NASA conducted a successful test of its next-generation spaceship last week, in an exercise designed to simulate two different types of parachute failures during landing. More
The first crewed mission to the space station has been delayed until at least late 2017 — and that's only if Congress approves NASA's full funding request for the next three years, an unlikely scenario. More
Aerojet on May 8 said that the final Crew Module Reaction Control System (CM RCS) pod assembly for the Orion Multi-Purpose Vehicle’s Exploration Flight Test-1 has arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla. More
One of the causes of the mess is the manner in which Obama rolled out his space policy. Unlike President Bush, who vetted Constellation with many of the aerospace stakeholders, including Congress, Obama presented his abruptly, without consulting Congress, cancelling the Constellation program and then only belatedly presenting the asteroid exploration scheme. More
The Sun and our neighboring planet Mars are two destinations that the UK and US will be exploring together in the coming years, following recent agreements for collaboration on three big space projects. More
Sen Richard Shelby: “While your testimony Administrator Bolden, points out that NASA is building the world’s most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System, the budget does not reflect NASA’s commitment to that goal.” More
What will it take to get humans to Mars? That's the question on tap for hundreds of scientists, entrepreneurs, astronauts and government officials descending on Washington, D.C. this week for a summit on manned travel to the Red Planet. More
"I believe all we have learned from the X-51A Waverider will serve as the bedrock for future hypersonics research and ultimately the practical application of hypersonic flight," Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory Aerospace Systems Directorate, said in a news release. More
American astronauts could be forced to fly on Russian spacecraft beyond 2017 if Congress continues to cut funding for private crewed vehicles, NASA chief Charles Bolden says. More
In the failure test, technicians intentionally set one of the three parachutes to not deploy, as well as have one of the three main parachutes skip its first inflation stage after exiting its plane some 25,000 feet above the desert floor. More
Adam Higginbotham
Bloomberg Businessweek
May 2, 2013
By the end of 2016, [Bigelow] expects to have two BA 330 modules docked in orbit, to form the world’s first privately owned space station, Station Alpha. “Our long-term goal as a company is to have a lunar base that might be a modest size, initially, in somewhere around 2023.” More
NASA has signed a $424 million modification to its contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) for full crew transportation services to the International Space Station in 2016 with return and rescue services extending through June 2017. More
Blake Ortner, Chris Carberry
Space News (Opinion)
April 29, 2013
Americans are very optimistic and believe that we will have a human crew on Mars by 2033 and that despite our current budgetary crisis NASA’s budget should be increased. More
A continuation of across-the-board budget sequestration into fiscal 2014 will force NASA to renegotiate contracts, including those for commercial resupply of the International Space Station, and begin furloughing employees, according to Administrator Charles Bolden. More
NASA says the mission known as Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, is on schedule for September 2014, and that cracking concerns have diminished since the GAO reviewed the issue last summer. More
“A human mission to Mars is a priority, and our entire exploration program is aligned to support this goal,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. More
ATK says its solid rocket booster design has successfully completed a milestone Preliminary Design Review (PDR) with NASA for the new Space Launch System. More
NASA would consider sending the first crewed Orion mission to rendezvous with a robotic spacecraft in lunar orbit if it cannot redirect an asteroid to the Moon by 2021, a space agency official told a pair of advisory panels. More
NASA can handle the across-the-board budget cuts it has received under sequestration in the current fiscal year, but if the cuts continue into the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, the gap in U.S. human space exploration capabilities will widen. More
“We need a 70 metric-ton vehicle and we are on schedule, on target and on cost to provide that 70 metric-ton vehicle,” [NASA Administrator] Charles F. Bolden Jr. told members of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA funding. More
The administration's budget request does not reflect a real commitment to the new rocket known as the Space Launch System (SLS) being developed in Huntsville, Shelby said. "Instead, it shows cuts to SLS vehicle development as far as the eye can see." More
“I am concerned however that NASA has neglected congressional funding priorities and been distracted by new and questionable missions that detract from our ultimate deep space exploration goals. These distractions also take up precious lines in the budget at a time when NASA can least afford it,” Subcommittee Chairman Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., said. More
