On Sept. 4th, China launched a new and mysterious spacecraft. The nature of the spacecraft remains unknown, but it’s a reusable spaceplane. The spaceplane spent two days in orbit before coming home.
Two American astronauts have splashed down yesterday, as the first commercial crewed mission to the International Space Station returned to Earth. Its the first crewed US water landing in 45 years.
Nasa astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley became the first to fly in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, carried on top of one of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets towards a planned rendezvous with the ISS.
Elon Musk's SpaceX defied expectations - and on Wednesday hopes to make history by ferrying two NASA astronauts into space, the first crewed flight from US soil in nine long years.
SpaceX's launch of its next 60 Starlink satellites proceeded smoothly on Wednesday morning. About 1 hour after launch, the stack of satellites deployed into low-Earth orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket's thrice-used first stage landed on the drone ship.
On Thursday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida bound for the International Space Station. It marked SpaceX’s 19th trip to the space station and the company's final trip to the station for the decade.
LightSail 2 is the third attempt to send a light sail spacecraft into orbit by the global non-profit society, which is devoted to promoting space exploration. Since reaching orbit, the LightSail 2 has been indicated that it is in good working order.
The European Space Agency is developing its own reusable spacecraft. Space Rider will be an un-crewed vehicle with high-tech capabilities that will provide access to space for scientific and commercial enterprises.
Researchers have recently conducted a successful stratospheric test of their wafercraft. If all goes well, the spacecraft will be able to reach relativistic speeds and make it to the nearest star system within our lifetimes.
Indeed, the Demo-1 mission went exactly as planned, signifying an important milestone for the U.S. as it strives to regain its ability to independently send astronauts into space.
NASA and SpaceX announced that they are ready to conduct the first orbital launch of Crew Dragon as early as March 2nd, a demonstration that will directly precede the first crewed launch on a US rocket in more eight years.
With Thursday's launch, SpaceX has now flown 18 mission this year, tying its record set in 2017. The company could fly as many as four more rockets this year.
A mission to deflect asteroids that might threaten Earth has begun its final assembly phase, according to a news release. NASA is testing a technique meant to protect the planet from an impending asteroid strike.
Boeing will target the end of this year (or early 2019) for an uncrewed orbital flight test of its Starliner vehicle.
Though just a test, it’s an important milestone for the Richard Branson-led company, which aims to eventually offer suborbital flights to space tourists.
