Collaborate Disseminate
When Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk reached the boundary of space aboard the first crewed flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule earlier today, it marked the end of a journey …read more Continue reading This Group of Women Tried to Break into Astronaut Program in 1960s; One Just Made It
To hear founder Richard Branson tell it, the first operational flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo has been 18 months out since at least 2008. But a series of delays, technical …read more Continue reading Virgin Galactic’s Long Road to Commercial Spaceflight
They weren’t scheduled to return to Earth until April 28th at the earliest, so why did NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration …read more Continue reading Crew Dragon’s Short Hop Begins the Era of Valet Parking at the ISS
When Rocket Lab launched their first Electron booster in 2017, it was unlike anything that had ever flown before. The small commercially developed rocket was the first to use fully …read more Continue reading Rocket Lab Plans Larger Neutron Rocket For 2024
While not a Cabinet position, the NASA Administrator is nominated by the president of the United States and tasked with enacting their overall space policy. As such, a new occupant in the White House has historically resulted in a different …read more
Continue reading NASA Selects SpaceX to Launch Lunar Gateway
These days, NASA deciding to launch one of their future missions on a commercial rocket is hardly a surprise. After all, the agency is now willing to fly their astronauts on boosters and spacecraft built and operated by SpaceX. Increased …read more
Continue reading Europa Decision Delivers Crushing Blow to NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS)
The January 16th “Green Run” test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) was intended to be the final milestone before the super heavy-lift booster would be moved to Cape Canaveral ahead of its inaugural Artemis I mission in November 2021. …read more
Continue reading Failed Test Could Further Delay NASA’s Troubled SLS Rocket
Aboard the International Space Station (ISS), humanity has managed to maintain an uninterrupted foothold in low Earth orbit for just shy of 20 years. There are people reading these words who have had the ISS orbiting overhead for their entire lives, the first generation born into a truly spacefaring civilization. …read more
Continue reading Expanding, and Eventually Replacing, the International Space Station
Well, this is it. The end of the decade. In a few days the 2010s will be behind us, and a lot of very smug people will start making jokes on social media about how we’re back in the “Roaring 20s” again. Only this time around there’s a lot more …read more
Some bittersweet news today as we get word that Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft unfortunately crashed shortly before touchdown on the Moon. According to telemetry received from the spacecraft right up until the final moments, the main engine failed to start during a critical braking burn which would have slowed the craft …read more
Continue reading Israel’s Moon Lander Crashed, and That’s OK