NASA's ambitious agenda of missions beyond low-Earth orbit would face delays if the federal government has to weather another year of sequestration spending cuts, a top agency official told a Senate panel Tuesday. More
Engineers developing NASA's next-generation rocket closed one chapter of testing with the completion of a J-2X engine test series on the A-2 test stand at the agency's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and will begin a new chapter of full motion testing on test stand A-1. More
Investments in human space exploration technologies and operations by NASA and by the commercial space industry are converging at a time and in a way to make such a mission achievable. More
A new rocket built as a commercial venture by Orbital Sciences Corp. blasted off from the Virginia coast and streaked into space Sunday, chalking up a picture-perfect maiden flight that sets the stage for space station cargo delivery missions starting later this year. More
Jamie Morin, acting undersecretary of the Air Force, said indiscriminate spending cuts are “introducing massive turmoil” into the space programs and that without a fix, “the damage is going to be unavoidable.” More
In a preview of a budget hearing scheduled for April 25, NASA’s lead appropriator in the U.S. Senate raised concerns about the reduced level of funding the agency requested in 2014 for planetary science, the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and its companion Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. More
“The purpose of this agreement is to facilitate and explore, in a manner that meets both national and commercial goals and objectives, joint public-private arrangements that would continue to build the ability for humans to live and work in space through the expansion of exploration capabilities beyond low Earth orbit,” the agreement says. More
The U.S. Defense Department’s $527 billion spending blueprint for 2014 would leave the majority of unclassified space programs intact with the exception of proposed satellite systems for missile tracking and space surveillance, both of which are getting the ax, budget documents show. More
Zach Rosenberg
Flight International
April 16, 2013
"We just completed a windtunnel test of that configuration last week, a very solid, very aerodynamically friendly configuration," says George Sowers, ULA's vice president of business development and advanced systems. More
However if NASA has actually gotten a handle on managing the Space Launch System and will be able to bring it on budget and schedule, the argument for cancelling the project tends to look more threadbare. More
This new round of scale model testing is verifying the operation of the liquid engine models before they are assembled into the full mockup model of the vehicle, liquid engines and solid rocket motors. More
Key leaders from across the agency shared progress being made on the spacecraft and infrastructure that will send humans to the asteroid, and eventually to Mars. More
President Barack Obama’s push to accelerate a human expedition to an asteroid is a daunting gauntlet for NASA, but one that can be accomplished, agency officials said Monday. More
Marcia S. Smitrh
Space Policy Online
April 15, 2013
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that she will support President Obama's new asteroid retrieval initiative, but expressed concern about the request for the Orion spacecraft and planetary exploration. More
But there's a chance that in the near future, a giant rocket powered by updated F-1 engines might once again thunder into the sky. And it's due in no small part to a group of young and talented NASA engineers in Huntsville, Alabama, who wanted to learn from the past by taking priceless museum relics apart... and setting them on fire. More
Eclipsed by other space-related events, the story that the first launch of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program had slipped from 2015 to late 2017 has garnered little attention. More
The development of NASA's biggest, most powerful rocket yet is running ahead of schedule and on budget, its primary contractor said Wednesday (April 10). More
Jeff Foust
Space Politics (Opinion)
April 11, 2013
The fiscal year 2014 budget proposal for NASA is, as previously noted, fairly similar to the agency’s 2013 proposal, with the notable exceptions of the new asteroid initiative and changes to NASA’s education programs as part of the administration’s broader STEM education consolidation. More
While NASA's proposed budget for 2014 unveiled this week reaffirms the space agency's ambitious plan to send astronauts to an asteroid, some members of Congress are pushing for a more familiar goal: a moon base by 2022. More
A modernized F-1B version is in development as a potential contender for the SLS Advanced Booster, and a generation of young engineers barely old enough to remember early shuttle flights let alone Apollo, are using heritage equipment as part of the testing. More
“If you look at a wide range of missions — anything really beyond low Earth orbit — you have to have more lift capability than we have commercially available right now, and SLS provides that,” John Shannon, international space station program manager at Boeing, said April 10 during a press conference at the 29th National Space Symposium. More
Mark Carreau & Frank Morring, Jr.
