China recovers Chang’e-5 moon samples after complex 23-day mission
HELSINKI — China has recovered precious lunar samples after a successful reentry and landing of the Chang’e-5 return capsule.
The roughly 300-kilogram Chang’e-5 return capsule performed a ballistic skip reentry at 12:33 p.m.
White House releases space nuclear power strategy
WASHINGTON — The White House released a new space policy directive Dec. 16 intended to serve as a strategic roadmap for the development of space nuclear power and propulsion technologies.
Space Policy Directive (SPD) 6, titled “National Strategy for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion,” discusses responsibilities and areas of cooperation among federal government agencies in the development of capabilities ranging from surface nuclear power systems to nuclear thermal propulsion, collectively known as space nuclear power and propulsion (SNPP).
Comspoc embraces startup mentality after AGI spinoff
SAN FRANCISCO – Now that it’s spun out of Analytical Graphics Inc., Comspoc operates more like a startup focused on space situational awareness, space domain awareness and space traffic coordination and management than a corporate business unit, Travis Langster, Comspoc vice president and general manager, told SpaceNews.
Data models point to a potentially diverse metabolic menu at Enceladus
Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
Chinese craft carrying Moon rocks returns to Earth
An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early Thursday in the first mission in four decades to collect lunar samples, the Xinhua news agency said.
The capsule carrying the samples collected by the Chang'e-5 space probe landed in northern China's Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua said, quoting the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The agency's director, Zhang Kejian, declared the mission a success, Xinhua said.
With this mission, China became only the third country to have retrieved samples from the Moon, following the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
Beijing is looking to catch up with Washington and Moscow after taking decades to match its rivals' achievements and has poured billions into its military-run space programme.
Chang'e-5, named after a mythical Chinese Moon goddess, landed on the Moon on December 1.
World's space achievements a bright spot in stressful 2020
Canadian will join Moon mission for first time in 2023
A Canadian astronaut will take part in a lunar mission for the first time in 2023, as part of the NASA-led Artemis project, the minister for innovation, science and industry announced Wednesday.
"I am proud to announce another first: Canada will join the US on the first crewed mission to the Moon since the Apollo mission," the minister, Navdeep Bains, told a press conference.
"This will make Canada only the second country after the US to have an astronaut in deep space."
The mission, Artemis II, will see a crewed test flight sent into orbit in 2023 but will not involve an actual landing on the Moon, according to the US space agency.
China prepares for return of spacecraft with moon samples
Chinese craft carrying Moon rocks returns to Earth: Xinhua
An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early Thursday in the first mission in four decades to collect lunar samples, the Xinhua news agency said.
The capsule carrying the samples collected by the Chang'e-5 space probe landed in northern China's Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua said, quoting the China National Space Administration (CNSA). NASA awards launch services contract to Blue Origin for New Glenn launch services
NASA has awarded a NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract to Blue Origin and their New Glenn launch service in accordance with the contract's on-ramp provision. The New Glenn launch service will be available to NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) to use for future missions in accordance with the on-ramp provision of NLS II.
The NLS II is a multiple-supplier, multiple-award, indefinite-del 
