Space

NASA on Dec. 6 presented its 2021 class of new astronaut candidates, six men and four women chosen not only for their diverse professional skills but also their commitment to teamwork.

Safran on Dec. 6 said it has entered into exclusive discussions to acquire Orolia from majority shareholder Eurazeo alongside the company’s founders and management to expand its product line and local country footprints.

NASA said it intends to issue a sole-source modification to SpaceX’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities contract that would enable the agency to purchase up to three more crew flights to the International Space Station.

After reaching orbit on its fourth try from Alaska, startup Astra Space will debut commercial launch services from Florida beginning in January.

Intuitive Machines (IM) has begun construction of a $40 million, 115,000-sq.-ft. lunar production and operations center at the Houston Spaceport to support plans to establish an annual cadence of commercial missions to the lunar surface.

The agreement will see South Africa use China’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System for geophysics, space science, geodetic surveys and other research.

Using a twin model of the flight rover, engineers are preparing for a post-landing egress test.

The space telescope set to launch in 2023 has been built to address two of the most important questions in cosmology today: How did the universe originate and why is it expanding at an accelerating rate?

The debris was forecast to pass as close as 1.86 mi. to the ISS.

The company acknowledged it had received a warning of noncompliance from the New York Stock Exchange.

The SLS is a cornerstone of NASA efforts to return to the Moon with human explorers and prepare for human expeditions to Mars.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

The contracts mark kickoff of two-phase approach to moving from the government-owned ISS to a public-private outpost in low Earth orbit.

Initially planned for Nov. 30, the excursion was delayed two days so that NASA could assess a possible orbital debris concern.

As a reusable booster, Neutron is designed to carry 8 tons into low Earth orbit.

The data will assist with understanding how spaceflight affects human physical and mental health.

With China and Russia demonstrating dangerous new technologies, the U.S. must invest only in solutions that can outpace the threat.

Spacecraft will collide with asteroid in hopes of learning how to deflect threats to Earth.

Vice President Kamala Harris is to kick off the first National Space Council meeting under the Biden administration.

The walk was delayed earlier this week to allow for assessments of a possible orbital debris threat.

NASA did not link the debris to a mid-November Russian anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test.

NASA management disagrees with a conclusion reached by the agency’s inspector general (IG) in a report issued Nov. 30.

Airbus has already started using its latest-generation Pleiades Neo Earth-observation satellites.

Efforts to determine the root cause of the problem have been underway since Nov. 22.

OneWeb, a global communications company powered by Space, has signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with GDC Advanced Technology.