Aviation Week
April 10, 2013
NASA spending rises to a pre-sequestration level of $17.7 billion under President Barack Obama’s proposed 2014 budget and holds steady in outyear projections, essentially casting off the current fiscal year deficit-reducing rollback to fuel an accelerated asteroid encounter by astronauts. More
Zach Rosenberg
Flight International
April 10, 2013
"Our next milestone we've got planned is in July, for the orbital manoeuvring and control engine developed by Rocketdyne," says John Mulholland, Boeing's programme manager. More
Frank Morring, Jr. & Guy Norris
Aviation Week
April 9, 2013
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is working toward a full-scale turbomachinery test next year of the F-1B kerosene fueled rocket engine it is developing with Dynetics as a potential power plant for the advanced side-mounted boosters NASA will need to meet the 130-metric-ton congressional requirement for its planned Space Launch System. More
Progress made during the next year or so will determine whether a private manned Mars mission can get off the ground in 2018 as planned, its organizers say. More
Guy Norris
Aviation Week & Space Technology
April 8, 2013
Boeing is set to begin detailed wind tunnel tests of its Crew Space Transportation (CST-100) spacecraft following a successful preliminary design review of the launch vehicle adapter structure. More
Jeff Foust
The Space Review (Opinion)
April 8, 2013
NASA has struggled to sell that vision of a human asteroid mission to both the space community and the general public... Will a new initiative expected to be in the administration 2014 budget request, due out Wednesday, change that? More
NASA's accelerated vision for exploration calls for moving a near-Earth asteroid even nearer to Earth, sending out astronauts to bring back samples within a decade, and then shifting the focus to Mars, a senior Obama administration official told NBC News on Saturday. More
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos may join NASA’s ambitious mission to capture an asteroid and place it in high lunar orbit for exploration, Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin said. More
Dennis Tito, the man trying to mount a privately funded fly-by mission of Mars in 2018, is considering the Space Launch System being developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center as his astronauts' ride to the red planet. More
NASA-funded researchers at the University of Washington will test a unique approach to nuclear fusion this summer, in the hopes that the technology will replace rocket fuel and power spacecraft that are faster and less expensive to operate. More
As the development of the heavy lift Space Launch System proceeds apace, stories are cropping up in the media of efforts being made to find other payloads for the launch vehicle beyond the deep space exploration program. More
A $2 billion cosmic ray detector attached to the International Space Station has confirmed a steady flow of antimatter positrons streaming through the solar system from all directions, possibly the tell-tale fingerprints of collisions between particles of as-yet-unseen dark matter, scientists said Wednesday. More
The global space economy grew to $304.31 billion in commercial revenue and government budgets in 2012, reflecting growth of 6.7 percent from the 2011 total of $285.33 billion, according to the Space Foundation’s new report. More
With a little tinkering, the upper-stage hydrogen propellant tank of NASA's huge Space Launch System rocket would make a nice and relatively cheap deep-space habitat, some researchers say. More
Russia is developing a renewed robotic moon exploration program, building upon the history-making legacy of orbiters, landers, rovers and sample-return missions the country launched decades ago. More
Frank Morring, Jr.
