NASA Space Flight

As the Launch Integration Tower at the Orbital Launch Site (OLS) continues to grow, Elon Musk has intimated a potential interim test with Starship SN16. As SN16 was rolled out of the High Bay towards the scrapyard, most believed that confirmed that the next vehicle to roll down Highway 4 to the launch site would be the Super Heavy and Starship tasked with the first orbital […]

Two astronauts have ventured outside the International Space Station (ISS) to attempt to continue installation of the first of six new Boeing-built solar arrays — part of a program to increase the station’s electrical power generation capacity as its science and research demands increase and future expansion plans continue. The Extravehicular Activity (EVA) – officially known as US EVA-75 – began at 11:42 UTC / 07:42 […]

Europa, an icy Jovian moon that likely possesses an ocean beneath its icy crust, may have an interior that is hot enough to produce volcanic activity on its seafloor. New research provides evidence that this seafloor volcanism likely occurred in the moon’s past and maybe ongoing at present as well. The team of researchers, led by Dr. Marie Běhounková of Charles University in the Czech Republic, […]

China has successfully launched a Chang Zheng 2C (also known as the Long March 2C) from teh Xichang Satellite Launch Center with three new Yaogan-30 satellites on June 18 at 06:30 UTC / 14:30 local time at the launch site from LC-3 after a 24 hour delay due to weather. The launch of Yaogan-30 Group 9 comes less than a day after the launch of Shenzhou-12 […]

SpaceX is preparing to launch another next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite for the United States Space Force. Falcon 9 will lift the GPS-III-SV05 satellite on June 17 from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.  The 15 minute launch window opens at 12:09 PM EDT (16:09 UTC). This will be the 19th Falcon 9 launch in 2021. GPS-III-SV05 is the company’s fourth […]

The first crewed mission to the new Chinese Space Station is being prepared for launch. Shenzhou-12, carrying three taikonauts, is scheduled to launch on Thursday June 17 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert in northwest China. Liftoff is scheduled for 01:22 UTC. Shenzhou-12 will be launching on top of the human-rated Long March 2F vehicle, which is based on the retired Long […]

Two astronauts have ventured outside the International Space Station (ISS) to install the first of six new solar arrays — part of a program to increase the station’s electrical power generation capacity as its science and research demands increase and future expansion plans continue. The Extravehicular Activity (EVA) – officially known as US EVA-74 – began at 12:11 UTC / 08:11 EDT when Thomas Pesquet from […]

The integrated operations team of NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and prime launch processing contractor Jacobs completed mating the SLS Core Stage for Artemis 1 with its boosters on June 13, another in a series of firsts that will culminate in the debut flight of NASA’s new launch vehicle, currently projected for no earlier than late-2021. After the stage was raised off its transportation carrier and […]

Northrop Grumman is preparing to launch three national security payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on the NROL-111 mission. The company will use their solid propellant Minotaur I rocket to place the payloads into a low Earth orbit with a liftoff from Pad-0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia expected on Tuesday, June 15 at 11:00 UTC (07:00 EDT). Due to the classified nature […]

Titan, the atmosphere-shrouded moon of Saturn, has captivated scientists’ attention since its formal discovery on 25 March 1655.  While in-situ observations of the moon ended in September 2017 when the Cassini spacecraft was purposely plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere at the end of its mission, data from the 13 year scientific voyage continues to reveal information not just about Titan’s past but about its future potential to […]

Northrop Grumman’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket will make a low-profile launch for the US Space Force Sunday, in a mission designed to demonstrate the ability to call up and conduct a launch at short notice. The launch is expected to occur off the coast of California, during a six-minute window opening at 01:09 PDT (08:09 UTC). Sunday’s mission is designated Tactically Responsive Launch 2, or TacRL-2. […]

In December 2020, Astra launched Rocket 3.2 to space. The successor, Rocket 3.3, will make Astra’s first flight with a payload on board as early as this summer. And by the end of the year, the Rocket 3 series is planned to launch on a monthly basis. In 2022, Astra is planning to debut Rocket 4.0 in order to launch missions weekly. CEO Chris Kemp spoke […]

