Stories about US and international civil space missions, including those led by NASA and ESA.
ICYMI: Blue Origin has lost its federal lawsuit over NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) contract. Yesterday, Court of Federal Claims Judge Richard Hertling ruled against Blue Origin in its lawsuit against NASA. Hertling did not share many details in his 192-word statement. What happened? NASA initially intended to award two separate HLS moon lander contracts. Then, citing budgetary constraints, the agency […]
The UN General Assembly’s First Committee, a security and disarmament panel, has voted to create a working group focused on space conduct. Resolution title: “Reducing space threats through norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviours” Tally: 163 nations voted Yes, eight voted No, and nine abstained. Notable nays: Russia opposed the measure, saying the resolution should focus on “preventing an arms race in outer […]
ICYMI: Poland signed the Artemis Accords Tuesday, joining 12 other countries in a US-led agreement to pursue cooperative and sustainable space exploration. NASA announced the founding group of eight member countries at last year’s International Astronautical Congress (IAC). It’s incrementally added more since. The agreement establishes principles for peaceful space exploration, and directs member states to register space […]
The Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday released its fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill. We’ll Ctrl+f to the part you’re here for: The bill would provide ~$24.8 billion to NASA, almost exactly what the agency asked for in its 924-page FY22 budget request (yes, we counted). Allocating nearly $25 billion to NASA would be a 6+% bump over FY21, which was a 3% boost […]
Up and away Lucy went in the wee hours of Saturday morning, hitching a ride on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. The robotic asteroid hunter is now traveling at a brisk ~67,000 mph, per NASA. Lucy blasted off from launch complex 41 in Cape Canaveral at 5:34 AM ET. The launch of the Lockheed-built […]
Cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, actress Yulia Peresild, and director Klim Shipenko landed in Kazakhstan yesterday. Novitskiy was in space for 191 days; Peresild and Shipenko were there for 12. The crew’s Soyuz MS-18 undocked from the ISS at 9:14 ET on Saturday night and landed just after midnight. Unexpected plot twist: Due to unintentional MS-18 thruster firing, the ISS […]
Yesterday, China successfully launched a Long March 2D rocket to orbit, carrying the H-alpha Solar Explorer and 10 additional small satellites. H-alpha is China’s debut solar observatory, SpaceNews reports. The telescope-equipped spacecraft is headed for 517-KM, sun-synchronous orbit. The mission was China’s 37th orbital launch of 2021. Next up: Shenzhou 13. Hours after this hits your […]
