The U.S. Space Force’s 30th Space Wing and entities in California have entered into an agreement to develop a spaceport and boost commercial launch activity at Vandenberg AFB on the state’s Pacific coast.
SpaceX will fly a pair of SES’s new satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2022, with an option for a second flight for an undisclosed third satellite. ULA will launch another two SES spacecraft on an Atlas V, also in 2022, SES announced.
A prototype Mars-class reusable spaceship developed by SpaceX took a nearly 500-ft (150 m) hop off a launch stand near Brownsville, Texas, on Aug. 4, marking the company’s first successful Starship test flight in a year.
Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken praised the NASA/SpaceX team behind their test flight and expressed hope the public/private partnership continues to thrive.
As it incorporates lessons learned from the abbreviated debut flight of its LauncherOne small satellite rocket, Virgin Orbit said Aug. 3 it is planning for a second demonstration mission before year’s end, with NASA agreeing to use the launch to put 11 experimental cubesats into orbit.
Bartolomeo, an external platform developed to commercially support scientific research and technology development payloads outside the International Space Station Space (ISS), should be ready to host its first projects by mid-2021, according to developer Airbus Defense and Space.
Small satellite launcher ABL Space Systems has disclosed around $90 million in new defense contracts plus investments from Lockheed Martin and venture capitalists, powering the startup through a three-launch demonstration of the RS1 launch vehicle and GS0 deployable launch system early next year, the company said Aug. 3.
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, flying as test pilots for the SpaceX Demonstration Mission-2 (Demo-2), landed in flat seas and 2 mph winds at 2:48 p.m. EDT, capping NASA’s six-year effort to restore U.S. human orbital flight capability after the space shuttles’ retirement in 2011.
The third and final phase of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule's two-month test flight will conclude Sunday with an 11-min. de-orbit burn of the capsule's Draco engines, which will be followed by an atmospheric re-entry and a parachute descent into the Gulf waters on Aug. 2.
Rocket Lab has determined the cause of the July 4 failure of an Electron rocket—a faulty electrical connection which triggered a premature shutdown of the booster’s second stage, the company said on July 31.
Capitol Hill is continuing to wait for the Pentagon to submit a report proposing changes to Space Force acquisition, but the document still needs to receive a blessing from the White House.
Two NASA Demo-2 astronauts continued preparing on July 31 for a weekend return to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) and a splashdown off the Florida coast as Tropical Storm Isaias was upgraded to a category 1 hurricane.
More and improved South Korean space launchers can be developed following the removal of a restriction on solid-propellant motors agreed upon with the U.S.
The U.S. Space Force’s 30th Space Wing, the state of California and other involved parties have entered into an agreement to develop a commercial spaceport facility at Vandenberg AFB, California, the federal government’s Western launch range.
Hours after the Demo-2 spacecraft was cleared to splash down along the Florida coast this weekend carrying two NASA astronauts home from the International Space Station (ISS), a tropical disturbance headed for the Sunshine State was upgraded to a tropical storm.
The HAPSMobile venture involving Japan’s SoftBank and AeroVironment has completed a fourth test flight of its solar-powered stratospheric unmanned aircraft, flying for longer and reaching a higher altitude than previous tests.
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral AFS on July 30, sending the $2.4-billion NASA Perseverance rover on its way to Mars to search for signs of past life and cache promising rock and soil samples for a future return to Earth.
U.S. Space Command (Spacecom) is partnering with U.S. Cyber Command by offering a planning element to implement cyber protection and capabilities or space expertise.
In-situ resource utilization, combined with advances in additive manufacturing, could provide the materials and technologies for the construction of habitats, factories, spare parts and supplies on the Moon and Mars.