After a month of thermal protection system foam repairs and other preparations, workers with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and prime test operations and support contractor Jacobs at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida started lift operations on the Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage for Artemis 1 in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on June 10. Early on June 11, two of the overhead cranes […]

A Chinese Chang Zheng 2D rocket has successfully lofted four satellites into Low Earth Orbit. The primary spacecraft on board was Beijing-3, a commercially developed and operated Earth observation satellite. The Chang Zheng, known outside of China as the Long March 2D, lifted off from Launch Complex 9 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, located in Shanxi province in Northern China, at 03:03 UTC on June […]

With launch just five years away, the Gateway Exploration Robotics System — better known as Canadarm3 — has arrived at a critical point where its artificial intelligence system must be properly calibrated to meet the rigorous autonomous demands the Lunar Gateway project will impose upon it. The AI solutions sought for Canadarm3’s vision by MDA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) largely relate to obstacle avoidance […]

Relativity Space, leveraging their 3D printing technology, has announced the next step towards supporting multiplanetary spaceflight: a fully reusable, medium lift launch vehicle named Terran R. The company’s second launch vehicle, succeeding the Terran 1 rocket to debut later this year, will have more payload capacity than the partially reusable SpaceX Falcon 9, and is only the second fully reusable commercial launch vehicle to be revealed […]

SpaceX Starbase may be lacking a rocket at the launch site, but work is still continuing apace on the construction of the Orbital Launch Site (OLS) ahead of receiving the first Super Heavy/Starship stack for an upcoming orbital launch attempt. Signs that the milestone mission is closing in can be seen at the Production Site, with sections of Booster 2 (with sections labeled BN3) and Starship […]

SpaceX is gearing up to launch its 18th mission of 2021 with the SiriusXM-8 (SXM-8) high-power broadcasting satellite.  A Falcon 9 rocket will loft the SXM-8 satellite to a sub-synchronous geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) after launching from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) on Sunday, June 6 during a one-hour and 59-minute long window that opens at 00:26 EDT/04:26 UTC.  The 45th Weather Squadron at Space Launch Delta 45 […]

Since Mariner 9 entered orbit around Mars on November 14, 1971, NASA has been continuously studying the Red Planet.  The Viking landers reached the surface of Mars five years later and began sampling the soil.  Since then, numerous landers and rovers with instruments from institutions across Earth have studied and traveled the red terrain in search of answers to many of our questions.  But all of […]

The CRS-22 cargo mission to the International Space Station is ready to lift off at 13:29 EDT (17:29 UTC) on Thursday, June 3. The Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft, carrying the first two of six new solar arrays to the station alongside other supplies as well as scientific experiments, will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 45th […]

Outside the International Space Station (ISS), Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov have completed a near 7 hour extravehicular activity, or EVA/spacewalk, to finalize external preparations for the removal to the Pirs docking compartment that has served the Station for nearly 20 years. Delivered in 2001, Pirs will be removed from the ISS no earlier than 17 July 2021 to make room for the new Nauka science […]

China will launch a new geostationary weather satellite on Wednesday June 2 local time. The Fengyun 4B satellite is due to lift off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre at 00:25 China Standard Time (16:25 UTC on Tuesday June 1), aboard a Chang Zheng 3B/G3 carrier rocket. Fengyun, meaning “wind and cloud,” is a series of meteorological satellites which provide China and the international community with […]

NASA is currently forecasting that Artemis 2 will be ready to launch no earlier than (NET) September 2023, but similar to attempting to forecast when Artemis 1 will be ready to launch, there is also uncertainty in when Artemis 2 might fly. The second joint test flight of NASA’s Orion and Space Launch System (SLS) vehicles will be the first to fly a four-person crew after […]

Just one year after losing Starship SN4 after a Static Fire test, SpaceX’s progress at its Starbase site in South Texas has allowed the company to focus on the debut of its Super Heavy booster. With Starship SN15’s successful landing appearing to conclude the high altitude hop tests, the vast majority of preparation work is focused at the Orbital Launch Site (OLS), while BN3 (Booster 2) […]

