Washington, United States (AFP) Jan 21, 2026
A NASA astronaut who was stuck in space for nine months because of problems with her spacecraft has retired after 27 years of service, the space agency said Tuesday. Suni Williams stepped down from her post on December 27 - making her ill-fated mission her last journey to space. Williams and fellow astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore set out on an eight-day mission in June 2024 to test fly

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 21, 2026
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. has received a follow-on space components award valued at more than 5 million dollars to support a major civil space exploration program in the United States. The award underlines the companys role as a global communications technology supplier to both commercial and government space customers. Under the contract, Comtech will deliver advanced electronic co

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 19, 2026
Slingshot Aerospace has secured a 27 million dollar contract to modernize how the US Space Force trains for conflict in orbit by embedding its TALOS AI agent into the service's Operational Test and Training Infrastructure program. The 18 month effort will integrate AI native technology into existing training capabilities so that exercises more accurately reflect the rapidly evolving orbital thre

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 19, 2026
AST SpaceMobile has been selected for a prime contract position on the U.S. Missile Defense Agency Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD, program, placing its space-based cellular broadband architecture inside a key U.S. missile defense modernization effort. The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity framework is designed to rapidly deliver new capabilities across

Dublin (AFP) Jan 20, 2026
US tech boss Elon Musk has polled followers on his social network X about buying Ryanair, stoking a clash with the airline's boss Michael O'Leary over using the Starlink system onboard to use the internet. By late Tuesday, lowcost carrier Ryanair had not replied to a request from AFP to respond to the poll that was posted Monday, with more than 900,000 participants. Musk, who founded Tes

The 18th European Space Conference (ESC) will take place on 27 and 28 January 2026 at the Square Convention Centre in Brussels, Belgium.

εpsilon

Some stars appear to defy time itself. Nestled within ancient star clusters, they shine bluer and brighter than their neighbours, looking far younger than their true age. Known as blue straggler stars, these stellar oddities have puzzled astronomers for more than 70 years. Now, new results using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope are finally revealing how these 'forever young' stars come to be and why they thrive in quieter cosmic neighbourhoods.