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NASA’s Orion recovery team is certified for Artemis 1
Theresa CrossNovember 10th NASA’s Landing and Recovery team recently completed its ninth recovery test at sea and is certified to recover the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 mission next year.
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NASA human Moon landing now no earlier than 2025
Derek RichardsonNovember 9th In a media teleconference, NASA officials updated the agency’s projected timeline for the early phase of its Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon.
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Crew-2 Dragon astronauts return to Earth after 199 days
Derek RichardsonNovember 9th After nearly 200 days in space, four multinational astronauts returned to Earth in SpaceX’s Crew-2 Dragon, splashing down just off the coast of Pensacola, Florida.
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Crew-3 Dragon to launch history’s 600th person to fly in space
Theresa CrossNovember 8th When SpaceX’s Crew-3 Dragon mission launches, it’ll carry with it the 600th person to reach space since human spaceflight began in 1961.
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Chandra Observatory may have discovered extra-galactic planet
Laurel KornfeldNovember 6th Scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory may have found evidence for the first-ever known extra-galactic planet, located 28 million light years away in the Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51 (M51).
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Hubble Space Telescope science instruments in safe mode
Theresa CrossNovember 5th Early last week, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope instruments went into a protective “safe mode” after experiencing issues with internal communication and spacecraft syncing issues.
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Blue Origin lunar lander lawsuit dismissed by federal judge
Derek RichardsonNovember 4th A United States Court of Federal Claims judge dismissed a lawsuit by Blue Origin versus NASA over the agency’s decision to award the Human Landing System contract solely to SpaceX.
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Ice drill being sent to the Moon late next year
Derek RichardsonNovember 3rd As work continues on the human-side of hardware development for NASA’s Artemis program, the agency is hard at work planning robotic precursor missions to the areas astronauts are expected to explore in just a few short years.
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‘Minor medical issue’ delays Crew-3 launch
Derek RichardsonNovember 1st NASA is delaying the launch of Crew-3 to the International Space Station because of a minor medical issue involving one of the mission's four crew members.
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Mars helicopter tests higher rotor speed on latest flight
Cullen DesforgesNovember 1st NASA’s Mars Helicopter Ingenuity successfully made its 14th flight, testing a higher rotor speed in anticipation upcoming seasonal changes.
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Crew-3 Dragon mission to space station delayed
Derek RichardsonOctober 30th NASA and SpaceX have postponed the launch of the Crew-3 Dragon International Space Station crew rotation mission because of weather in the Falcon 9’s ascent corridor.
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Crew-3 Dragon space station mission set for Halloween launch
Theresa CrossOctober 29th NASA and SpaceX are gearing up to fly Crew Dragon's third operational crew rotation flight, Crew-3, to the International Space Station.
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Blue Origin announces ‘Orbital Reef’ commercial space station
Derek RichardsonOctober 26th In partnership with Sierra Space, Blue Origin announced plans for a commercial space station called 'Orbital Reef' to be built in low Earth orbit by the end of this decade.
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Artemis 1 targeting a February 2022 launch
Theresa CrossOctober 25th Now that NASA’s giant Space Launch System Moon rocket is fully assembled inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, its launch date is becoming more clear.
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Ariane 5 lofts two large communications satellites into orbit
Theresa CrossOctober 24th Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket delivered two large communications satellites into space from the company’s South America launch site.
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James Webb Space Telescope being readied for launch
Theresa CrossOctober 20th After more than two decades of development, NASA’s ambitious James Webb Space Telescope is finally at the launch site being prepared for its trip into space.
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Orion spacecraft transported to VAB for the Artemis 1 mission
Cullen DesforgesOctober 19th NASA completed a significant milestone in the completion of its giant Space Launch System rocket as the Orion capsule was transported to Vehicle Assembly Building in the overnight hours of Oct. 19.
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SpaceX Starship Ship 20 performs engine test
Cullen DesforgesOctober 19th SpaceX appeared to perform a test on Starship Ship 20’s Raptor preburners in the overnight hours after filling the prototype with its propellants.
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NASA’s Lucy spacecraft may have a solar array problem
Derek RichardsonOctober 18th In an update, NASA said one of the two circular solar arrays on the Lucy spacecraft bound for Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids may not have fully latched during deployment.
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NASA’s Lucy mission begins journey to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids
Theresa CrossOctober 16th NASA’s Lucy mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids has begun with a launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
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William Shatner, 90, makes brief trek to space
Derek RichardsonOctober 13th Boldly going where fewer than 600 people have gone before, William Shatner of Star Trek fame, as well as three others, flew into space on Blue Origin’s second suborbital human spaceflight.
