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NG-16 Cygnus arrives at International Space Station
Derek RichardsonAugust 12th Two days after launching from Virginia, Northrop Grumman’s NG-16 Cygnus cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station for a three-month stay.
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Blue skies welcome NG-16 Cygnus cargo ship, now en route to ISS
Theresa CrossAugust 10th Northrop Grumman’s NG-16 Cygnus spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station following a successful launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.
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NASA’s Lucy Trojan asteroid spacecraft arrives in Florida
Cullen DesforgesAugust 10th NASA’s first spacecraft to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, Lucy, has arrived in Florida in advance of its October 2021 launch.
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SpaceX’s Starship fully-stacked briefly for fit checks
Cullen DesforgesAugust 9th Progress has been expedited by an order of magnitude as a fully-stacked Starship launch system made its historic debut last week in Boca Chica, Texas.
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NG-16 Cygnus to launch supplies to International Space Station
Theresa CrossAugust 9th Northrop Grumman and NASA are set to fly the 16th contracted Cygnus commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station.
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Starship Booster 4, Ship 20 arrive at SpaceX Texas launch site
Theresa CrossAugust 5th Work on the first orbital Starship rocket is proceeding at breakneck speed at SpaceX’s South Texas rocket facility, Starbase, as Booster 4 and Ship 20 are both at the launch site.
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UPDATE: Propulsion system issue delays OFT-2 Starliner launch
Derek RichardsonAugust 3rd Several hours before the planned launch of Boeing’s uncrewed OFT-2 Starliner spacecraft, the company called off the flight.
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With 29 Raptor engines in place, Booster 4 pre-flight work is continuing at Starbase
Cullen DesforgesAugust 2nd In the overnight hours of Aug. 2, all 29 Raptor engines were installed on SpaceX's Starship Booster 4 at a blistering pace as it sat stacked in the high bay.
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Results from Mars InSight lander show Mars has a molten center
Theresa CrossAugust 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.
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Videos simulate Pluto, Charon flyby; follow up mission proposed
Laurel KornfeldAugust 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.
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GOES-17 weather satellite recovers from brief anomaly
Theresa CrossAugust 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.
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Nauka drama: Module thrusters fire errantly while docked to ISS
Derek RichardsonJuly 29th Just hours after safely docking with the International Space Station, the Nauka module's thrusters began firing unexpectedly, causing the outpost to lose attitude control.
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Boeing’s Starliner set for 2nd unpiloted orbital test
Theresa CrossJuly 28th After more than a year and a half of additional testing, Boeing is finally set to fly a second uncrewed Orbital Flight Test, OFT-2, of the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.
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The winds of change are stirring for Starship and Starbase
Cullen DesforgesJuly 26th A static fire and new build rumors abound as SpaceX continues to make progress at its Starbase site in South Texas.
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Russian ‘Pirs’ becomes first ISS module to be decommissioned
Derek RichardsonJuly 26th After serving the International Space Station for 20 years, the Russian Pirs module was detached from the outpost and pulled away by Progress MS-16.
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Russian Nauka module on its way to International Space Station
Derek RichardsonJuly 21st After more than a decade's worth of delays, the Russian-built Nauka science module has launched toward the International Space Station.
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Jeff Bezos touches space on 1st crewed flight of New Shepard
Theresa CrossJuly 20th Blue Origin launched its first crewed New Shepard mission on a suborbital trajectory into space with billionaire founder Jeff Bezos and three others.
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SpaceX preparing for 1st Starship Super Heavy booster static fire
Cullen DesforgesJuly 19th The Orbital Launch Tower for SpaceX’s Starship launch system got its final section over the weekend as the company continues to press toward the first static fire of a Super Heavy booster.
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Hubble switched to backup computer, science operations resume
Cullen DesforgesJuly 19th NASA announced the Hubble Space Telescope has been switched to a backup payload computer successfully, allowing the telescope to resume science operations.
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Starliner attached to Atlas 5 rocket in advance of OFT-2 mission
Theresa CrossJuly 18th Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the upcoming second Orbital Flight Test was transported and attached to its Atlas 5 carrier rocket for launch.
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‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ arrives in Port Canaveral
Theresa CrossJuly 18th On July 15, SpaceX’s newest drone ship, “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” made its way into Port Canaveral on Florida’s Space Coast.
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Lunar Gateway habitation module contract finalized
Theresa CrossJuly 16th NASA and Northrop Grumman have finalized a contract for the living quarters of the Moon-orbiting Lunar Gateway for the Artemis program, the Habitation and Logistics Outpost.
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Raptors abound at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas
Cullen DesforgesJuly 12th Raptor engines were the hot topic last week at SpaceX’s rocket production and testing facility in Boca Chica, Texas, also known as Starbase.
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‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ added to SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet
Theresa CrossJuly 12th SpaceX is adding a third autonomous spaceport drone ship to its fleet. "A Shortfall of Gravitas" has left Port Fourchon, Louisiana, to begin sea trials before heading to the Space Coast.
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Richard Branson rides Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo into space
Theresa CrossJuly 11th Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft took its first full crew, which included the company's billionaire founder Richard Branson, on a brief foray into space.
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Space Launch System stage adapter and ICPS upper stage stacked
Michael McCabeJuly 9th NASA's Space Launch System, currently being assembled in the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the Artemis 1 mission later this year, recently received its Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter and upper stage.
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Ingenuity Mars Helicopter breaks records with 9th flight
Cullen DesforgesJuly 8th The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter that has proven itself to be the star of the Perseverance mission recently made its ninth and most daring flight to date.
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SpaceX Super Heavy Booster 3 rolled to Starbase launch pad
Cullen DesforgesJuly 5th SpaceX's Super Heavy Booster No. 3 stacked at the company’s high bay facility made an appearance last week. The vehicle was transported down Boca Chica’s Highway 4 on July 1, 2021, to a modified section of Pad A, where it is expected to begin cryo testing.
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Hubble Space Telescope discoveries highlighted by astronomer
March 14th
During its 31 years of activity, the Hubble Space Telescope has been "one of the most successful scientific experiments in history," used to research numerous fields of astronomy ranging from cosmology and the expansion of the universe to the characterization of exoplanets, said astronomer Tom Brown of the Space Telescope Science Institute in a March 2 online presentation. -
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
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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.