After the latest incident at Baikonur where a group of street artists painted graffiti on the Buran 1.02 space shuttle, named Burya, Roscosmos expressed its concern about the fate of the unique remnants of the Energia-Buran program stored at the spaceport and has expressed a desire to discuss this issue at the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Kazakh-Russian Commission on Baikonur.  Roscosmos has also once again […]

As early as May 27 at 17:43 UTC, the seventh batch of OneWeb satellites are set to fly on a Soyuz 2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia. Launched in collaboration with Arianespace, Starsem, and Roscosmos, this mission will add 36 spacecraft to OneWeb’s growing satellite internet constellation. Since the company’s first operational mission in February 2020, this launch will bring the constellation’s total strength […]

SpaceX’s 16th Falcon 9 launch of the year is set for Wednesday May 26 with 60 Starlink satellites to finish the first of five orbital shells for the constellation. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) is scheduled for 2:59 PM EDT (18:59 UTC). The Starlink constellation promises to provide high speed broadband internet to millions worldwide that lack the ability to obtain this type of […]

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and Stages prime contractor Boeing are collaborating on optimizing the production areas at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans. The final assembly of the second Core Stage is underway as work expands to cover the production of multiple Core Stages and Exploration Upper Stages (EUS) for the SLS Block 1B vehicle. SLS and Boeing started a long-term factory […]

While organic compounds have been confirmed on the Martian surface and near-surface areas since 2018, new Earth-based experiments point to a potentially tantalizing series of signatures from Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument that could indicate the presence of organic salts at the rover’s Gale Crater location. What’s more, the new research from a team led by J. M. T. Lewis, an organic geochemist at […]

Virgin Galactic will attempt to perform the first human spaceflight from Spaceport America again, just south of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, today, using the VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo spacecraft. VSS Unity is mated with its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft VMS Eve. Together, Eve will climb up to an altitude of 50,000 feet before releasing VSS Unity for a rocket-powered flight to space. Flight restrictions in the airspace […]

Another smallsat launch provider is looking to debut in 2021, entering a busy market of new commercial rockets. Among the many new companies proposing to provide dedicated launches for small satellites, ABL Space Systems has accumulated several launch contracts which position the company well for a first launch this year. ABL Space Systems, like many new space startups, have positioned themselves physically near hotspots of aerospace […]

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) programs are working with Core Stage prime contractor Boeing and prime test operations and support contractor Jacobs to finish repairs to thermal protection system (TPS) spray-on foam insulation on the Artemis 1 Core Stage at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The TPS foam, cork, and foil performed well during the final, critical test cases of […]

China will step up preparations for the arrival of a first crew aboard their new space station with the launch of the Tianzhou 2 cargo spacecraft with hardware and provisions to support astronauts on an initial three-month stay aboard the outpost. Liftoff is expected at 17:35:30 UTC on Wednesday, 19 May — which is 01:35:30 China Standard Time on Thursday, 20 May — aboard a Chang […]

A Chinese Long March 4B rocket is expected to take a Haiyang oceanography satellite to orbit early Wednesday morning. Liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is expected at approximately 12:10 PM local time (04:10 UTC) on 19 May. The Haiyang-2D satellite, the fourth in the Haiyang-2 series and eighth Haiyang satellite overall, will be deployed into sun synchronous orbit to conduct oceanographic research. The mission […]

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 421 is at Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of its mission to loft a new Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) military reconnaissance satellite into Geostationary transfer orbit. Liftoff of SBIRS GEO-5 is scheduled for 17:35 UTC (13:35 EDT) on Monday, 17 May. The flight will mark the first 2021 launch of ULA’s […]

Following its successful launch and landing, Starship SN15 has been placed back onto a launch mount for inspections and a potential re-flight. The upcoming test schedule will be focused on providing a green light for an orbital attempt that has already been filed with the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). Starship SN15: SpaceX finds itself in a unique position of having a successfully landed Starship still in […]

SpaceX is set to launch its third Starlink mission in just 11 days on the v1.0 L26 flight. The mission will bring the total number of operational Starlink v1.0 satellites launched to near 1,567 – just shy of the 1,584 needed to declare all of the first shell of Starlinks launched. The mission, with 52 Starlink satellites and two rideshare payloads (Capella Whitney 4 and Tyvak-0130), […]

