Japan’s workhorse H-2A rocket flew for the second-to-last time early Thursday morning (Sept. 26). An H-2A topped with a secret spy satellite called IGS-Radar 8 lifted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center on Thursday at 1:24 a.m. EDT (0524 GMT and 2:24 p.m. local Japan time). The rocket deployed the satellite as planned, according to …
Japan Launches Spy Satellite On Penultimate Mission Of H-2A Rocket. Read More »
Blue Origin carried out a hotfire test for its New Glenn rocket second stage on Monday (Sept. 23) as the company moves toward the huge vehicle’s debut flight. The 15-second hotfire test was conducted on Sept. 23 to validate interactions between the subsystems on the New Glenn second stage, its two BE-3U engines and the …
Blue Origin Fires Up 2nd Stage Of Huge New Glenn Rocket Ahead Of Debut Launch. Read More »
SpaceX launched 20 more of its Starlink broadband satellites, including 13 with direct-to-cell capability, from California early Wednesday morning (Sept. 25). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 20 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, on California’s central coast, on Wednesday at 3:01 a.m. EDT (0701 GMT; 9:01 p.m. on Sept. 24 California time). …
SpaceX Launches 20 Starlink Internet Satellites From California. Read More »
The United States Space Force is partnering with the Indian government to establish a new factory that will manufacture semiconductors, which are microchips essential for building next-generation technologies. Space-based sensors and spacecraft (not to mention nearly all computers, TVs, mobile phones, cars, game consoles, etc.) rely on semiconductors. The integrated circuits are perhaps more commonly …
US Space Force Partners With India To Open A Microchip Factory For Next-Gen Tech. Read More »
SpaceX has stacked its Starship megarocket ahead of the vehicle’s fifth test flight, which isn’t expected to launch until late November. SpaceX announced the stacking on Saturday (Sept. 21) in a post on X that featured four photos of the operation, which took place at the company’s Starbase site in South Texas. “Starship stacked for …
SpaceX Stacks Starship Megarocket Ahead Of 5th Test Flight. Read More »
Florida-based space tourism company Space Perspective has successfully completed the first full, uncrewed test flight of its luxury balloon-lifted capsule to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. Spaceship Neptune Excelsior, the first of the company’s teardrop-shaped pressure pods, lifted off from Space Perspective’s Marine Spaceport (MS) Voyager vessel off the coast of Saint Petersburg, Florida, on …
While that mysterious Chinese space plane rolled to full stop on a landing strip earlier this month, little is known about the craft. It was hurled into orbit on Dec. 14, 2023 atop a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The whatever it is and does spacecraft touched …
New Image of China’s Secret Space Plane Shows Delta-Wing Design. Read More »
Data from NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission has provided valuable space radiation measurements, which validate spacecraft performance and will help guide deep-space human spaceflight. The uncrewed Artemis 1 mission launched in November 2022, using the gigantic Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to send an Orion spacecraft around the moon and back, serving as a crucial …
Orion Spacecraft Can Shield Artemis Astronauts From Deep-Space Radiation, Study Shows. Read More »
China launched separate sets of Earth-observation and “Internet of Things” satellites into orbit on Friday (Sept. 20) on two different missions. The action began at 12:11 a.m EDT (0411 GMT, or 12:11 p.m. Beijing time) on Friday, when a Long March 2D rocket lifted off from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China. Insulation tiles …
China Launches 10 Satellites On 2 Rockets Less Than 6 Hours Apart. Read More »
The pieces are in place for SpaceX’s Crew-9 astronaut mission, which is set to launch this week. NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov arrived at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Saturday (Sept. 21). The duo will fly to the International space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which is …
Astronauts, Capsule For SpaceX’s Crew-9 Mission Arrive At Florida Launch Site. Read More »
