Stories about US and international civil space missions, including those led by NASA and ESA.
We’re not done with astronaut news just yet. Tiangong is also open for business. A little over two years after China launched the core module for Tiangong, China’s national space station is ready and willing to host astronauts from other countries, a representative from the China Manned Space Agency announced Wednesday. The invitation comes after […]
On the heels of a historically bad wildfire season, Canada is investing in better eyes in space.
NASA is scaling up its number of eyes in space after announcing a new slate of partnerships with the commercial smallsat crew on Monday.
Astroscale is working on another new project.
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, hurtling through space in the outer solar system, just got a new lease on life. The agency announced Friday that it will be extending the mission until the late 2020s. “The New Horizons mission has a unique position in our solar system to answer important questions about our heliosphere and provide […]
South Korea has been trying to establish its space agency since March, but the plan keeps running into legislative woes. Now, it’s not looking like the Korean government will be able to welcome KASA into the world before the end of the year. The country’s Democratic Party holds that the new agency should be an […]
Hotline bling in space? The US is thinking about setting up a hotline with China to be able to quickly get in touch with officials in Beijing during emergencies in orbit, Reuters reported on Monday. “What we have talked about on the US side at least is opening up a line of communication to make […]
On Thursday, an independent review board at NASA deemed the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program ineffectively designed and managed, problems that will force the ambitious mission to miss its budget and schedule targets. Down to Earth: NASA’s plan to return samples from the Red Planet for analysis on Earth is already underway. The agency’s Perseverance […]
The FAA is trying to hold commercial launchers in the US to a higher standard to prevent debris creation.
President Biden plans to nominate Michael G. Whitaker to be the new FAA chief, a position that has been open for more than 500 days. The nomination comes five months after Phillip Washington withdrew from consideration after congressional pushback over his limited aviation industry experience. The position has been vacant since March 2022, with Billy […]
Turion is announcing a slew of wins in its efforts to design, build, and deploy its on-orbit mobility and debris removal infrastructure. The Irvine, CA-based space sustainability startup has notched six recent contracts from NASA, the Space Force, and the Air Force, each supporting a different area of its product stack. “We’re trying to grow […]
China and South Africa have agreed to partner on space initiatives for the first time. During a meeting of BRICS nation leaders—a group consisting of Brazil, India, China, and South Africa—Chinese President Xi Jinping signed two agreements with South Africa to collaborate on space-related projects. According to Chinese state media agency Xinhua News, one of […]
