NASA

NASA plans to extend its New Horizons mission, the first to conduct a close flyby of distant Pluto and its moons, until the end of the decade with a focus on gathering data on solar activity and its influences across the Solar System.

Gitai’s 1.5-m-long autonomous dual robotic arm system (S2) has successfully passed all NASA safety reviews for its planned International Space Station external demonstration.

The parameters for thruster operations are being altered in response to warmer thermal predictions for their use, according to a NASA mission update.

NASA, the Japan Exploration Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency will analyze some of the 250 grams of material from the asteroid Bennu.

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

The FAA also called for organizational changes following the Sept. 12, 2022, uncrewed New Shepard-23 mission.

Team wants data on S4 dynamics in simulated lunar space.

The capsule touched down at 7:17 a.m. EDT, about 90 mi. southeast of Dzhezkazgan, and was met within minutes by recovery team members.

Lt. Gen. John Shaw, senior U.S. Space Force officer at Space Command, says challenges will grow as vehicles become more complex and operate further from Earth.

The largest haul of extraterrestrial samples since Apollo 17 landed in Utah on Sept. 24 after being collected by the Osiris-REx spacecraft.

The current MSR mission cost estimate of $5.9 billion with a 2027 launch of the initial multiple mission elements will likely rise to $8-$11 billion.

Lockheed Martin says the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return spacecraft is healthy and on track for a pinpoint atmospheric Earth reentry over Utah on Sept. 24.

The agency plans to make a single award for a U.S. Deorbit Vehicle on April 18, 2024, a solicitation posted on NASA's procurement website shows.

NASA’s $1.2 billion Psyche mission is being prepared for launch to explore a metal-rich, main belt asteroid.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio will pass the one-year mark in space on Sept. 21. His return to Earth is set for Sept. 27.

Armasuisse, the Swiss Federal Office of Defense Procurement, has engaged Switzerland’s Dufour Aerospace to study a smaller version of its Aero2 eVTOL.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Walther Pelzer, the director general of the German Space Agency, participated in a signing ceremony.

Russia’s Soyuz MS-24 crew capsule autonomously docked to the International Space Station on Sept. 15.

NASA has reversed course and decided to release the name of the person assigned to oversee research into unidentified anomalous phenomena.

NASA pledged to be transparent in its data, but it declined to identify the director to shield him or her from potential harassment.

NASA is working with at least six companies interested in operating orbital outposts.

The previous record was set by fellow NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

The four crewmembers plan to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbital lab.

Three of NASA’s four Crew-6 astronauts who recently returned from the International Space Station expressed satisfaction with their contributions.

After a year’s delay to resolve software issues, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is poised to explore a namesake asteroid.