Industry News
Headlines from space publications, linked back to the original articles
Industry / News
- Stennis, SLS core stage teams reflect on Green Run campaign NASASpaceflight · 5 Jul 2021 The first Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage is now being readied for the program’s first launch at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), but the large rocket’s first stop on the way to liftoff was the once-in-a-generation G...
- Lunar Exploration as a Service: From landers to spacesuits, NASA is renting rather than owning SpaceNews · 5 Jul 2021 NASA’s Human Landing System program is the biggest bet the agency has made on the commercial space industry since the commercial crew program a decade ago.
- China lofts Fengyun 3E polar weather satellite NASASpaceflight · 5 Jul 2021 China has successfully launched a new polar weather satellite, Fengyun 3E. Liftoff of the mission took place at 23:28 UTC on 4 July 2021 from launch site SLS-2 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center using a Chang Zheng 4...
- SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is dominating global orbital launches in 2021 Teslarati · 4 Jul 2021 Less than three days after SpaceX completed its 20th successful Falcon 9 launch of 2021, a small Long March 2D rocket carried...
- Five years on, Juno science reveals answers to zodiacal lights, Jovian auroras NASASpaceflight · 4 Jul 2021 Juno, NASA’s flagship mission to Jupiter, marks five years at the solar system’s largest planet today, having been in space for nearly 10 years since its launch. Juno quickly became one of NASA’s most scientifically impo...
- Taikonauts complete second Chinese spacewalk, first in support of Space Station construction NASASpaceflight · 4 Jul 2021 Taikonauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo have successfully conducted the second ever Chinese Extravehicular Activity (EVA), or spacewalk, and the first in a series to support of the construction of the newly launched Chines...
- Astronauts complete first Chinese space station spacewalk SpaceNews · 4 Jul 2021 Two Shenzhou-12 astronauts conducted a spacewalk late Saturday to carry to install equipment required for the long-term operation of China’s space station.
- Radio telescope faces “extremely concerning” threat from satellite constellations SpaceNews · 3 Jul 2021 A multibillion-dollar radio telescope is moving into its construction phase while still working to raise funding and deal with satellite megaconstellations whose interference “change the game” for their plans.
- U.S. Space Command signs data-sharing agreement with Libre Space Foundation SpaceNews · 3 Jul 2021 U.S. Space Command announced July 1 it has signed a data-sharing agreement with the Libre Space Foundation, a non-profit that promotes open access to information about space.
- Booster 3 opens Super Heavy test campaign as orbital vehicles prepare to stack NASASpaceflight · 3 Jul 2021 Following a test campaign focused on SpaceX’s Starship vehicle, the Super Heavy booster is now taking up the mantle of testing at the Starbase launch site. Booster 3 rolled out of the High Bay on Thursday, taking the tri...
- China Launches Five Satellites on a Chang Zheng 2D NASASpaceflight · 3 Jul 2021 At 02:51 UTC, or 10:51 AM Beijing time on Saturday, July 3, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) successfully launched a Chang Zheng 2D rocket from LC-9 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, ca...
- NASA Scientists Available for Interviews on Hurricanes, Tropical Storms NASA · 2 Jul 2021 The center of Hurricane Elsa has formed to the east of the Windward and southern Leeward islands and is expected to bring heavy rainfall to those areas over the weekend, according to an update Friday from the National Hu...
- NASA seeking proposals for next phase of Artemis lunar lander services despite industry protests SpaceNews · 2 Jul 2021 NASA is seeking proposals to begin the next phase of Artemis lunar lander services, moving quickly despite unresolved protests about its selection of SpaceX to develop a lunar lander.
- NASA Posts Agencywide Media Accreditation Policy NASA · 2 Jul 2021 NASA has issued a formal policy that standardizes the criteria and process for media accreditation to cover events and activities at all agency locations.
- Rocket Report: Super Heavy rolls to launch site, Funk will get to fly Ars Technica · 2 Jul 2021 "I am not allowed to talk about that."
- SpaceX rolls largest rocket booster ever built to the launch pad Teslarati · 2 Jul 2021 Six weeks after assembly began, SpaceX has completed Starship’s first true Super Heavy booster prototype, rolled it out of its ‘high bay’...
- Richard Branson to fly in space July 11, nine days before rival Bezos Spaceflight Now · 2 Jul 2021 Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Galactic, will fly into space aboard his company’s VSS Unity rocketplane July 11 for an up-and-down test flight, beating Amazon-founder and rival Jeff Bezos into sub-orb...
- Progress supply ship docks with space station Spaceflight Now · 2 Jul 2021 Russia’s automated Progress MS-17 cargo ship docked with the International Space Station Thursday, wrapping up a two-day journey from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with nearly 2.7 tons of fuel, food, water, and s...
- Branson to be on next SpaceShipTwo flight July 11 SpaceNews · 1 Jul 2021 Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson will be on the company’s next flight of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle July 11, going to space days before fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos.
