Tag: Boeing
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SpaceX launches Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane to demo laser communications, quantum navigation
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaks away from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to begin the USSF-36 mission with the X-37B spaceplane onboard. More than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, tail number 1092, landed with a sonic boom at Landing Zone 2. Image: John Pisani/Spaceflight Now Update Aug. 22,…
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SpaceX launches 15th mission for SES following one-day scrub
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars away from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, carrying the fifth pair of SES’ O3b mPOWER satellites for its medium Earth orbit constellation. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update July 22, 5:47 p.m. EDT: SpaceX landed the first stage booster on the droneship, ‘Just Read the…
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The ISS is nearing retirement, so why is NASA still gung-ho about Starliner?
After so many delays, difficulties, and disappointments, you might be inclined to think that NASA wants to wash its hands of Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft. But that’s not the case. The manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, Steve Stich, told reporters Thursday that Boeing and its propulsion supplier, Aerojet Rocketdyne, are moving forward with several…
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Boeing Wins $2.8 Billion Space Force Contract for Next-Gen Strategic Communications Satellites
The U.S. Space Force has awarded Boeing a $2.8 billion contract to develop two secure communications satellites under the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications (ESS) program, the Department of Defense announced Thursday. The decision positions Boeing as the lead contractor for the next generation of highly secure military satellites designed to operate in increasingly contested space…
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Further delays of Starliner’s next flight mark anniversary of its first crewed Space Station docking
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft is lifted at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Image: NASA/Kim Shiflett One year ago today, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft docked with the International Space Station to begin its long-awaited Crew Flight Test with NASA astronauts…
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Butch and Suni weren’t the only ones: the stories of astronauts “stranded” in space
After a planned eight day mission to the ISS that launched in June 2024, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams splashed down near Florida over nine months later on March 18, 2025. The two astronauts missed family events, birthdays, and Christmas while engineers tried to determine whether Boeing’s Starliner capsule would be safe to return with…
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Crew-9, Starliner CFT astronauts return to Earth aboard Dragon
After more than nine months in space, the crew of the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission have returned home. Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams boarded SpaceX Crew Dragon C212 Freedom and undocked from the International Space Station on March 17, and splashed down off the coast of Florida on March 18. They were…
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The X-37B spaceplane lands after helping pave the way for “maneuver warfare”
The US military’s robotic mini-space shuttle dropped out of orbit and glided to a runway in California late Thursday, ending a 434-day mission that pioneered new ways of maneuvering in space. The X-37B spaceplane touched down on Runway 12 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 11:22 pm local time Thursday (2:22 am EST Friday),…
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NASA leaders, Artemis contractors argue importance of architecture continuity for returning to the Moon
The Artemis 2 crew, standing in from of their Artemis spacecraft, discusses their planned around-the-moon flight with reporters at the Kennedy Space Center. Left to right: commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now. While assembly of the Space Launch System rocket continues at the Kennedy Space…
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Boeing has now lost $2B on Starliner, but still silent on future plans
Boeing announced Monday it lost $523 million on the Starliner crew capsule program last year, putting the aerospace company $2 billion in the red on its NASA commercial crew contract since late 2019. The updated numbers are included in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Risk remains that we may record additional…