News

April 15, 2026

Breaking News

[ April 15, 2026 ] Live Coverage: West Coast SpaceX Falcon 9 mission to launch 25 Starlink satellites Falcon 9
[ April 14, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 1,000th Starlink satellite of 2026 on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
[ April 10, 2026 ] NASA confident Artemis 2 heat shield will protect crew during re-entry Artemis
[ April 5, 2026 ] Artemis astronauts send down Easter message, prep for lunar fly around Monday Artemis
[ April 3, 2026 ] ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket launches its heaviest payload ever with fifth Amazon Leo mission Atlas 5

Station astronaut calls private spaceflight ‘next breakthrough’

November 3, 2014 William Harwood

Space station astronaut Reid Wiseman, preparing to return to Earth this weekend after 165 days in orbit, said commercial spaceflight represents the “next breakthrough” in aerospace technology, and that he hopes Virgin Galactic can ultimately turn that dream into reality despite the fatal crash of the company’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane.

Virgin Galactic rocket plane deployed braking system prematurely

November 3, 2014 Stephen Clark

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane disintegrated in mid-air after two tail stabilizers prematurely extended, federal investigators said, a discovery that could shift the focus of the probe into the fatal crash away from the craft’s rocket motor.

SpaceShipTwo crash inquiry could take a year

November 2, 2014 Stephen Clark

Investigators have plenty of evidence to sift through as they look into the cause of the fatal crash of a Virgin Galactic rocket plane, but the acting chair of the National Transportation Safety Board said the inquiry may take up to a year to complete.

Branson vows to press ahead, NTSB investigation begins

November 2, 2014 William Harwood

Richard Branson, the charismatic leader of Virgin Galactic and a driving force in the push to commercialize space travel, vowed to find out what caused the fatal crash of his company’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, to learn from the tragedy and to press ahead with plans to carry paying customers into space.