NASA plans to roll back the Artemis I mission Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew capsule to its Kennedy Space Center launchpad on June 6 for a second run at a Wet Dress Rehearsal.
Space Systems Command on May 26 ordered eight launches from United Launch Alliance and SpaceX under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 procurement program.
The Space Development Agency has awarded a $325 million contract to General Dynamics Missions Systems to establish the ground operations and integration segment for Tranche 1 of the National Defense Space Architecture.
Though pleased with the outcome of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner’s uncrewed roundtrip test flight to the International Space Station, NASA and its commercial crew partner have much to assess—and perhaps a few items that must be altered—before a crewed version will be able to lift off.
Boeing’s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner successfully completed a six-day roundtrip test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) May 25, with an undocking, re-entry and parachute descent at White Sands Space Harbor on the grounds of the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
SpaceX continued its weekly launch pace with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket on May 25 carrying 59 small satellites and hosted payloads, marking the company’s fifth rideshare mission. Following launch at 2:35 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the rocket’s first stage returned to the launch site while the upper stage fired to place the Transporter-5 payloads into a preliminary polar orbit.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded its largest-ever commercial imagery contract effort—up to billions over the next decade—to BlackSky, Maxar and Planet at a critical time for the industry.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner departed the International Space Station’s U S. segment as scheduled, setting up its autonomous return to Earth under parachute at New Mexico’s White Sands Space Harbor late May 25 to end NASA’s six-day Commercial Crew Program Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2).
Axiom Space and Italy’s minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance existing collaboration, the Houston-based firm announced May 25.
Another lunar buggy contender is emerging, this time with an autonomous explorer angle: Lunar Outpost on May 24 unveiled a $12 million seed round, promising a new class of autonomous Moon rovers.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station secured hatches between Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and the seven-person orbital laboratory May 24, preparing the uncrewed capsule for departure and a return to Earth at White Sands, New Mexico, weather permitting.
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Rapid Capabilities Office has awarded BlueHalo a $1.4 billion contract to increase the capacity of the Satellite Control Network as the service projects an increase in demand.
The Outpost Mars Demo-1 payload, an on-orbit metal cutting robotic arm, is being prepared to launch aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 5 rideshare flight on May 25.
Boeing’s automated Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) Starliner has delivered some NASA spacesuit water absorption pads to the International Space Station to help address a worrisome helmet leak experienced by European Space Agency astronaut Matthais Maurer at the conclusion of a March 23 spacewalk.
The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) continues to check out Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner following its suspenseful rendezvous and docking on May 20.
Boeing’s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner executed a successful autonomous docking to the U.S. segment of the International Space Station (ISS) as scheduled on May 20.
A spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev outside the International Space Station (ISS) that was planned for May 19 has been postponed due to issues with the European Robotic Arm.
Mitsubishi Electric has developed a liquid resin that is formulated to remain stable in the vacuum of space and harden into a parabolic spacecraft antenna when exposed to ultraviolet light emitted from the Sun.
The uncrewed Starliner flight test is part of a joint NASA-Boeing program to develop crew transportation services to the ISS and future destinations in low Earth orbit.
