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Study of Pluto’s subsurface ocean drives potential return mission
Laurel KornfeldMarch 12th A $3 billion return mission to Pluto with an orbiter is being proposed to further study the subsurface oceans of both Pluto and its large moon Charon.
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SLS Program Manager provides update on Artemis I
Scott JohnsonMarch 11th NASA is working toward a March 17 rollout of its Artemis 1 Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly building in Florida for an early-April wet dress rehearsal at nearby Launch Complex 39B in anticipation of a summer 2022 launch.
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NASA expanding heat shield technology this fall
Cullen DesforgesMarch 10th As humanity prepares to face the extreme challenges of deep space, NASA engineers are hard at work researching new and innovative ways to safely land large payloads, including astronauts, on Mars.
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48 more Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX
Theresa CrossMarch 9th A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted another group of Starlink satellites into orbit to add to the company’s internet constellation.
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Arianespace, OneWeb suspend Soyuz launches indefinitely
Derek RichardsonMarch 4th In response to Russia withdrawing its Soyuz support personnel from Europe’s South American space port, Arianespace has suspended all future launches atop the Russian rocket.
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SpaceX orbits more Starlink satellites in its 9th launch of 2022
Theresa CrossMarch 3rd Continuing the company’s rapid-fire schedule, SpaceX launched its ninth Falcon 9 rocket in 2022, sending another batch of Starlink satellites into orbit.
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Russia threatens to not launch OneWeb satellites
Derek RichardsonMarch 2nd OneWeb has become the latest pawn of Roscosmos in the declining relations between Russia and the West after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Atlas V orbits GOES-T weather satellite for NOAA
Theresa CrossMarch 2nd A new weather satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was launched by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
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ExoMars rover now ‘very unlikely’ to launch in 2022
Cullen DesforgesMarch 1st In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Space Agency said its joint robotic ExoMars mission with Russia is unlikely to launch in 2022.
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Rocket Lab’s Electron flies from new pad in New Zealand
Derek RichardsonFebruary 28th In Rocket Lab’s inaugural launch from a new pad, the company’s Electron rocket orbited a small satellite for Synspective.
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ULA set to launch GOES-T weather satellite for NOAA
Theresa CrossFebruary 28th United Launch Alliance is preparing to fly an Atlas V rocket to send the GOES-T satellite into space for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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Boeing tests all-composite cryogenic propellant tank
Theresa CrossFebruary 23rd At the end of 2021, Boeing completed a series of tests on a “large, fully-composite, linerless cryogenic tank” at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Alabama.
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Astra’s Rocket 3.3 set for first launch from Florida
Theresa CrossFebruary 2nd Astra Space Inc. is set to launch its first operational rocket, which is also the first mission under NASA’s Venture Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 contract.
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SpaceX Falcon 9 sends Italian satellite into space on 5th try
Theresa CrossJanuary 31st After four days of delays, SpaceX was finally able to get its Falcon 9 rocket off the ground to send an Italian satellite into space.
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NASA marks anniversary of Apollo and space shuttle tragedies
Derek RichardsonJanuary 27th Each year in late January, NASA honors those who gave their lives in the quest to explore space, including those from Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.
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James Webb Space Telescope reaches final orbital destination
Theresa CrossJanuary 26th NASA’s $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope has reached its final destination after a 30-day trek that began on Christmas Day.
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CRS-24 cargo Dragon departs International Space Station
Derek RichardsonJanuary 23rd SpaceX’s CRS-24 cargo Dragon undocked from the International Space Station after more than a month attached to the orbiting laboratory.
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‘Big Slider’ Atlas V launches the USSF-8 mission
Theresa CrossJanuary 21st United Launch Alliance flew its first and only “Big Slider” Atlas V rocket to send two satellites into space for the United States Space Force.
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Axiom Space contracted to build an orbital film studio
Derek RichardsonJanuary 20th Plans are in the works add the first space-based “multipurpose entertainment and content studio” to the International Space Station.
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SpaceX launches third Falcon 9 in 12 days
Theresa CrossJanuary 18th For the company’s third Falcon 9 launch of the year, SpaceX orbited another batch of Starlink satellites adding to its ever-growing internet constellation.
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Falcon 9 Transporter-3 rideshare orbits 100+ satellites
Theresa CrossJanuary 13th A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched over a hundred satellites into space on a dedicated rideshare mission called Transporter-3.
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NASA’s $10B James Webb Space Telescope fully deployed in space
Theresa CrossJanuary 9th Some two weeks after its Christmas Day launch, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope finished unfolding itself into its final configuration.
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SpaceX starts 2022 manifest with Starlink launch
Theresa CrossJanuary 6th SpaceX kicked off its 2022 manifest with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying another set of Starlink internet satellites.
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The James Webb Space Telescope finally launches into space
Theresa CrossDecember 25th After 25 years of development, the James Webb Space Telescope has finally launched into space on a mission to look back farther in time than ever before.
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Crypto pioneer Justin Sun to fly to space on New Shepard
Theresa CrossDecember 23rd It has been revealed that Justin Sun won the winning bid for what was originally to be the first seat aboard Blue Origin’s inaugural New Shepard rocket with a human crew.
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CRS-24 Dragon arrives at space station with supplies and science
Derek RichardsonDecember 22nd SpaceX’s CRS-24 Dragon resupply spacecraft arrived the International Space Station with supplies and experiments for the seven-person Expedition 66 crew.
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CRS-24 Dragon mission to ISS closes out record year for SpaceX
Theresa CrossDecember 21st SpaceX found a gap in the rainy Florida weather to launch the CRS-24 Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station.
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SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Turksat 5B communications satellite
Theresa CrossDecember 19th SpaceX launched a satellite called Turksat 5B into orbit for a Turkish communications company. This was the second Falcon 9 mission in less than a day.
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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. -
NASA’s CAPSTONE lunar mission to fly later this year
May 13th
Later this year, NASA plans to launch a CubeSat to test a special orbit around the Moon to verify its characteristics in advance of sending the Lunar Gateway there as early as 2024. -
Exoplanets and their characterization the focus of STScl workshop
May 11th
The various methods used over the last 25 years to discover exoplanets and the science of categorizing the many types of exoplanets that have been found was the focus of an April 19 workshop for science writers sponsored by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). -
Petition asks NASA to name Lunar Gateway after Michael Collins
May 6th
There is a Change.org petition to rename NASA’s Lunar Gateway after former Apollo astronaut Michael Collins, who died April 28, 2021, at age 90. -
Light this candle! The 60th anniversary of the first American in space
May 5th
Sixty years ago today, on May 5, 1961, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard rocketed to space in his Mercury capsule to become the first American and the second human in space. -
New Horizons spacecraft is now 50 AU from the Sun
April 22nd
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft achieved a major milestone on Saturday, April 17, when it reached a distance of 50 AU from the Sun. -
Amazon buys Atlas V rockets to orbit its Kuiper constellation
April 21st
On Monday, April 19, Amazon announced that it purchased nine Atlas V rocket flights from United Launch Alliance for the orbital insertion of its Kuiper satellites. -
Science journalist outlines challenges of settling the Moon and Mars
April 16th
Human settlement of the Moon and Mars will require overcoming numerous challenges, including living in low gravity and protecting people from radiation.
