Space

By Jen DiMascio
Russia blamed for Viasat attack; MQ-9B adds short-takeoff capability; U.S., Japan to study loyal wingman; and Black Hawk sustainment.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Brian Everstine
Several lawmakers are continuing to raise concerns about the decision to base U.S. Space Command’s headquarters in Alabama even after the Defense Department Inspector General on May 10 issued its findings that the Air Force’s choice was reasonable.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Mark Carreau
Less than a week after their safe return to Earth, NASA’s four SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts offered a positive assessment of a growing workload aboard the International Space Station and the level of mutual trust and camaraderie among the astronauts and cosmonauts who serve despite Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
Space

By Tony Osborne
UK space startup Orbex has unveiled a fully completed prototype of the company’s Prime satellite launcher.
Commercial Space

By Guy Norris
Satellite air launch company Virgin Orbit has secured an agreement with conversion specialist L3 Harris Technologies to acquire two Boeing 747-400 airframes to support growth plans for additional launch capacity.
Commercial Space

By Guy Norris
Lockheed Martin-General Motors lunar vehicle designed to transit moon autonomously for prepositioned rendezvous with incoming missions.
Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA has every intention of leveraging commercial partnerships as it plans a return to the Moon with human explorers, according to those at the agency closely involved in laying the groundwork.
Space

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Space Force is overhauling how the military tests its satellites, with the goal of speeding up the process, relying more on digital modeling to represent new threats, and growing a more skilled workforce to meet that need.
Space

By Tony Osborne
Ukraine is hoping to become a “trustworthy partner” to the West on future space projects, the former chairman of the country’s space agency says.
Space

By Brian Everstine
The U.S., the European Union and multiple other nations on May 10 formally attributed cyber attacks against Viasat’s KA-SAT network on Feb. 24 to Russia, claiming Moscow attempted to disrupt Ukrainian command and control as the invasion began.
Commercial Space

By Tony Osborne
U.S. launch startup Astra Space has teamed up with the UK’s SaxaVord Spaceport as a potential new location for satellite launches.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
The highly anticipated debut of the WorldView Legion high-resolution constellation from Maxar Technologies is slipping again, this time to September, as the Colorado company works through a test configuration anomaly, executives announced late May 9.
Commercial Space

By Tony Osborne
The UK Defense Ministry will launch a pair of CubeSats on the first planned horizontal launch from a UK spaceport as early as this summer.
Space

By Garrett Reim
Xona Space Systems has finished environmental testing of its Huginn demonstrator satellite ahead of its planned May 25 launch on SpaceX’s Transporter 5 rideshare mission.
Commercial Space

By Thierry Dubois
With its first launch in the offing, Vega C is to start a series of key and long-awaited evolutions in Arianespace’s offering.
Space

By Irene Klotz
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is entering the final phase of commissioning prior to the start of science observations this summer, project scientists told reporters May 9. The telescope, which launched on Dec. 25, 2021, aboard an Arianespace Ariane V rocket, is designed to follow on and expand scientific observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope and other space observatories.
Space

By Irene Klotz
Blue Origin’s next flight of the New Shepard suborbital spacecraft will include its first repeat customer.
Commercial Space

By Garrett Reim
Momentus’ space tug demonstrator has arrived at Cape Canaveral for its inaugural launch aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-5 mission after its application for payload review won FAA approval.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket will head back to its Kennedy Space Center launchpad in June for a second run at a Wet Dress Rehearsal as the agency strives to get the system’s first lunar test flight, Artemis I, underway by summer’s end.
Space

By Michael Bruno
Maritime Launch Services, which aims to establish Canada’s first indigenous space launch from Nova Scotia, and rocket manufacturing startup Reaction Dynamics of Quebec are partnering for a 2023 debut.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
Virgin Galactic is slipping its forecasted start of revenue-generating commercial operations to the first quarter of 2023 instead of this year, executives announced May 5 while revealing the space tourism provider’s latest quarterly loss.
Commercial Space

By Garrett Reim
Spire of San Francisco signed a contract to provide weather data collected by its satellites to Gale Force, a maritime routing software company.
Commercial Space

By Thierry Dubois
The CEO of Avio does not see any problem in the medium term regarding supply of the RD-843 engines that power its upgraded Vega C light launcher, despite their Ukrainian origin.
Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA’s Crew-3 SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida peninsula early May 6.
Space

By Guy Norris
Flight tests of Roc build on reliability of baseline Boeing 747 engines, gear and system components as test campaign intensifies.
Aircraft & Propulsion