Much delayed and technically challenged, the NASA-led development and prelaunch testing of the James Webb Space Telescope is now on schedule for an Oct. 31, 2021, launch, officials say.
NASA’s third cargo resupply line to the International Space Station, operated by privately owned Sierra Nevada Corp., is delaying the debut launch of its reusable winged Dream Chaser spaceplane until 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic-related work issues, the company said on Nov. 17.
Launch service operator Arianespace has traced the cause of the Nov. 16 failure of a Vega rocket to an improperly connected electrical harness on the launcher’s Avum engine.
The Vega light launcher, operated by Arianespace, is to place two satellites into orbit on Nov. 16–Taranis, to study electromagnetic phenomena taking place above storms, and Seosat-Ingenio, focused on the observation of Spain’s territory.
Speculation is mounting over what’s next for U.S. human deep-space exploration following the Nov. 3 presidential election, but one noted space historian believes the U.S. will still land on the Moon within 10 years.
A consortium of British space companies is calling on the UK government to make key investments in space capabilities as an initiative to boost and shape the UK’s future economy.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 15, sending a Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts on its way to the International Space Station, the first U.S. government-certified flight of a commercially developed crewed orbital transportation system.
NASA and SpaceX are delaying the launch of the resident crew ferry flight to the International Space Station by one day due to expected high winds at the launch site and poor weather for booster recovery at sea.
The European Space Agency has awarded three contracts to Airbus and Thales Alenia Space as part of Copernicus Expansion, an addition to the existing, wide-ranging Copernicus Earth observation program.
Achieving a return to the Moon’s surface with human explorers by 2024 tops a list of seven signature management and performance challenges that NASA faces over the coming decade, an assessment from the agency’s inspector general says.
Aireon on Nov. 12 announced an agreement with the FAA allowing the agency access to its satellite-routed aircraft surveillance data to evaluate different air traffic control applications.
Raytheon Technologies has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Blue Canyon Technologies, a pioneering provider of small satellites and spacecraft systems components, for about $350 million.
The $3.84 billion lunar-orbiting, human-tended Gateway that NASA envisions as part of a long-term strategy to establish a sustained human presence at the Moon is unlikely to be in place in time to support the Trump administration’s goal of returning astronauts to the lunar surface in 2024, an audit by the agency’s inspector general says.
NASA and SpaceX on Nov. 10 completed the Flight Readiness Review for the first post-shuttle, operational International Space Station (ISS) crew rotation mission from the U.S., paving the way for a launch attempt of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 7:49 p.m. EST on Nov. 14 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
President-elect Joe Biden has selected an eight-member team of volunteers, headed by Ellen Stofan, former NASA chief scientist and current director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, to oversee the transition of NASA to his administration.
The joint NASA/European Space Agency mission to return samples from Mars’ surface faces a likely cost increase and two-year launch delay to address the challenges needed to achieve a high probability of success, according to an unusual, early independent review of the complex effort.
U.S. Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond has focused the Space Force’s inaugural year on investing in resiliency, building next-generation capabilities and the establishment of a Space Warfighting Analysis Center.
Ride-share schemes for small satellites are here to stay and, along with constellations and geostationary spacecraft, will contribute to solid activity in the near term, senior executives of launch service operators say.
SDA director Derek Tournear joins Aviation Week editors on Check 6 to discuss how its system of space tracking and transport satellites will revolutionize the U.S. military and the challenges it will face along the way.
