NASA and Northrop Grumman have finalized a $935 million contract for development of the lunar Habitation and Logistics Outpost module, which along with the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) will comprise the initial components of the agency’s human-tended, lunar-orbiting Gateway.
SpaceX’s 22nd Dragon resupply mission spacecraft is headed for a late July 9 splashdown and recovery off Florida’s Gulf Coast, following a weather-delayed departure from the International Space Station’s U.S. segment with a 5,300-lb. return payload of science experiments, technology development hardware and other equipment.
Blacktree has joined Airbus Defense and Space’s Team Maier initiative, established in October 2020 to provide solutions for Australia's JP 9102 military satellite communication program.
The U.S. Space Force may begin testing early-warning satellites in medium-Earth orbit as early as 2022, which aligns with comments made by a service official last week who said the Force Design team will assess the theory of putting missile-warning satellites into non-traditional orbits.
Until the July 5 decision to postpone the undocking, the Cargo Dragon was to depart the ISS on July 6 at about 11 a.m. EDT with a 5,000-lb. return cargo for a parachute-assisted descent into the Atlantic Ocean on July 8 at 12 a.m. EDT.
Astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo completed the first extravehicular activity (EVA) outside the Tianhe core module, marking China’s first spacewalk since the Shenzhou-7 mission in 2008.
The docking of the Progress MS-17 cargo capsule to the Poisk module was a first, Progress freighters having previously docked at the Russian segment's Pirs module, which was disabled earlier this year.
If schedules hold, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson will fly nine days ahead of fellow billionaire entrepreneur and space buff Jeff Bezos, founder and funder of Blue Origin.
NASA’s Mars Ingenuity helicopter will attempt to overfly a region of key interest to scientists on the rover Perseverance mission, pushing ongoing flight demonstrations into the realm of operational mission support.
Wally Funk, one of 13 women recruited as potential astronauts for NASA’s 1960s Mercury program but sidelined due to gender, will fly as a guest of Blue Origin on the company’s first crewed flight.
The aging NEOWISE space telescope, which seeks out asteroids and comets including the many undiscovered objects that could pose an impact threat to the Earth, has had its life extended for two more years.
This year’s International Asteroid Day, the annual June 30 observance instituted by the United Nations to promote global awareness of asteroid threats, arrives with NASA on the verge of launching a first-ever mission to demonstrate a potential defense.
Virgin Orbit delivered seven satellites into orbit on June 30, including cubesats for the U.S. Defense Department’s Rapid Agile Launch Initiative (RALI), a Polish-based startup planning to sell optical imagery to agricultural and energy customers and the first military satellite for the Royal Netherlands Air Force.
Russia’s Progress MS-17 cargo capsule, filled with 3,600 lb. of food, crew supplies and propellant, was on course for an automated docking with the International Space Station late July 1 following a successful launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
With sights on lunar and deep space missions, China has firmed up its road map to develop heavy-lift rockets based on the Long March 5 and the new Long March 9.
