Space

By Irene Klotz
NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia, have joined the list of NASA facilities reaching Stage 4 of the agency’s Response Framework to COVID-19.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Significant changes in the oversight of the International Space Station’s (ISS) National Laboratory research and technology development operations may be imminent.
Space

By Guy Norris
Rocket company Virgin Orbit completed a major dress rehearsal of its LauncherOne vehicle launch system on April 12, marking the final test of the five-year development program and clearing the way for the first demonstration launch.
Space

By Irene Klotz
Signs of the global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus are clearly visible in satellite data that show a 30% drop in air pollution over the Northeast U.S. as residents bunker down to avoid contagion, NASA said.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are those most typically considered to be isolated from friends, family, and the rest of humanity for extended periods. But the coronavirus pandemic may be altering that equation.
Space

By Guy Norris
Budget cuts to ground NASA SOFIA 747SP observatory, while obsolescence prompts replacement study for DC-8 airborne science missions.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Thierry Dubois
France–The European Space Agency (ESA)’s BepiColombo, the probe it launched in 2018 to study the planet Mercury, is performing a flyby of Earth this week as a gravity-assist maneuver in its seven-year-long journey.
Space Symposium

By Mark Carreau
A NASA astronaut and two cosmonauts successfully docked to the International Space Station April 9, just more than 6 hr. after launching from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with all three men prepared, if necessary, to continue minimal staffing of the orbiting science lab through October.
Space

By Mark Carreau
“Honey, I shrunk the NASA payload,” is a global crowdsourcing initiative unveiled by the space agency on April 9 to significantly reduce the size of rugged instruments, sensors and experiments that can be launched to the Moon.
Space Symposium

By Mark Carreau
NASA has selected Masten Space Systems, of Mojave, California, to launch, land and oversee operations of eight science payloads at the lunar south pole for at least 12 days in 2022 under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
Space

By Guy Norris
Talon vehicle emerges as core of updated Stratolaunch hypersonic test fleet plan along with Black Ice spaceplane concept.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Tony Osborne
Australian nanosat startup Sky and Space Global has entered voluntary administration—a process similar to Chapter 11 U.S. bankruptcy—after posting losses of more than AUS$30 million ($18.5 million) in 2019.
Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA will invest $7 million to advance a range of 23 early stage technologies with the potential to hasten the journey of humans to Mars and increase the odds of success for robotic missions selected to explore potentially habitable extrasolar planets and ocean worlds.
Space Symposium

By Irene Klotz
Former astronaut Norm Thagard answers questions about his time in space and offers thoughts on how to stay busy while quarantining.
Space Symposium

By Lee Hudson
The U.S. Space Force is delaying a SpaceX launch of the third GPS III satellite for two months because of the growing novel coronavirus pandemic.
Space

By Mark Carreau
The last of the SpaceX Dragon resupply capsules launched to the International Space Station (ISS) under an initial round of NASA commercial resupply contracts returned to Earth on April 7.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Discovered on Dec. 28, 2019, the puffy greenish Comet Atlas C/2019 Y4 rapidly brightened in the northern night sky near the Big Dipper as it raced toward the Sun.
Space

By Irene Klotz
President Donald Trump on April 6 signed a new national space policy directive reaffirming U.S. commitment to the commercial use of resources in space and encouraging international support for the policy.
Space Symposium

By Irene Klotz
Boeing says it will fly a second uncrewed flight test of its CST-100 Starliner, following a troubled orbital debut in December.
Space

By Maxim Pyadushkin
S7 Space Corp. has completed the relocation of the Sea Launch complex from Long Beach, California, to Russia’s Far East.
Space Symposium

By Irene Klotz
A third SpaceX Starship prototype was destroyed early April 3 during a tanking pressurization test with cryogenic nitrogen to simulate flight temperatures and pressures.
Space Symposium

By Jen DiMascio
Coronavirus’ minor impact to F-35 testing; Japan’s future fighter office; Croatia delays fighter buy; L3Harris wins SSA contract; L-39 trials.
Defense and Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s long-term strategy for a sustained human exploration of the Moon is to produce scientific, economic and geopolitical dividends as well as establish a sustainable proving ground for longer missions to Mars—and all executed with commercial partners and global alliances.
Space Symposium

By Mark Carreau
NASA is reviving its stylized “worm” logo, the popular version of the acronym for the agency’s full name that was retired in 1992 following a 17-year run.
Space Symposium

By Jen DiMascio
The Space Development Agency plans to issue a request for proposals for an initial tranche of 20 satellites that will begin to form a low-latency network connecting all sensors, shooters and data from all domains of warfare.
Space Symposium