Rocket Lab is preparing for its twentieth launch of an Electron rocket, named “Running Out of Toes,” carrying two Earth-observation satellites for BlackSky’s global monitoring constellation. The company is also aiming to recover an Electron first stage for the second time after a soft splashdown in the Māhia Recovery Zone in the Pacific Ocean. This will be the first of four dedicated missions scheduled for this […]

China will attempt to become only the second nation to land a spacecraft on Mars on Friday, joining the United States. Tianwen-1, China’s first mission to the Red Planet, launched in the middle of last year, sharing the particularly busy July 2020 Martian launch window with NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, including the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter, and the United Arab Emirates’ Al Amal orbiter. Within the coming […]

In 2018, the exo-planet PDS 70b was observed using the Very Large Array.  It’s discovery instantly placed it at the top of observation requests and telescope time for one quite profound reason: the exoplanet was still forming. For the first time, a still-accreting planet had been discovered, providing astrophysicists a unique opportunity to study how planets form with real-time observations.  But one pesky problem existed: PDS […]

Nearly three months after landing on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance mission is marking its initial science returns from the Martian surface as the Ingenuity helicopter enters its new phase of operational demonstration flights on the Red Planet.  Ingenuity’s flight will gather information on the surrounding Martian terrain for the mission’s teams to identify science targets for the mobile laboratory. Ingenuity into new phase The history-making helicopter known […]

Engineers with NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and prime Core Stage contractor Boeing continue to review terabytes of data from the now-complete, once-in-a-generation Green Run design verification test campaign. A series of eight test cases were completed, culminating in a 500-second long, full-duration static firing of the stage in the B-2 Test Stand at Stennis. The Core Stage was the major new piece developed for […]

Following the first successful launch of LauncherOne in January, Virgin Orbit is aiming for their next mission to lift off in June. While the launch campaign is underway, the small satellite launch provider continues to secure additional launch sites around the world for expending launch operations, adding their newest site in Brazil. In a ceremony held at Brasília Air Base, in the capital of the country, […]

SpaceX is considering numerous options for the upcoming Starship test schedule as the goal of reaching orbit by the summer becomes increasingly realistic. Following Starship SN15’s successful test, options include reflying the vehicle to achieve key reusability objectives, launch SN16 to a higher altitude, or push straight through to orbital testing on Super Heavy. Starship SN15: Testing numerous modifications to the vehicle, Starship SN15 validated the […]

SpaceX is set for the historic tenth flight of a Falcon 9 rocket booster on the Starlink V1.0 L27 mission. The flight is set to launch from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday, 9 May at 02:42 EDT / 06:42 UTC with an 80% positive launch weather forecast and a “low risk” prediction for recovery weather. This mission will mark SpaceX’s 14th orbital […]

With the successful docking of Mission Extension Vehicle 2, or MEV-2, to the Intelsat 10-02 satellite last month, Northrop Grumman not only repeated the task of successfully attaching one of their MEV spacecraft to a functioning satellite but also successfully proved the ability to grab a still-transmitting telecommunications satellite without disrupting service. The success of both MEV-1 and -2 has led to an increasing interest in […]

The Core Stage of NASA’s first Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and was moved into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on April 29. The stage is now in the hands of KSC’s Exploration Ground System (EGS) program and prime test operations and support contractor (TOSC) Jacobs. The long-awaited milestone allows EGS and Jacobs to work towards putting the whole […]

Both of SpaceX’s Florida launch pads are back into Starlink launch flo”ws as the company continues to deploy the satellite internet constellation.  The next launch, Starlink v1.0 L25, is scheduled to lift off from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 15:01 EDT / 19:01 UTC on Tuesday, 4 May. Following a relatively quiet stretch at 39A surrounding the crucial Crew-2 mission, another wave of Starlink […]

Starship SN15 is set to fly on Tuesday, testing upgrades that SpaceX hopes will result in a smooth touchdown on the Boca Chica landing pad. The test will take place amid ongoing groundwork for the push to orbit is taking place both at the Orbital Launch Site and elsewhere in Texas as a new dual-bay Raptor test stand nears completion. Starship SN15: Since arriving at the […]

NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program is looking at a wide range of forecasts for when they can complete testing necessary to be ready to launch Artemis 1. The Core Stage of NASA’s first Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle arrived at the Kennedy Space Center and was moved into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on April 29 to prep for stacking with the new launch vehicle’s […]

NASA and SpaceX teams are preparing for the return of NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi to Earth, completing the historic Crew-1 mission. Crew Dragon Resilience is scheduled to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Panama City, Florida, at 2:56 AM EDT (06:56 UTC) on Sunday May 2. It […]

Recently, Russian authorities began talking about a potential withdrawal from the International Space Station (ISS) project in 2025. In place of ISS, the Russian space industry would gain ROSS – a new orbital station that’s name stands for Russian Orbital Service Station.  According to Roscosmos representatives, the withdrawal from the ISS will be gradual, which means that for some time the ISS and ROSS will work […]

SpaceX is set to launch the Starlink v1.0 L24 mission with another 60 satellites for the Starlink internet constellation late on Wednesday, April 28 at 11:44 PM EDT (03:44 UTC on April 29) from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The forecast from the 45th Weather Squadron shows an 80% chance of acceptable weather at the time of launch, with the primary concern being […]

Chinese space officials are in final preparations for the launch of a Chang Zheng 5B rocket with the Tianhe station core module to low Earth orbit, marking the start of an ambitious two year construction effort of the nation’s new multi-module space station. Liftoff of the historic mission is expected around 23:18 EDT on Wednesday, 28 April — which is 03:18 UTC on Thursday, 29 April […]

After a five month grounding, Vega is set to return to flight following a launch failure in November 2020 — the rocket’s second in as many years.  For its 18th mission, Vega will launch the Pléiades-Neo 3 satellite along with several smaller rideshare payloads, taking advantage of the Small Satellite Mission Service offering from Arianespace, to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). Liftoff is currently timed for exactly 22:50 […]

China’s lightweight Long March (Chang Zheng) 6 rocket has successfully launched nine small satellites in a rideshare mission Tuesday. The launch took place at 11:20 China Standard Time (03:20 UTC) from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in China’s northern Shanxi province. Tuesday’s launch was a rideshare mission, dubbed 长征快车 – Chang Zheng Kuaiche or “Long March Express”. It was coordinated by the China Great Wall Industry […]

Starship SN15 is set to re-enter pre-launch testing Monday, tasked with setting the scene this week for a flight that could pave the way toward an orbital flight in the coming months.  The groundwork for the push to orbit is taking place both at the Orbital Launch Site and elsewhere in Texas as a new dual-bay Raptor test stand nears completion. Starship SN15: Since arriving at […]

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket is due to launch from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base Monday, carrying to orbit the classified NROL-82 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.  The launch is scheduled for 13:46 Pacific Daylight Time / 20:46 UTC. Designated NRO Launch 82 (NROL-82), Monday’s Delta IV flight marks the first launch of the year for United Launch Alliance (ULA).  Formed in […]

Arianespace is launching its second mission of the year on Sunday 25 April at 22:14 UTC from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East. The flight will carry 36 more OneWeb satellites to Low Earth Orbit on board a Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle, operated in partnership with Starsem and Roscosmos. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket will be making its 56th flight for Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate, and […]

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Meghan McArthur, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and Japanese Space Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide have joined the Expedition 64 crew as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour docked successfully to the International Space Station (ISS) at 5:08 AM EDT (09:08 UTC) on Saturday 24 April. Crew-2 is the first crewed mission for NASA and SpaceX in 2021 and their third crewed […]

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour will begin its second mission Friday, with a crew of four astronauts on a long-duration trip to the International Space Station.  Liftoff, atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, is expected at 05:49:02 EDT / 09:49:02 UTC on Friday, 23 April 2021. The Crew-2 mission will see Endeavour carry NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Thomas Pesquet of […]

Throughout the southern Martian hemisphere’s spring and summer seasons, a large, expansive cloud emerges daily from the volcano Arsia Mons.  Why this cloud only forms at this location on Mars, what kind of cloud it is, and other puzzles to this phenomenon have plagued researchers for years — as observing Martian weather usually only happens by accident during other investigations. Now, a team of researchers primarily […]

