Tag: NASA
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Actually, Starliner might fly into space this year
When we last checked in on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in February, NASA was announcing that it had formally classified the 2024 crewed flight of the Starliner spacecraft as a “Type A” mishap, an acknowledgement that the test flight was a serious failure. At the time, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the space agency was working with…
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Boeing Says Starliner Redesign Progressing, Cargo Flight Possible This Year
In February, NASA formally designated the 2024 crewed flight a “Type A” mishap, an acknowledgement of a serious failure. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency was working with Boeing to fully understand and remediate the risks associated with the spacecraft, and stated that Starliner would not fly its next mission, a cargo flight to…
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NASA Administrator Pushes Moon Base Urgency After 90-Day Hardware Sprint
The memo described a sprint launched earlier this year at Kennedy Space Center, where engineering teams were challenged to evaluate what Moon Base hardware could be produced on an accelerated schedule. The stated goal was to challenge legacy processes, clear obstacles, and rapidly deliver flight-ready lunar hardware. The exercise emphasized a production-first approach built around…
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Psyche Nails Mars Gravity Assist, Puts Instruments to the Test Ahead of 2029 Asteroid Arrival
The encounter served two purposes. The gravitational boost adjusted Psyche’s path and increased its speed, and the well-mapped planet acted as a practice target for the tools that will eventually investigate the asteroid. Data returned after the flyby showed the instruments performed as expected and matched established knowledge about Mars, while adding several observations from…
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Roman Space Telescope Set for August 30 Falcon Heavy Launch, Eight Months Ahead of Schedule
The mission aims to study dark energy, dark matter, and new cosmic phenomena by imaging millions of galaxies, billions of stars, and thousands of supernovae. The August 30 date is eight months ahead of schedule. The telescope is named for Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer, credited as the “mother” of the Hubble telescope,…
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Katalyst Link Spacecraft Hit by Attitude Control Failure
Is the Katalyst Link Spacecraft Still Capable of Rebooting Swift? Two of three reaction wheels have failed on Katalyst Space Technologies’ Link spacecraft — and with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory sitting at approximately 350 kilometers altitude and falling, the margin for error is shrinking fast. In a July 28 social media update, Katalyst confirmed…
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Boeing Starliner-1 Cargo Flight Delayed to Q4 2026
Is Boeing’s Starliner Finally Getting Back to the ISS? Boeing has confirmed in an SEC Form 10-Q filing dated July 28 that it now expects to complete an uncrewed Starliner cargo mission — designated Starliner-1 — no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2026, slipping past a previous expectation of flying both an uncrewed and…
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NASA to Chase August 12 Eclipse Shadow With High-Altitude Jet and 86 Balloons
The eclipse offers researchers a rare vantage point. “From our unique perspective on Earth during a total solar eclipse, scientists can study the Sun’s corona in a way we can’t from anywhere else in the solar system,” said Kelly Korreck, eclipse program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The Sun impacts our daily life, satellites,…
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ISS Gets 3 Spacewalks in August for Solar Array Prep
Are NASA’s August Spacewalks About Keeping the ISS Alive or Shutting It Down? Three back-to-back extravehicular activities scheduled for August reveal the ISS in a paradoxical operational moment: NASA is simultaneously installing hardware to expand power capacity and running cable work explicitly tied to the station’s future controlled deorbit. The first of the three EVAs…
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Soyuz MS-28 Returns NASA Astronaut Chris Williams After 241-Day Space Station Mission
The three crew members launched to the space station on November 27, 2025. The mission was the first spaceflight for both Williams and Mikaev, and the second for Kud-Sverchkov. Together they orbited the Earth 3,856 times and traveled more than 102 million miles before departing the station. The Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft undocked at 2:03 a.m.…