Aviation Week & Space Technology
April 1, 2013
The first 100 km (62 mi.) is still the hardest. How that hurdle is jumped will determine how soon, how much—and potentially even whether—private industry can make profits in orbit without a massive input of public money. More
NASA and its commercial allies are on track to launch astronauts into space from U.S. soil by 2017, unless the government's sequester delays their efforts. More
The commercial launch provider International Launch Services (ILS) announced that an ILS Proton M Breeze M launch vehicle has successfully launched the commercial communications satellite Satmex 8 satellite into orbit. More
Welding engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., have had an extremely busy winter assembling adapters that will connect the Orion spacecraft to a Delta IV rocket for the initial test flight of Orion in 2014. More
AmericaSpace recently spoke with NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Dan Dumbacher to get the agency's perspective on its new Space Launch System. More
Offering an open, collaborative environment, the new Space Innovation Center will connect NASA and other government agency professionals with more than 350 EDGE Innovation Network members from industry and academia. More
Mark Carreau
Aviation Week & Space Technology
March 26, 2013
SpaceX retrieval crews began recovery of the company’s Dragon CRS-2 resupply craft from Pacific waters off the coast of Baja, Calif., on March 26, following its departure from the International Space Station and a successful plunge through the Earth’s atmosphere. More
"The successful test of this part built with new technology helps prove the concept of selective laser melting," said Todd May, SLS Program manager. "As we pursue America's next heavy-lift rocket, our engineers are proactively looking for methods like SLM that will make the rocket more affordable. More
Russia may use future modules of its segment of the International Space Station (ISS) to build its own orbital station, a senior space industry official said on Tuesday. More
Jeff Foust
The Space Review (opinion)
March 25, 2013
While commercial customers are showing more interest in ULA’s Atlas and Delta vehicles despite their higher prices, the US government is looking for ways to bring down those prices as it tightens its own budgets. More
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree set to extend the U.S.-Russia agreement on cooperation in the use and exploration of outer space till 2020, the government reported on Saturday. More
Congress sent a fiscal 2013 spending bill to President Obama on Thursday that will leave NASA with about $1.2 billion less this year than it received last year. More
Marcia S. Smith
Space Policy Online
March 20, 2013
Naval War College Professor Joan Johnson-Freese made the case today that one of the space threats to worry about is the threat from the public's lack of understanding of the benefits from space. More
The launch pad of the future is taking shape at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center as the Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) Program office, along with Center Operations, continues with upgrades and modifications to Launch Pad 39B, where the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) will lift off with the Orion spacecraft atop it, sending humans to new destinations in the solar system. More
In the next generation, will humans be mining on the moon and living on Mars? James Fallows from The Atlantic interviews Eric Anderson, chairman and co-founder of Space Adventures, about the future of space travel. More
Clara Moskowitz
Space News (subscription required)
March 19, 2013
In the wake of the Feb. 15 meteor strike in Russia and a close asteroid flyby on the same day, members of Congress asked NASA, White House and Air Force officials what they are doing to combat the threat of near-Earth asteroids during a hearing March 19 on Capitol Hill. More
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket boosted a missile early warning satellite into space Tuesday, the second in a new generation of infrared surveillance stations designed to work with other satellites providing global launch warning and battlefield awareness. More
Mark Carreau
Aviation Week & Space Technology
March 19, 2013
Despite a bleak budget outlook, NASA’s planetary sciences program is pushing ahead with plans to revive the production of Plutonium-238 through the U.S. Department of Energy. More
Mike Gruss
Space News (subscription required)
March 15, 2013
Under a 2013 spending bill passed by the House of Representatives March 6, a U.S. Air Force budget account that traditionally funds much of the Pentagon’s space portfolio would be cut from $6 billion to $4.9 billion. A companion bill introduced in the Senate calls for a similar reduction. More
Running a day late because of freezing rain and low clouds in Kazakhstan, three space station crewmen strapped into their Soyuz ferry craft and dropped out of orbit Friday, plunging to a jarring touchdown on the fog-shrouded Kazakh steppe to close out a 144-day mission. More
Not only would nations need to set aside their differences and work together, but some would have to put their citizens at increased risk for the good of the planet, agreeing to allow the space rock to be steered in their direction from the predicted impact site. More
Europe's space agency had hoped to work with NASA on the two-spacecraft ExoMars mission but turned to the Russians after the U.S. agency pulled out due to budget shortfalls. More
Mark Carreau
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
March 13, 2013