Following a year of testing and development, NASA recently selected SpaceX’s Starship-based Human Landing System (HLS) to land astronauts on the moon under the Artemis program. SpaceX’s proposal was the highest rated and lowest cost offering among three studied designs, the others provided by Blue Origin’s National Team and Dynetics. In contrast to NASA’s stated wish for multiple Human Landing Systems, only one design was selected […]

For the first time ever, non-rocket powered flight has been achieved on a body other than Earth. NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, part of the Mars 2020 mission, completed its first flight on Monday 19 April. The vehicle lifted off at 12:34 AM PDT (07:34 UTC) and flew for 39.1 seconds. Flight controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory received data confirming the successful flight at 3:46 AM PDT […]

United Launch Alliance (ULA) has recently made pad upgrades to Space Launch Complex-6 (SLC-6) at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, ahead of the upcoming Delta IV Heavy launch of the NROL-82 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office scheduled for April 26 at 15:39 EDT / 19:39 UTC. The previous Delta IV Heavy mission, NROL-44 from SLC-37B at Cape Canaveral, Florida, was plagued by numerous issues, scrubs, […]

Starship SN15 is expected to undergo a Static Fire test as early as Monday to clear the path for a test flight no earlier than Tuesday as SpaceX’s rapidly reusable interplanetary launch and landing system gained a massive sign of NASA approval – and a ton of government cash to boot. SpaceX was the sole winner of NASA’s initial Human Landing System (HLS) award worth in […]

Three years ago, on April 18, 2018, NASA’s and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, launched successfully into a very high Earth orbit aboard the last new Block 4 Falcon 9 before the current human-rated Block 5 entered service. Since then, it has dutifully observed the southern and northern skies, searching for tell-tale signs of nearby exoplanets crossing between their parent […]

After more than six months in orbit, the Soyuz MS-17 mission is drawing to a close.  The craft departed the International Space Station with undocking right on time at 21:34 EDT on Friday, 16 April (01:34 UTC on Saturday, 17 April). Sergey Ryzhikov, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, and Kate Rubins will now spend the next orbit and a half of Earth making final preparations for landing.  The deorbit […]

Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Thomas Pesquet, and Akihiko Hoshide have arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their upcoming launch to the International Space Station on the same day their spaceship, the Crew Dragon Endeavour, was moved to its sea-side launch pad. NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting launch of the Crew-2 mission on Thursday, April 22 at 06:11 EDT / 10:11 UTC from […]

In the southern hemisphere, in the constellation Canis Major, lies a very young, very massive red hypergiant star called VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa). A pulsating variable, its apparent magnitude (how bright it appears in the night sky) varies unpredictably.  It is located 1.2 kiloparsecs, or approximately 3,900 light years, from Earth, is only 8.2 million years old, and is one of the largest stars known […]

Blue Origin is set to launch the 15th mission of their suborbital New Shepard launch system, including booster and capsule, on a test flight that will prove crucial to the company’s ability to begin carrying people.  Liftoff is set to occur from Blue Origin’s west Texas facility near Van Horn no earlier than 11:15 EDT / 15:15 UTC on Wednesday, 14 April. NS-15 After announcing the […]

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and prime Core Stage contractor Boeing wrapped up the Green Run testing campaign on the Artemis 1 flight article at the Stennis Space Center and are readying the vehicle for its long-awaited shipment to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. After reviewing the performance of the vehicle from its second test-firing in mid-March, NASA and Boeing agreed that the […]

Today, Roscosmos is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Vostok-1 mission, which launched Yuri Gagarin and the first human spaceflight, while NASA simultaneously commemorates the 40th anniversary of the first launch of the world’s first reusable spacecraft, when John Young and Bob Crippen embarked on the most ambitious test flight in history aboard the shuttle Columbia. The anniversaries arrive at a crucial turning point in space […]

With the completion of another single-engine RS-25 development test, Aerojet Rocketdyne is now refurbishing five engines at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for their next use. After the second test firing of the Retrofit 2 series in the A-1 Test Stand on April 6, development engine 0528 is going through a streamlined refurbishment prior to its next firing as a part of the production restart […]

