Falcon 9 launches GPS satellite in first national security mission with reused booster
Thursday, 17 June 2021 15:33WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a U.S. Space Force GPS 3 satellite June 17. The rocket lifted off at 12:09 p.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
Juno detects Jupiter's highest-energy ions
Thursday, 17 June 2021 13:26Op-ed | Why a digital culture is an imperative for the U.S. Space Force
Thursday, 17 June 2021 11:59China and Russia are rapidly developing capabilities that threaten U.S. satellites in orbit and challenge the stability of the space domain. The need to address these concerns more directly is the reason why the United States Space Force was established.
NASA and Boeing close out recommendations from Starliner review
Thursday, 17 June 2021 10:15WASHINGTON — Boeing has completed all the activities recommended by an independent review of the company’s first uncrewed CST-100 Starliner mission, allowing a second uncrewed mission to proceed for launch in late July.
NASA and Boeing announced June 16 that they had closed all the actions from an independent review in early 2020 to address problems with the first Orbital Flight Test (OFT) mission of the spacecraft in December 2019.
Shenzhou-12 docks with Tianhe space station module
Thursday, 17 June 2021 08:38HELSINKI — The Shenzhou-12 spacecraft docked with China’s space station module hours after launch from Jiuquan late Wednesday, marking the first crewed visit to the facility.
First astronauts arrive at China's space station
Thursday, 17 June 2021 08:06The first astronauts arrived at China's new space station on Thursday in the country's longest crewed mission to date, a landmark step in establishing Beijing as a major space power. The trio blasted off on a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan launch centre in northwest China's Gobi desert, and their craft docked at the Tiangong station around seven hours later, where they will spend the
EXPLAINER: The significance of China's new space station
Thursday, 17 June 2021 07:40Last chance for aspiring astronauts
Thursday, 17 June 2021 06:10The deadline to submit an application for ESA’s astronaut selection is midnight CEST Friday 18 June, giving applicants just two more days to apply.
No fire in the sky: preventing an astronaut’s worst nightmare
Thursday, 17 June 2021 06:00“A risky and dangerous situation,” recalls ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald of the in-orbit fire he experienced aboard the Mir space station back in 1997. “The fire was so enormous and the smoke and vapour coming off this fire site was such that we couldn’t see at arm’s length – and I could not at that time have imagined that we go on with the mission.”
Astronauts install new rollout solar panels on International Space Station
Thursday, 17 June 2021 05:40Astronauts Thomas Pesquet of France and Shane Kimbrough of the United States spacewalked outside the International Space Station on Wednesday as they began the painstaking process of installing new solar panels to boost the orbital outpost's deteriorating power systems. It was the first of several excursions to augment the ISS's existing eight solar arrays, with the first pair operating cont
NASA Chief Predicts US Race with China to Put Next Human on Moon
Thursday, 17 June 2021 05:40Chinese technical prowess demonstrated by landing a rover on Mars, plus an upcoming Russia-China announcement on cooperation in space, suggests that the United States could face competition in its bid to land two American astronauts on the Moon in 2024, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Tuesday. Nelson said China's successful May 14 landing of a rover on Mars, the second nation apart
Space sustainability rating to shine light on debris problem
Thursday, 17 June 2021 04:59There’s a problem brewing overhead. Invisible to the naked eye and relatively unheard of, it threatens our future in space – space debris.
A new ‘Space Sustainability Rating’ is currently in development that will shed light on the problem, scoring space operators on the sustainability of their missions, increasing the transparency of their contributions to protecting the space environment and encouraging and recognising responsible behaviour.
Rocket blasts off carrying first Chinese crew to new space station
Thursday, 17 June 2021 02:35The first astronauts for China's new space station blasted off Thursday for the country's longest crewed mission to date, a landmark step in establishing Beijing as a major space power. The trio launched on a Long March-2F rocket for the Tiangong station, where they will spend three months, in a much-anticipated blast-off broadcast live on state TV. Lift-off happened at 9:22 am (0122 GMT
Boeing plans second Starliner capsule test flight in July
Thursday, 17 June 2021 02:35Boeing will attempt a second uncrewed test flight of the company's Starliner space capsule on July 30 after a disappointing first test flight in December 2019, the company and NASA said Wednesday. United Launch Alliance plans to send the capsule into space aboard an Atlas V rocket at 2:53 p.m. EDT from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission, known as Orbita
China in space for cooperation, not zero-sum race
Thursday, 17 June 2021 02:35China's Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft with three taikonauts aboard blasted off from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Thursday morning, marking another major milestone in the country's space exploration endeavor. It has been almost five years since China sent its taikonauts into space last time. During the current mission, the Chinese astronauts, the first visitors to the s