“In today’s budget environment and what is likely to be the budget environment for some time to come, NASA needs to establish some clear and meaningful priorities,” according to a Baker Institute assessment led by senior fellow George Abbey, a former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “Staying on the present course does not provide the nation with a meaningful and visionary program.” More
Boeing has released a paper detailing the potentiality of expanding the capabilities of the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B reusable space plane for cargo and crewed missions to LEO. More
NASA would like to go back to the Moon, but is seriously cash-strapped. In any case, the space agency’s primary focus in human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit since 2010 has been a crewed trip to a near-Earth asteroid. More
With the mothballing of the shuttles, the completion of the space station and the Obama administration’s decision to turn all manned travel to low Earth orbit over to the private sector, the innovators have finally bestirred themselves—rushing into the void with money, ideas and their own teams of young engineers and expat NASA employees, only too happy to pick up where the once-great space agency left off. More
The apparent destruction of a small Russian satellite six weeks ago highlights the growing threat space junk poses to activities in low-Earth orbit, experts say. More
John Matson
Scientific American (opinion)
March 6, 2013
As the brash, stylish new kid on the block, SpaceX was sure to win its share of admirers. But last week’s launch hiccup showed that the private space operator, helmed by Elon Musk, has a few issues to work out, just like stodgy old NASA. More
A new NASA project office is taking a close look at what vital technologies the space agency needs to fulfill its deep-space exploration goals, including sending astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit. More
The six-hour rendezvous will replicate demonstrations done by Russia's Progress resupply freighters, which accomplished the first same-day rendezvous with the International Space Station in August. More
Bradley Perrett
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
March 5, 2013
The heaviest and most technologically challenging member of China’s new space launcher family, the Long March 5, has been delayed by at least another year, to 2015, due to challenges in building its structure. More
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is on the road to recovery from last week's computer glitch and could be back in action as early as this weekend, mission officials say. More
Mark Carreau
Aviation Week & Space Technology
March 4, 2013
While policymakers seem perplexed over the nation's ambitions in human space exploration, a recent sounding of public sentiment suggests there is broad support for Mars as a destination but for reasons somewhat apart from those most often mentioned. More
After years of delays, Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Virginia, has slated the first test flight of its Antares rocket for April. If that goes well, its second mission could carry an unmanned Cygnus spacecraft to the ISS within months. More
On Wednesday, Feb. 27, at the space agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, members of the media were taken on a tour of the Launch Abort System Facility where they got to see the Launch Abort System (LAS) that will be used on the first flight of Orion, currently slated to take place next year. More
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, packed with 2,300 pounds of supplies, approached the International Space Station on Sunday, holding steady a few feet below 450-ton complex as astronaut Kevin Ford carefully snagged the capsule with a robotic arm. More
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched a Dragon capsule into orbit, but an anomaly with three of the four thruster pods on the capsule threatened to end the mission abruptly. Two thruster pods are now operating successfully, with the other two planned to follow shortly. More
China's next manned space mission will launch sometime between June and August, carrying three astronauts to an experimental space module, state media said on Thursday, the latest part of an ambitious plan to build a space station. More
A private U.S. space organisation has announced plans for a manned 501 day return trip to Mars. The crew will be two U.S. citizens, a man and a woman. The journey is a flyby withe spacecraft passing within 100 miles of Mars before swinging back and safely returning to Earth. More
In short, the Science and Construction budgets for NASA are cut, but not severely. NASA’s current commercial crew program, CCiCap, will see a substantial cut of roughly 25 percent. By end of April or early May, just less than three months, CCiCap could be out of money. More
A critical part of the crew escape system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft is being readied at Kennedy Space Center for a test flight to be launched in September 2014. More
Chris Bergin
NASASpaceflight.com
February 26, 2013
An agreement has been signed with the United States Navy to provide splashdown recovery support for NASA’s Orion spacecraft through to the crewed Exploration Mission -2 (EM-2). More
Roscosmos and NASA are negotiating a year-long extension of the contract, which assigns Soyuz seats for foreign astronauts traveling to the International Space Station (ISS). More
Zach Rosenberg
Flight International
February 25, 2013
Orbital Sciences has successfully completed the hot-fire of its integrated Antares launch vehicle, the last major hardware test before a first flight. More
Marcia S. Smith
Space Policy Online
February 21, 2013