China launched an experimental satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on Friday morning using the Long March-4C – Chang Zheng-4C – (Y49) rocket. The launch took place at 23:01 UTC (Thursday) from Launch Complex LC9. Onboard was the third Shiyan-6 satellite that the Chinese press refers to for space environment surveys and experiments on related technologies. The new satellite, developed by the DFH Satellite Co. […]

The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, carrying three new members for Expeditions 64 and 65, is currently awaiting launch to the International Space Station at 07:42 UTC, which is 03:42 EDT or 12:42 local time at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Friday, April 9.  The launch comes three days before the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s groundbreaking orbital flight when he became the first member of the human […]

SpaceX is ready to launch yet another batch of 60 Starlink satellites on the Starlink v1.0 L23 mission. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is targeted for April 7 at 12:34 PM EDT (16:34 UTC). This will be the third time a Falcon 9 first stage will fly a seventh mission, the tenth Falcon 9 flight of the […]

Building and testing SpaceX’s next generation launch system, Starship, has primarily been conducted at the village of Boca Chica, Texas. But just a couple years ago, Starship hardware was also being built at a SpaceX facility on Cidco Road in Cocoa, Florida, near America’s most active spaceport at Cape Canaveral. Today, only a single Starship nosecone section remains at the site, but new permits have been […]

The SpaceX Crew-1 Dragon Resilience performed a relocation to a new docking port aboard the International Space Station on Monday in order to make way for future crew and cargo vehicles on the U.S. side (which includes Canada, Japan, and Europe) of the orbital complex.  This type of move from one docking port to another, whilst common for the Russian Soyuz vehicles, is a first for […]

Just days after Starship SN11 conducted a fog-cloaked test flight that ended in an explosive finale, SN15 is already in final preparations for a rollout down Highway 4 at SpaceX Starbase (Boca Chica). SN15 will sport numerous modifications that SpaceX hopes will result in improved performance ahead of shooting for orbit along with smoother touchdowns for its prototype rocket. One of the mostly unspecified modifications involves […]

The debut of Blue Origin’s orbital launch vehicle, New Glenn, has been delayed until no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2022. In advance of pathfinder operations later this year, the company has continued to make progress at Launch Complex 36 and Launch Complex 11, two historic facilities which will support the New Glenn program. The Atlas era at LC-36 The site that now hosts Blue […]

With launch now just a few weeks away, SpaceX and NASA have entered final preparations for the second operational Crew Dragon mission. This will be SpaceX’s second long-duration crew rotation for NASA as a part of the Commercial Crew program.  Crew-2 will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft from historic LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center on April 22 at 6:11 […]

Boeing is moving into the final phases of standalone integration and outfitting of Core Stage-2 elements and is about to start putting the elements together as production of Core Stage-3 continues with structural assembly of the engine section while preparations are in work for Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) manufacturing to start later in the year. In parallel with Boeing production of SLS stages and a factory […]

China launched a new remote sensing satellite on March 30 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Launch of Gaofen-12 (02) took place at 22:45 UTC from the LC-43/94 launch complex using a Chang Zheng 4C (Y36) rocket. According to official information, the new satellite will primarily be used for land census, urban planning, land rights disputes, road network design, crop estimation, and disaster prevention and mitigation […]

Once the troublesome element of the Constellation (now Artemis) Program, three Orion spacecraft are in various stages of preparation for flight, two of which now already reside at their Kennedy Space Center launch site. With the Artemis 3 Orion – set to depart Earth with the crew that will step foot on the surface of the Moon – now being constructed at the Michoud Assembly Facility […]

NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program and prime test and operations contractor (TOSC) Jacobs are working at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to position Artemis 1 Orion and Space Launch System (SLS) hardware to be ready for final assembly ahead of the arrival of the SLS Core Stage in the late-April time-frame. With the final major Core Stage test completed, the SLS Boosters are stacked in […]

The successful landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars on February 18 was not just the start of its surface mission but also the start of a multinational, decade-long effort to obtain pristine samples of Mars and return them to Earth for intensive study. The Mars Sample Return project is the most complex robotic planetary mission ever created, involving four spacecraft in three missions that span […]

