Tag: commercial-space
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First Falcon Heavy night launch slips to June 24
File photo of a Falcon Heavy rocket rolling out to pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX The first nighttime launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, and the first Falcon Heavy flight for the U.S. military, is set for no earlier than June 24 from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space…
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NASA picks three companies to send commercial landers to the moon
Artist’s concept of Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander. Credit: Astrobotic NASA has announced that Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and OrbitBeyond won contracts to deliver science instruments and technology demonstration payloads to the moon’s surface in the first of a series of robotic missions preceding a human return to the moon. The three companies are developing commercial lunar…
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Dragon capsule returns to Earth from space station with 2.1 tons of cargo
SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft is grappled by the International Space Station’s Canadian-built robotic arm before release Monday. Credit: David Saint-Jacques/CSA/NASA Closing out a 30-day mission, a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule departed the International Space Station on Monday for a fiery trip back to Earth, culminating in re-entry back into the atmosphere and a parachute-assisted splashdown…
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Live coverage: Dragon cargo capsule returns to Earth
Live coverage of the departure of SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship from the International Space Station and its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean with several tons of experiment samples and cargo. SpaceX and NASA will not provide live video coverage of the splashdown. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page.…
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NASA says SpaceX readying Crew Dragon capsule for possible piloted test flight by end of year
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION File photo of Kathy Lueders, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager. Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz In parallel with an on-going failure investigation, SpaceX is readying downstream Crew Dragon spacecraft for flight in hopes that corrective actions can be implemented in time to launch two astronauts to the International Space Station…
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Blue Origin, Boeing and other ventures lay out ideas for commercial space stations
An artist’s conception shows Blue Origin’s concept for an Earth-orbiting space station. (Blue Origin / NASA Illustration) Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has laid out a plan for building a commercial habitat for future space travelers and sending it into Earth orbit atop its New Glenn rocket. The concept is one of…
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Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule completes major propulsion test
Boeing teams ran multiple tests on Starliner’s in-space maneuvering system and the spacecraft’s launch abort system on Thursday at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Credit: Boeing Boeing engineers have completed hotfire testing on a flight-like model of the Starliner crew capsule, clearing a major hurdle before a pad abort test and a…
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NASA chooses Maxar to build keystone module for lunar Gateway station
Artist’s illustration of the Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element. Credit: Maxar NASA has selected Maxar Technologies for a $375 million contract to design, build and launch the core element of a mini-space station in orbit around the moon that will double as a deep space research outpost and a staging point for future human expeditions…
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SpaceX’s first 60 Starlink broadband satellites deployed in orbit
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Thursday night from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX successfully delivered the first 60 members of the company’s Starlink broadband satellite fleet to orbit Thursday night after a launch from Cape Canaveral. The 60 small satellites, each with a flat-panel design and…
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NASA to soon announce winner of first commercial lunar lander competition
Artist’s concept of Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander. Credit: Astrobotic Within days, NASA is expected to select a winner from a roster of nine eligible companies to try and become the first commercial entity to accomplish a soft landing on the moon with a robotic spacecraft. The privately-developed probe would be the vanguard in a series of…