Space

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket kicked off the planned 14-day Axiom-3 (Ax-3) mission with launch at 4:49 p.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.

Impulse Space has unveiled additional details about its Helios kick stage, which is scheduled for a demonstration launch mission in early 2026.

Test personnel at Stennis Space Center have successfully conducted the fourth in a second round of 12 ground test firings of the upgraded RS-25 rocket engine.

Astrobotic is projecting its troubled Peregrine lunar lander will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean two days earlier than previous estimates.

Astroscale U.S. has unveiled details of the concept of operations for its in-space refueler spacecraft being developed for the U.S. Space Force.

The latest delays in NASA’s Artemis lunar program signal deep-seated cost and technical issues as well as a lack of sufficient oversight that must be addressed.

Long-awaited strategies outlining how the Pentagon and the U.S. Space Force want to work with industry are finally set to be released.

The Pentagon recently outlined a new focus on reducing the classification of space programs.

Space tech companies largely shrugged off 2023’s broad slowdown in VC investment given their strategic importance, according to the latest Seraphim Space Index.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has appointed Kurt “Spuds” Vogel to serve as the agency’s associate administrator in charge of the STMD, effective Jan. 16.

The U.S. Space Development Agency has awarded three companies $2.5 billion worth of contracts to supply 54 Tranche 2 missile Tracking Layer satellites.

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic is preparing to send its Peregrine lunar lander toward a destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere on Jan. 18.

The seven-year REMIS-2 agreement runs to Sept. 30, 2030, with an option to extend it through Sept. 30, 2032, according to a Jan. 12 NASA award announcement.

Space-tug startup Momentus may have received a fatal blow after losing the U.S. Space Development Agency’s recent competition for 18 Tranche 2 satellites.

The Earth’s average surface temperature in 2023 surpassed predictions and was the warmest on record.

The space agency is slowing Artemis missions to address crew safety challenges.

The loss of the Peregrine lunar lander mission was unfortunate but irrelevant for Cert-1 objectives.

With its Moon landing no longer a possibility, Peregrine was repurposed for in-space operations.

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

Crewmembers of Axiom Space's third private astronaut mission to the ISS are eagerly awaiting launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center no earlier than Jan. 17.

D-Orbit, a space tug startup, has raised a €100 million ($109.7 million) Series C round.

The curation team was forced to halt the disassembly of the mission’s Touch And Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (Tagsam) in mid-October.

The European Space Agency is reviewing the so-called geographical return rule.

Astrobotic has repurposed its Peregrine lander for in-space operations and activated all 10 powered experiments aboard, the company said Jan. 11.

Chinese private space company Orienspace has launched its first rocket into orbit, a solid-fueled Gravity-1 carrying three Yunyao-1 satellites, from a barge.