NASA

With their six-month, four-person SpaceX Crew-6 mission to the ISS drawing to a close, two of the U.S. flyers praised their NASA crewmate Frank Rubio.

Russia’s Progress MS-24 resupply mission was on course to reach the seven-person International Space Station late Aug. 24.

Two U.S. aerospace industry teams have been awarded NASA contracts to study technology for sustainable high-speed airliner designs capable of Mach 2-plus.

Preparations continue for the planned Aug. 25 launch of NASA’s Crew-7’s three astronauts and a cosmonaut to the International Space Station.

The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission is a joint effort by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, NASA and the European Space Agency.

NASA’s SBIR program aims to “merge the overarching potential of small firms with the legendary intellect of NASA,” according to the program’s website.

The aircraft will be modified for NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator (SFD) project.

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft is undergoing final assembly and testing at Lockheed Martin facilities in Littleton, Colorado.

Aerospace Corp.’s experimental DiskSat satellite is headed to a critical design review this week, as the program remains on track for a 2024 launch.

vNASA’s Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan is building up to a critical design review (CDR) in the early fall and a planned launch in June 2027.

The Office of Space Commerce (OSC) within the Commerce Department is set to implement a three-phase plan to assume control of space situational awareness.

Intuitive Machines is aiming for a Nov. 15 launch of the agency initiative’s first Artemis-era Moon landing.

Space freighter module forms the basis for multiple future missions.

July 2023 was Earth’s hottest month since 1880, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) says.

The distinctive pattern of preserved mud cracks found by NASA’s Curiosity rover offers evidence which could mean the planet had potential for microbial life.

Ad Astra Rocket Company is moving ahead with efforts to raise the TRL of its long-in-development VASIMR for a future in-space demonstration.

The Cygnus resupply capsule fired its delta velocity thruster early Aug. 11 to raise the International Space Station’s orbit.

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has completed its 54th flight on Mars, performing a 25-sec. up-and-down hop on the surface.

Luna-25, the first Russian lunar exploration mission in almost 50 years, is bound for the Moon.

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

Despite developing Parkinson’s disease, one of Virgin Galactic’s first customers boarded the company’s VSS Unity spaceship for a suborbital ride.

Lunar Vertex (LVx) is a joint lander and rover payload combination that will land at Reiner Gamma on the lunar nearside.

Two Russian cosmonauts installed three orbital debris shields to the exterior of the International Space Station’s (ISS) Russian segment Rassvet.

SpaceX and NASA are meeting to discuss options for Artemis III’s return to the lunar surface.

NASA has awarded Advanced Space two new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 contracts.