRS-18 Dragon spacecraft rendezvoused and berthed with the International Space Station.

• Gallery: CRS-18 another check in the ‘Win Box’ for SpaceX

  July 25th, 2019

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with the CRS-18 Dragon on the capsule's third flight to the International Space Station on Thursday, July 25. In many ways it marked a repeat performance for the NewSpace company.

• Soyuz MS-11 trio returns to Earth after 7 months in space

  June 25th, 2019

  Three International Space Station crew members returned to Earth in the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft, bringing an end to their 204-day mission.

• Huh? Trump says NASA should stop talking about the Moon

  June 7th, 2019

  For 18 months, NASA has been focused on returning humans to the Moon under Space Policy Directive 1—signed by President Trump. Is he changing course?

• NASA selects companies for commercial Moon landing services

  June 3rd, 2019

  The first commercial Moon landing missions under NASA’s Artemis program have been announced as precursors to human missions by 2024.

• Gallery: Northop Grumman tests OmegA first stage

  May 31st, 2019

  PROMONTORY, Utah — In the Blue Spring Hills north of Salt Lake City, Northrop Grumman test fired the first stage of its OmegA rocket.

• Anomaly occurs during OmegA first stage static fire test

  May 30th, 2019

  During the first static fire test for Northrop Grumman's OmegA first stage, debris could be seen coming away from the nozzle section of the booster.

• Stacking underway for next Atlas V launch

  May 28th, 2019

  United Launch Alliance has begun assembling the Atlas V rocket that will be used to orbit the U.S. Air Force’s next advanced communications satellite.

• Video: SpaceFlight Insider’s Space Bulletin for May 25, 2019

  May 25th, 2019

  This week, SpaceX launched its first Starlink internet satellites and NASA awarded a contract to build the first piece of the agency’s Lunar Gateway.

• Gallery: SpaceX begins launching its Starlink constellation

  May 24th, 2019

  In the black of night, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 Starlink spacecraft to begin its satellite internet mega constellation.

• SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites

  May 24th, 2019

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX made history again by launching the first 60 satellites of its Starlink satellite internet mega constellation.

• Lunar Gateway contract adds ‘power’ to Artemis program

  May 23rd, 2019

  NASA awarded Maxar Technologies a contract for the first piece of the Lunar Gateway, which is designed to be a staging point for Moon-bound astronauts.

• India’s PSLV places RISAT-2B into orbit

  May 22nd, 2019

  Launching its third rocket of 2019, the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sent the RISAT-2B spacecraft into low Earth orbit on May 22, which should provide Earth-imagining services to