- Game on—Sir Richard Branson will attempt to go to space on July 11 Ars Technica · 1 Jul 2021 "I truly believe that space belongs to all of us."
- Astra completes first day as a public company ahead of launch ramp-up SpaceNews · 1 Jul 2021 Astra’s shares closed up 4.5% to $12.90 July 1 after the launch vehicle developer’s first day on the Nasdaq stock exchange, which raised nearly $500 million ahead of the startup’s first commercial mission this summer.
- NASA taking “careful and deliberate” approach to repairing Hubble computer SpaceNews · 1 Jul 2021 NASA is taking a slow and deliberate approach to restoring operations of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been out of service since mid-June when a payload computer malfunctioned.
- OneWeb hits coverage goal with latest launch, sets sights on southern regions SpaceNews · 1 Jul 2021 OneWeb is shifting focus to the southern hemisphere after completing coverage north of 50 degrees latitude, following the launch of its latest batch of broadband satellites July 1.
- Bezos invites 82-year-old aviation pioneer to join him for spaceflight Spaceflight Now · 1 Jul 2021 Wally Funk, an 82-year-old aviation pioneer and one of the 13 female fliers who were tested but ultimately barred from NASA’s initially all-male astronaut corps, is finally getting her chance to fly in space, thanks to J...
- NASA's Self-Driving Perseverance Mars Rover 'Takes the Wheel' NASA · 1 Jul 2021 The agency’s newest rover is trekking across the Martian landscape using a newly enhanced auto-navigation system.
- Virgin Orbit’s first operational mission deploys military CubeSats Spaceflight Now · 1 Jul 2021 Virgin Orbit’s air-launched rocket aced its first operational mission Wednesday, firing into orbit from the wing of a 747 carrier jet southwest of Los Angeles to deploy small satellites for the U.S. Army, Navy, the Missi...
- Blue Origin to fly Mercury 13 woman on first crewed New Shepard flight SpaceNews · 1 Jul 2021 Blue Origin announced July 1 that it will fly one of the “Mercury 13” women who underwent astronaut training in the early years of the space program on the company’s first crewed New Shepard suborbital flight.
- Here’s what a Falcon 9 looks like after 8 flights to space in a year Ars Technica · 1 Jul 2021 SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has gone through a stunning transformation over the last year.
- Virgin Orbit suddenly has a viable rocket, so what comes next? Ars Technica · 1 Jul 2021 "We’re in a different world where we were six months ago."
- Astra completes SPAC merger and begins trading publicly SpaceNews · 1 Jul 2021 Small launch vehicle company Astra will begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange July 1 after completing its merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
- Soyuz launches OneWeb mission to secure Northern latitude coverage NASASpaceflight · 1 Jul 2021 The eighth delivery of OneWeb satellites into Earth orbit lifted off at 12:48 UTC launch on Thursday, July 1 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia.
- SpaceX says Starship can beat ‘plasma blackout’ with Starlink antennas Teslarati · 1 Jul 2021 SpaceX has asked the FCC to allow Starship and its Super Heavy booster to communicate with Starlink during the rocket’s first orbital...
- Webb passes key launch clearance review ESA · 1 Jul 2021 The international James Webb Space Telescope has passed the final mission analysis review for its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
- OneWeb on the verge of commercial service after another successful launch Spaceflight Now · 1 Jul 2021 A Russian Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage deployed 36 more OneWeb internet satellites into orbit Thursday, bringing the company’s fleet to 254 spacecraft, enough to start commercial service above 50 degrees latitude.
- SpaceX rocket hauls 88 small satellites into polar orbit Spaceflight Now · 1 Jul 2021 SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket and 88 small satellites from Cape Canaveral Wednesday, sending the rideshare payloads on a southerly track into a polar orbit and notching the eighth successful flight of a reusable boos...
- SpaceX launches second dedicated rideshare mission SpaceNews · 30 Jun 2021 SpaceX launched 88 satellites on a Falcon 9 June 30 on the company’s second dedicated smallsat rideshare mission.
- Space Development Agency celebrates launch of its first satellites SpaceNews · 30 Jun 2021 The Defense Department’s space agency on June 30 hailed the deployment of its first missions which flew to orbit on a SpaceX rideshare carrying 88 small satellites.
- Capella Space and Phase Four reveal Maxwell Engine performance SpaceNews · 30 Jun 2021 Capella Space launched its fourth synthetic aperture radar satellite June 29 with a Maxwell electric thruster manufactured by propulsion startup Phase Four.
- SpaceX rocket lands on land after 88-satellite rideshare launch Teslarati · 30 Jun 2021 For the first time this year, a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster has landed back on land after supporting the US East Coast’s...
- 50 years later: Remembering the mission, sacrifice of the Soyuz 11 crew NASASpaceflight · 30 Jun 2021 On the morning of June 30, 1971, near sunrise on the steppes of Kazakhstan, recovery crews prepared to receive the crew of Soyuz 11, which had completed a successful 24-day mission to the world’s first space station: Sal...