Encouraged by progress in the Commercial Crew program, NASA should nonetheless expand planning for staffing the International Space Station long-term to provide options, NASA’s safety oversight panel said on April 23.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on April 22 to deliver a seventh batch of the company’s Starlink communications satellites into low Earth orbit.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting May 27 for a crewed test flight of the Dragon 2 spacecraft to the International Space Station, the first human orbital space launch from the U.S. since the end of the shuttle program in 2011.
Rocket Factory Augsburg, a would-be launch service provider and part of Germany’s OHB group, sees a market for a small reusable rocket that would offer low launch costs and enable improved satellite designs.
A defunct communications satellite serviced during the debut flight of Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) has resumed operations, Intelsat and Northrop said on April 17.
Intuitive Machines has selected the planned date and landing site for its first mission to the Moon’s surface under its NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services agreement.
Citing the bankruptcy of the OneWeb satellite communications company, the U.S. government should consider adding $2.5 billion in funding for space programs, along with multiple policy proposals to maintain the military space industrial base and U.S. strategic dominance in the domain in the face of threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, an industry trade group recommends.
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.
OneWeb Satellites said March 30 it is temporarily furloughing an undisclosed number of employees at its Titusville, Florida, manufacturing facility, citing slowing supply chains and travel disruptions due to the spread of COVID-19.
The mission will mark the first flight of astronauts aboard a U.S. orbital spaceship since space shuttle Atlantis rolled to a stop at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 21, 2011