Here's a tantalizing but hugely exciting rumor for human spaceflight geeks: NASA and the government are rumored to be talking quietly about extending the Shuttle's technology into the future.The news has popped up on Spaceref.com as a ...READ»
Just two scheduled Space Shuttle flights remain before the
most complex machine ever made is grounded, and support companies are now
restructuring their staffing levels. Good thing, then, that Orion is on track.
The United Space ...READ»
NASA's ambitious design to return humans to the lunar surface has been controversial right from the get-go. It calls for ditching the Space Shuttle entirely and abandoning nearly all of its technology except for the solid rocket ...READ»
NASA's plan to replace the Space Shuttle and return astronauts to the Moon and possibly Mars has been controversial right from the start. And now there's a strong hint that the Obama administration will directly intervene and ...READ»
The Science and Technology Chairman written has just written $1.2 billion for commercial rockets for astronauts into a new version of NASA's next funding bill. A new giant Shuttle-derived rocket is also ordered, to be ready within six years.READ»
Kudos to the team behind SpaceShipOne, the first private-enterprise manned rocket to make it to the boundary of Earth's atmosphere and outer space. Whether the three-seat rocket and its backers, who include Paul Allen, will qualify ...READ»
The end of an era is rapidly approaching: Soon the skies will shake no more to Space Shuttle stacks rocketing into orbit, and the world's first real space ship will go gently into retirement. It's so soon, in fact, that NASA's beginning to plan ...READ»
Another starship Enterprise just undertook a bold new mission: This time it's Virgin Galactic's premier space vehicle, which has flown its first manned glide flight. It's another successful step on the road to tourists in space.READ»
Find hope in this, NASA, science and Mars fans: President Obama's new stance on NASA's funding will likely pump no less than $6 billion into the agency to create a new heavy rocket sooner than we'd hoped. Mars is its ...READ»
Another bit of the canceled Constellation project just actually rocketed into the skies: A testbed Orion space capsule has followed the Ares I-X atop a fiery plume off the launchpad. But unlike Ares, Orion may actually reach space. ...READ»
Earlier this year, SpaceShipOne, a commercial space flight venture backed by Paul Allen, tried for the skies, aiming to qualify for the Ansari X prize. The team is trying again early tomorrow -- and now they're joined by a leader who ...READ»
If, like me, you're a fan of all things space-related, then this year's grounding of the Space Shuttle fleet is a tricky thing--sensible, and yet a poignant tragedy. Now the biggest voice yet has joined the pro-Shuttle debate: John ...READ»
Just a few hours ago NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery sprang from its launch pad on legs of fire, bound for space--for the very final time at night. It's a mark of the end of an era in space discovery...and it'll sadly go unnoticed by ...READ»
Falcon 9 is SpaceX's flagship rocket, and a great leap forward for President Obama's plans to diversify the space
industry (video of launch below). The vehicle will help ferry cargo up to the International Space
Station in the ...READ»
Space flight simulation games have not, for some reason or another, taken off in the same way that regular, terrestrial flight simulation games have. The best example of this fact is that Microsoft Flight Simulator is on version 10, ...READ»
In another indication of the increasing importance of the new commercial space industry's importance, NASA's just selected Orbital Sciences to launch its first satellite dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide. The OCO-2 ...READ»
Just the other day, an influential group of ex-astronauts--including Buzz Aldrin--publicly called for a new direction in the U.S. space effort, demanding more human space flight and even a Department of Space. And it's just possible ...READ»
President Obama's plans for a more diverse and commercial company-inclusive space industry are primed to take a leap forward tomorrow, as SpaceX readies its Falcon 9 rocket for launch from Cape Canaveral. It's all subject to the ...READ»
The fuss about NASA's future and the end of the Space Shuttle overshadowed one fact: NASA's not the biggest space agency in the U.S. The military is test-launching its own tiny space plane today, in fact, and it's damn creepy.The ...READ»
The International Space Station is nearing completion, and with the looming demise of the Space Shuttle program and significant gap before the next-gen Constellation-class rocket is available, a replacement set of launchers is needed. ...READ»
Tuesday saw a strangely historic event occur--the first accidental collision in space of two orbiting satellites: a 1,200-pound communications satellite in full-working order, and a 1-ton aging Russian satellite that's been presumed ...READ»