The move should help put space technology on a more equal footing with science, exploration, and aeronautics, although it appears that the Obama Administration plans to cut space technology significantly more than other NASA programs if the sequester goes into effect next week. More
Jeff Foust
Space Politics (opinion)
February 21, 2013
With the deadline for budget sequestration now just over a week away, Congress is… on break this week. As members of Congress spend time in their home districts this week, some are offering varying perspectives of what budget sequestration would be for NASA, and the centers in their districts. More
NASA has selected Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., for a $23.3 million contract to develop engineering demonstrations and risk reduction concepts for future advanced boosters for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS). More
Chris Bergin
NASASpaceflight.com
February 20, 2013
NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) have provided a report to NASA administrator Charlie Bolden stating they are impressed with the Agency’s work towards the opening missions for the Orion spacecraft. However, they admitted it is “challenged” by budget constraints. More
Budget sequestration due to take effect March 1 would sever $900 million from NASA’s exploration office, and the commercial crew program would take a “significant” hit, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent letter to U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland. More
Martin Payne
NASASpaceflight.com
February 18, 2013
With a recent decision to switch the Space Launch System (SLS) core from aluminum-lithium to non-lithium alloys, NASA has come full circle on a journey that started nearly twenty years ago with the development of Shuttle’s Super Light Weight External Tank (SLWT). More
In the letter, NASA officials said their goal of conducting a manned test flight by 2017 would be "significantly" pushed back by sequestration-imposed cuts, forcing them to continue relying on foreign space agencies for transport. More
Zach Rosenberg
Flight International
February 14, 2013
Orbital Sciences has delayed the scheduled "hot-fire" of its Antares launch vehicle due to a fault in one of the two Aerojet AJ-26 engines. The fault was discovered when the engine automatically shut down seconds before ignition. More
Chris Bergin
NASASpaceFlight.com
February 12, 2013
Engineers at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi are preparing for a series of tests on a second J-2X engine – designated as unit 10002. This new series of evaluations will follow on from the 21 tests conducted on the 10001 J-2X, as the hardware prepares for its role as the future Upper Stage engine on the Space Launch System (SLS). More
Mark Carreau
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
February 12, 2013
A Russian Progress cargo capsule carried out a flawless accelerated launch and docking with the six-man International Space Station on Feb. 11, setting the stage for the first same-day launch and docking of a human crew on March 28. More
“Technology enables discovery and advancement,” NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck said. “We look forward to working with our stakeholders to grow our technological base and take the journey to expand scientific understanding, explore the universe, and make a positive impact on the lives of all.” More
"Orion is critical to our future," Robert Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center and a former space shuttle astronaut said during the Jan. 30. NASA has been charged with sending humans farther out into the solar system than ever before, and "this is our vehicle that's going to do that," he said. More
"Today is a great validation of the parachute system," said Chris Johnson, a NASA project manager for Orion's parachute system. "We never intend to have a parachute fail, but we've proven that if we do, the system is robust for our crew to make it to the ground safely." More
Though NASA's share of the federal budget has dropped dramatically since the space-race heyday of the 1960s, the United States still regards space exploration as a key priority, NASA's deputy chief says. More
NASA's progress toward a return to deep space missions continues with a new round of upcoming tests on the next-generation J-2X rocket engine, which will help power the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) to new destinations in the solar system. More
William Graham and Chris Bergin
NASASpaceflight.com
February 11, 2013
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Altas V has launched its second mission in just a few short weeks, lofting the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite into orbit. Launch from Space Launch Complex -3 (SLC-3) at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in Californian was on time at 6:02pm UTC. More
Frank Morring, Jr.
Aviation Week & Space Technology
February 11, 2013
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, a longtime powerhouse in robotic spacecraft, is staking a larger position in human spaceflight as a way to stay busy while its big civil-space customers adjust to the new era of budget and political uncertainty. More
The rocket successfully blasted off carrying the automated Progress vessel from the launch base in Kazakhstan at 9:41:46 a.m. EST (1441:46 GMT; 8:41 p.m. local time), beginning Russia's 50th delivery mission attempted to the space station since 2000. More
Chris Bergin
NASAspaceflight.com
February 10, 2013
NASA’s first Orion to head into space is continuing to be pieced together, with a major milestone – involving the first flight ready heat shield – now complete. The largest composite heat shield ever built will protect Orion during its high velocity re-entry during Exploration Flight Test -1 (EFT-1), which is just over 18 months away. More
Frank Morring, Jr.
