Q&A with George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic

Dante Lauretta, a researcher based at the University of Arizona, leads the science team on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission scheduled for launch Sept. 8 on a round-trip journey to asteroid Bennu.

United Launch Alliance’s next-generation Vulcan rocket will lift off from the company’s existing Atlas 5 launch facilities in Florida and California, according to the company’s Vulcan program manager.

A full-scale model of Virgin Orbit’s air-dropped small satellite launcher, filled with water and antifreeze instead of rocket fuel, dropped from the wing of a modified Boeing 747 carrier jet Wednesday over a test range at Edwards Air Force Base in California, paving the way for the company’s first space mission later this year.