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First Falcon Heavy night launch slips to June 24
The first nighttime launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, and the first Falcon Heavy flight for the U.S. military, is set for no earlier than June 24 from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Air Force officials said Friday.
Japanese probe readies for another possible touch-and-go on asteroid
Approaching the one-year anniversary since its arrival at asteroid Ryugu, Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft has deployed a target marker near an artificial crater created by an explosive charge in April, a guide post that could help the probe steer toward another pinpoint touchdown to collect a second batch of samples for return to Earth.
Scientists call on InSight’s robotic arm to assist stalled heat probe on Mars
Later this month, ground teams will send commands for the InSight lander on Mars to use its robotic arm in a series of carefully-choreographed movements to help inspect, and potentially assist, one of the mission's main geologic instruments that stalled as it hammered into the Red Planet's crust earlier this year.
NASA picks three companies to send commercial landers to the moon
NASA has announced that Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and OrbitBeyond won contracts to deliver science instruments and technology demonstration payloads to the moon's surface in the first of a series of robotic missions preceding a human return to the moon.
India plans July launch of Chandrayaan 2 moon mission
Indian engineers hope to launch the country’s first robotic lunar lander between July 9 and July 16 on India's most powerful rocket, the head of the Indian space agency said this week.
NASA to soon announce winner of first commercial lunar lander competition
Within days, NASA is expected to select a winner from a roster of nine eligible companies to try and become the first commercial entity to accomplish a soft landing on the moon with a robotic spacecraft. The privately-developed probe would be the vanguard in a series of unpiloted missions intended to deliver science instruments to the lunar surface and prepare for a human expedition as soon as 2024.
Q&A with Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX (members only)
Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and chief executive, spoke with reporters via conference call May 15 as the company prepared for the launch of the first 60 satellites to build out a network of potentially thousands of broadband relay stations in low Earth orbit providing high-speed Internet to consumers around the world.
Trump adds $1.6 billion to NASA budget request to kick start ‘Artemis’ moon mission
The Trump administration is adding an additional $1.6 billion to NASA's $21 billion 2020 budget request to kick start plans to return American astronauts to the moon in 2024, four years earlier than previously planned, NASA announced Monday.
NASA, ULA find launch opportunity for inflatable heat shield demonstrator
A flight demonstration of an inflatable heat shield that could be used to retrieve reusable engines from United Launch Alliance's next-generation Vulcan rocket, and for the delivery of heavier cargo to the surface of Mars, is planned for launch in late 2021 or early 2022 as a piggyback payload on an Atlas 5 rocket with a NOAA weather satellite.
Jeff Bezos unveils ‘Blue Moon’ lander
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, discussed his vision for spaceflight and lunar exploration Thursday in Washington, revealing new details about a privately-developed lunar lander he said will help NASA achieve the Trump administration's goal of returning astronauts to the surface of the moon by 2024.