AST SpaceMobile’s first five commercial satellites have reached orbit. The huge spacecraft, called BlueBirds, lifted off today (Sept. 12) at 4:52 a.m. EDT (0852 GMT) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth about 7.5 minutes later, making a vertical touchdown […]
The distant and cold Voyager 1 spacecraft did a clever thruster trick to help it phone home. Voyager 1, the most distant human object that is now flying through interstellar space, had thruster issues making it difficult for the spacecraft to stay pointed at Earth when calling home. Unless Voyager 1 could make a switch
A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) this afternoon after a brief orbital chase. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA’s Don Pettit and Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos docked with the ISS today at 3:32 p.m. EDT (1932 GMT), as the two
NASA Astronaut, 2 Cosmonauts Arrive At ISS Aboard Russian Soyuz Capsule. Read More »
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Salsa satellite safely deorbited on Sunday (Sept. 8) over a hand-picked region of the South Pacific Ocean, in a carefully guided reentry that agency officials have applauded as the world’s first. Salsa was one of a quartet of identical satellites called Cluster, which launched in 2000 to monitor Earth’s magnetic
European Satellite Burns Up In Landmark Controlled Reentry. Read More »
A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts launched toward the International Space Station today (Sept. 11). NASA astronaut Don Pettit joined Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which lifted off atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today at 12:23 p.m. EDT (1623 GMT; 9:23 p.m. local
Soyuz Rocket Launches New US-Russian Crew Of 3 To ISS. Read More »
Polaris Dawn may be a private mission, but it’s conducting research that will benefit NASA. Polaris Dawn lifted off early Tuesday morning (Sept. 10) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, sending four people to orbit for a roughly five-day stay aboard the Crew Dragon capsule “Resilience.” The mission aims to make exploration history, conducting the
Meet The NASA Science Flying On SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn Private Astronaut Mission. Read More »
The Africa Mobile Networks Group (AMN) has announced its successful integration of the Starlink satellite network to provide internet connectivity to over 100 of its rural base stations in Nigeria. Furthermore, the satellite backhaul from Starlink LEO satellites has resulted in a 45% increase in traffic across the AMN sites. With this growing trend, AMN
AMN Announces a 45% Increase in Traffic After Deploying Starlink’s LEO Constellation. Read More »
China has revealed that its moon-base plans will be rolled out in two distinct phases, eventually creating a series of nodes on the lunar surface and in orbit. The initial roadmap for the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), jointly led by China and Russia, was unveiled in June 2021. The pair stated plans to build
China Plans To Build Moon Base At The Lunar South Pole By 2035. Read More »
After more than three months in space, Starliner’s 10-day Crew Flight Test (CFT) has finally concluded. The Boeing spacecraft made a successful landing over the weekend, parachuting to a soft touchdown in the dark desert night of White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) Saturday (Sep. 7). The return
Astronauts Would Have Been Fine On Boeing’s Starliner During Landing, NASA Says. Read More »
SpaceX’s private Polaris Dawn mission successfully launched into orbit at 5:23 a.m. EDT (0923 GMT) on a five-day mission to attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk. SpaceX’s trailblazing Polaris Dawn mission will soon begin its daring trek into Earth orbit — and with it, the plunge through the belt of radiation wrapped around our planet. The