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Space Launch System rocket passes design certification review
Theresa CrossOctober 11th NASA has carried out the design certification review of the Space Launch System, the agency said, as it continues to prepare the vehicle for its inaugural flight.
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William Shatner set for a brief trip to the final frontier
Theresa CrossOctober 6th Blue Origin is set to perform its second human spaceflight later this month, and it's expected to send TV icon William Shatner into space.
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Russian Soyuz MS-19 film crew arrives ‘on set’ at Space Station
Derek RichardsonOctober 5th The Russian Soyuz MS-19 crewed spacecraft launched to the International Space Station on a mission to film scenes for a feature-length movie set aboard the orbiting outpost.
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Inspiration4 crew shares experiences after historic mission
Cullen DesforgesOctober 4th In the weeks following the splashdown of the Inspiration4 mission, the four crew members have become national celebrities in their own right.
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Lucy probe launching to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids this month
Laurel KornfeldOctober 1st Lucy, the first spacecraft to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, has completed eight weeks of preparation ahead of its planned Oct. 16 launch.
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Starship Ship 20 undergoes cryogenic proof testing at Starbase
Cullen DesforgesSeptember 30th SpaceX’s Starship prototype Ship 20 underwent cryogenic proof testing, one of many tests and steps needed before the company can fly its first orbital Starship mission.
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ULA Atlas V lofts Landsat 9 into orbit for NASA and USGS
Theresa CrossSeptember 28th United Launch Alliance sent the newest Earth-observation satellite, Landsat 9, into orbit for NASA and the United States Geological Survey.
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NASA seeks volunteers for Mars simulation
August 18th
NASA is seeking a crew of four volunteers for a year-long Mars simulation starting in the fall of 2022, one of several year-long simulations of life on the Red Planet organized by the agency's Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog. -
NASA’s Lucy Trojan asteroid spacecraft arrives in Florida
August 10th
NASA’s first spacecraft to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, Lucy, has arrived in Florida in advance of its October 2021 launch. -
Results from Mars InSight lander show Mars has a molten center
August 2nd
Using data collected by NASA's Mars InSight lander, which has been on the red planet since 2018, researchers have confirmed the planet's center to be molten. -
Videos simulate Pluto, Charon flyby; follow up mission proposed
August 1st
NASA's New Horizons team released new movies simulating the spacecraft's 2015 flight over Pluto and its large moon Charon to mark the sixth anniversary of the encounter on July 14, 2015. -
GOES-17 weather satellite recovers from brief anomaly
August 1st
On July 22, 2021, NOAA’s GOES-17 weather satellite experienced a brief anomaly and entered into safe mode prompting engineers to perform troubleshooting tasks, ultimately recovering the satellite less than 24 hours later. -
Finding life on Europa requires drilling to its subsurface ocean
July 24th
A future mission seeking signs of life on Jupiter's moon Europa will likely require drilling into its global subsurface ocean, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy. -
Isotope of carbon found in exoplanet’s atmosphere
July 17th
An international team of scientists has detected isotopes of carbon in the atmosphere of an exoplanet for the first time ever, a discovery noted in the journal Nature. -
Wally Funk of the ‘Mercury 13’ to finally fly into space next week
July 13th
On July 1, 2021, Blue Origin announced that Wally Funk, a member of the “Mercury 13," would fly into space atop the company’s suborbital New Shepard rocket. -
Former Shuttle Landing Facility to get new ‘utility corridor’
July 10th
Construction on a new "utility corridor" has begun at the former Shuttle Landing Facility, now known as the Launch and Landing Facility, which is run by Space Florida. -
Surface, geology of Pluto studied via opposition observations
July 4th
Six years after the New Horizons spacecraft returned close-up images of Pluto, researchers are teasing out more information about its geology and surface. -
Scientists trace meteor showers back to long-period comets
June 19th
Scientists traced up to 15 lesser-known meteor showers through which Earth travels annually to long-period comets with orbits that take up to 4,000 years. -
DOGE-1 CubeSat to fly to the Moon atop a Falcon 9 rocket
June 10th
Last month, Geometric Energy Corporation announced the first mission to the Moon paid entirely with the Dogecoin cryptocurrency — DOGE-1. -
Atlas V STP-3 mission delayed
June 5th
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Space Force's STP-3 mission has been delayed, according to a release by the launch provider. -
NASA releases 3D video of Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s 3rd flight
May 31st
On April 25, 2021, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter performed its third test flight. Recently, NASA engineers converted a video of the flight into anaglyph 3D. -
Titan sample return mission being explored by NASA engineers
May 30th
Funded by a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program grant, scientists are exploring a possible mission to return samples from Saturn's moon Titan.
