A giant piece of space junk is hurtling towards Earth. Here's how worried you should be
A large piece of space debris, possibly weighing several tonnes, is currently on an uncontrolled reentry phase (that's space speak for "out of control"), and parts of it are expected to crash down to Earth over the next few weeks.
If that isn't worrying enough, it is impossible to predict exactly where the pieces that don't burn up in the atmosphere might land. Given the object's orbit, the possible landing points are anywhere in a band of latitudes "a little farther north than New York, Madrid and Beijing and as far south as southern Chile and Wellington, New Zealand".
The debris is part of the Long March 5B rocket that recently successfully launched China's first module for its proposed space station. The incident comes roughly a year after another similar Chinese rocket fell to Earth, landing in the Atlantic Ocean but not before it reportedly left a trail of debris in the African nation of Cote D'Ivoire.
Firefly Aerospace raises $75 million Series A round
WASHINGTON — Firefly Aerospace, nearing the first launch of its Alpha rocket, announced May 4 it raised $75 million in a Series A round that values the company at more than $1 billion.
The company said the Series A round was led by DADA Holdings, with participating from Astera Institute, Canon Ball LLC, Reuben Brothers Limited, SMS Capital Investment LLC, Raven One Ventures, The XBTO Ventures and other investors.
Wine that went to space for sale with $1 million price tag
The wine is out of this world. The price is appropriately stratospheric.
Christie's said Tuesday it is selling a bottle of French wine that spent more than a year in orbit aboard the International Space Station.
SpaceX continues Starlink deployment with latest launch
WASHINGTON — SpaceX continued the deployment of its Starlink broadband megaconstellation May 4 with the second launch of 60 satellites in less than a week.
A Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 3:01 p.m.
Study calls on U.S. to change how it buys space technology, reduce congestion in low orbits
WASHINGTON — The Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress released a new report May 4 calling on the U.S. government to accelerate the procurement of commercial space technologies and manage growing congestion in low-Earth orbit.
Europe’s Galileo braces for more emergency in-orbit maneuvers
TAMPA, Fla. — Europe is preparing for more emergency in-orbit maneuvers in an increasingly crowded space environment, after its Galileo satellite navigation constellation had to dodge debris for the first time March 6.
The GSAT0219 satellite’s operations were suspended a day before the move, enabling it to steer clear of an inert Ariane 4 rocket fragment in medium Earth orbit (MEO).
AST SpaceMobile adds public company expertise to leadership team
TAMPA, Fla. — AST SpaceMobile, which became a public company in April to develop a cellphone-compatible satellite broadband constellation, is expanding its leadership team.
The Texas-based company appointed Brian Heller as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, and Scott Wisniewski as executive vice president and chief strategy officer.
Chinese rocket stage predicted to reenter atmosphere around May 8
HELSINKI — A large rocket stage which launched China’s first space station last week is likely to reenter the atmosphere around May 8 according to early space tracking predictions.
NASA announces launch plans for new Dream Chaser spaceplane
The Dream Chaser spaceplane, a cargo spacecraft built and operated by Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp., is to begin launching and landing in Florida in 2022, NASA and the company announced Tuesday.
The uncrewed, robotic spaceplane will be launched aboard a United Launch Alliance rocket from Kennedy Space Center for flights to the International Space Station.
Once it docks and del Virgin Orbit selects AVS to build key infrastructure for launches from Cornwall
Virgin Orbit, Richard Branson's responsive space company, reports that its UK subsidiary, Virgin Orbit UK Ltd., has signed a new manufacturing agreement with AVS Added Value Solutions UK (AVS) to build the Transportable Ground Operating System (TGOS) that will support Virgin Orbit's launch activities from Spaceport Cornwall. This manufacturing work, which will begin shortly in AVS' facilities in 