Arianespace and Russian-French company Starsem are set to launch 36 OneWeb satellites to Low Earth Orbit aboard Soyuz 2.1b on Thursday, March 25. Liftoff from Site 1S at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia is scheduled for 02:47 UTC. These satellites will be launched to a near-polar orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometers. The launch will have a total duration of three hours and 51 minutes, […]

The Starlink constellation is set to receive another 60 satellites this week. Falcon 9 B1060-6 is scheduled to launch on Falcon 9’s ninth flight of 2021 and fourth flight this month. Liftoff is targeted for 4:28 am EDT (08:28 UTC) on Wednesday March 24, the 15th anniversary of SpaceX’s first ever orbital launch attempt. This launch will be conducted from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at […]

At 05:59 UTC on 23 March 2001 Russia’s Mir space station burned up as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, concluding its storied fifteen-year mission. Twenty years on, the successes and lessons learned aboard Mir live on in its successor, the International Space Station, and in the proposed next-generation space stations being developed by national agencies, international partnerships and commercial organizations around the world. Mir was the first […]

The 19th flight of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, named They Go Up So Fast, is targeted to lift off on Monday, March 22 at 22:30 UTC. On board the mission are six customer satellites and an internal Photon pathfinder satellite named Pathstone, which will gain flight heritage ahead of future Photon missions to the moon and Venus. The launch will be conducted from Launch Complex 1A […]

Starship SN11 has gained local clearance to return to pre-flight testing, with a Static Fire test occurring on Monday. Providing the test data is acceptable, a launch could take place as early as Tuesday. Over at the Production Site, Super Heavy prototype BN1 was stacked ahead of rollout and ground testing, events set to take place over the coming weeks. SN11: See Also Starship SN11 Updates […]

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program, Core Stage prime contractor Boeing, and RS-25 prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne have completed the biggest test in the 10-year old program, firing the Artemis 1 flight stage for 500 seconds in the B-2 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center on March 18. The test was the highest hurdle for the program to clear before the agency’s new launch vehicle lifts […]

Russia’s federal space agency Roscosmos will conduct its first dedicated commercial launch through its GK Launch Services subsidiary Saturday using a Soyuz 2.1a/Fregat vehicle to deliver a cluster of satellites to orbit, including South Korea’s CAS500-1.  Soyuz – sporting a new blue and white livery – is due to lift off from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Saturday, 20 March at 06:07 UTC, […]

Soyuz MS-17 has relocated to a new docking port in preparation for a spree of upcoming vehicle arrivals at the International Space Station. The relocation ensures that a Russian spacewalk in June can proceed, which will prepare the station for its first major addition in a decade. Soyuz schedule Soyuz MS-17 arrived at the ISS on 14 October 2020, with its crew of Russian cosmonauts Sergey […]

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and Core Stage prime contractor Boeing are counting down to a second static firing of the new rocket stage and its four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines. The primary goal in the repeat of the Green Run Hot-Fire test is to complete all ten of the design verification objectives (DVO); the abbreviated first test on January 16 demonstrated three of the […]

While NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program, Core Stage prime contractor Boeing, and RS-25 engine prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne ready Core Stage-1 for a second Green Run Hot-Fire test, the agency’s Stennis Space Center workforce has recycled the B-2 Test Stand and surrounding infrastructure for the next attempt. A rocket stage the size of the SLS Core places large demands on Stennis to provide propellants and […]

The Hubble Space Telescope recently garnered headlines for a software anomaly that caused the iconic observatory to enter safe mode as its control teams worked to successfully restore the telescope to operational status. While Hubble is showing its age, scientists using the observatory are nonetheless continuing to produce incredible scientific discoveries, including a recent announcement surrounding an exoplanet 41 light years away that is on its […]

Starship SN11 is preparing to conduct a Static Fire test Monday ahead of a potential flight as early as Tuesday. Forever subject to change due to numerous considerations – ranging from weather, hardware parameters, and paperwork approval – SN11 will mark the final test of this iteration of Starship before the program moves into the next phase of testing. Following SN11’s flight, SpaceX will move on […]