Artemis III

By Mark Carreau
NASA again has pushed back anticipated launch dates for the Artemis II and Artemis III crewed lunar missions in light of Orion crew capsule heat-shield damage.
Space Exploration

By Vivienne Machi
President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated billionaire Jared Isaacman, a commander of two SpaceX commercial space flights, to be the next NASA administrator.
Operations & Safety

By Irene Klotz
NASA plans to add uncrewed missions to both SpaceX and Blue Origin’s Human Landing System service contracts to deliver a lunar rover and a habitat to the Moon.
Space Exploration

By Mark Carreau
The challenges are even more relevant because of a constrained federal budget environment.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Mark Carreau
The company provided a static version of the two-person vehicle to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in September.
Space Exploration

By Mark Carreau
The audit recommends that the agency conduct at least one schedule risk analysis prior to introduction of the new Mobile Launcher 2 (ML2).
Space Exploration

By Irene Klotz
Landing of the Starship upper stage is targeted for early 2025.
Commercial Space

By Robert Wall
Axiom Space says it is on track to deliver the spacesuits for the Artemis III mission and is stepping up testing to validate its design.
Operations & Safety

By Irene Klotz, Joe Anselmo, Michael Bruno
Nelson talks with Aviation Week about the role private companies will play and his concerns about China’s ambitions on the Moon.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Mark Carreau
The National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine panel also acknowledged the mission’s extreme challenges and received initial comments.
Space Exploration

By Irene Klotz
NASA’s plan to build a second mobile launcher for its upgraded Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will cost the agency $1.8 billion.
Space

By Robert Wall
Airbus is dispatching the third European Service Module (ESM-3) to the U.S. for eventual use on NASA’s mission to return humans to the moon.
Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA is seeking input to identify the near-term capabilities and assets necessary to achieve the Moon-to-Mars architecture’s objectives.
Space

By Mark Carreau
The rocket is intended for a September 2028 inaugural launch as part of the Artemis IV mission.
Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA must document efforts to address the greater-than-planned mass of the first two modules for its lunar-orbiting human-tended Gateway, says GAO auditors.
Space

By Irene Klotz
Matching NASA’s needs with the ideal contracting mechanism is a challenge.
Space

By Mark Carreau
The five recommendations are among nine identified by the GAO in May 2023 as “priority” that still await full implementation.
Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA administrator Bill Nelson again raised astronaut safety as the primary pacing item for Artemis III.
Space

By Graham Warwick, Joe Anselmo
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s inspector general has identified a range of technical issues of concern that arose during the uncrewed 2022 Artemis I mission.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Earlier this year, NASA announced a rescheduling of the Artemis II and Artemis III missions.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Axiom and Collins are working on new spacesuits for the agency’s lunar and LEO programs.
Space

By Mark Carreau
The multiyear Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract agreements have a combined maximum potential value of $4.6 billion over 15 years.
Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA has selected the first three science instruments for deployment on the Moon’s south pole as part of Artemis III.
Space

By Irene Klotz
The agency is asking for the same amount of money it received in 2023.
Space