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
February 7, 2013
NASA’s top human spaceflight manager says the International Space Station holds the key to a shift from government to commercial access to low Earth orbit, driving the nascent market for new human-rated vehicles as researchers find industrial uses for its microgravity environment. More
In the past two months, both North Korea and South Korea successfully launched satellites to orbit for the first time, and Iran claimed it sent a monkey to suborbital space and retrieved the animal unharmed. Such activities are not isolated incidents, but rather highlight a growing trend, experts say. More
Arianespace have launched their first Ariane 5 of the year, lofting two satellites into orbit – Amazonas-3 and Azerspace-1 – from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. More
Launching into a clear dark sky over the deserts of Kazakhstan, a Soyuz booster rocketed into space Wednesday [Feb. 6] with six satellites for Globalstar's mobile communications network. More
Amy Svitak
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
February 6, 2013
French space agency CNES has tripled its research and technology (R&T) budget from €42 million ($57 million) in 2005 to €131 million this year, representing roughly 17% of its budget outside of contributions to the European Space Agency (ESA), outgoing agency chief Yannick d’Escatha says. More
Zach Rosenberg
Flight International
February 5, 2013
The 1 February loss of a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL appears due to a fault within a pump that powers the thrust directional control system of the liquid oxygen/kerosene-fueled RD-171 engine, according to parent company Energia. More
Though asteroids are viewed as stepping stones in NASA's manned march to Mars, sending humans to a space rock may actually be a bigger challenge than putting boots on the Red Planet. More
Hailing what it calls a “sea change” in space costs, Bigelow Aerospace has unveiled pricing information for governments, companies and individuals interested in using its planned private Alpha Space Station. More
It played out in a brutal rush. Just 10 minutes and 53 seconds after that initial strain gauge reading, as the shuttle streaked across the heartland of America, commander Rick Husband was cut off in mid transmission, presumably when the spaceplane veered out of control at Mach 18, breaking apart less than a minute later. More
A 20-story rocket carrying a massive communications satellite failed to reach orbit and fell into the ocean after being launched from a floating platform near the equator. More
Visit our Media Coverage page for more news related to future space.
Future Space is at a crossroads
Will America’s leadership in space quietly slip away? Or will we use our nation’s heroic accomplishments as a stepping stone to even greater innovation and discovery for the whole planet? Where we go from here depends on America's space leaders taking action now. And that begins with a national conversation. So chime in.
Future space means to me ...... possibilities. It means the opportunity of change. Some people make many wrong choices on earth and want to change, while others don’t. But, for those who do, they could start over in space. Future space means to me a whole new world, the type that you’ve seen in sci-fi movies growing up, except now it’s real. What future space holds for us is just endless, filled with possibilities and hope. Most of all the hope of changing all the things that are wrong with earth -- change it with space.
Dalia Pruneda
Zapata, TX
For those who remember Skylab (those who don't can Google it) it's just a shame that the Shuttle wasn't ready soon enough to be able to boost Skylab into a higher orbit. It could have still been around today. Except for ISS it would have been the most advanced manned space station in orbit.
R. Weingarten
Houston, TX
Like it or not, space is our future. Not only for the U.S., but for the whole world. We are depleting our natural resources, and must look to space for a replacement. If not then we will become a third world country.
Leslie Fondren
South Carolina
It's time we got off this planet and give it time to recover. When I look back at the plans that NASA and the Army had for space and the timeline they were projecting, we would have been there by now. Instead, we wasted time and money on Vietnam, on MAD and other sundry things. Not all was wasted but that is the past. We, as a planet, are ready to take the next step. We are ready to be a space society.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of the PBS series NOVA scienceNOW and director of New York City's Hayden Planetarium, visited the University of Buffalo in 2010 and responded to a question about federal cutbacks to NASA funding. See the video below...
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