Tag: NASA
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NASA waves off February launch for Artemis II moon mission; now targeting early March
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket stands atop pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. After working around a hydrogen leak at the base of the rocket, engineers spent the day Monday pumping more than 750,000 gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel into the 32-story-tall launcher in a dress rehearsal countdown. How the leak…
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U.S. Defense Secretary Praises Blue Origin’s Role in Military and Space Programs
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday praised Blue Origin for its contributions to U.S. military operations and space exploration, speaking at the company’s rocket manufacturing facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida. During remarks delivered at the site, Hegseth reviewed Department of Defense activities carried out during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term…
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Blue Origin Pauses New Shepard Flights to Prioritize NASA Moon Lander Work
Blue Origin said on Friday it will pause flights of its New Shepard suborbital rocket for at least two years, effectively halting its space tourism operations as it redirects resources toward developing a lunar lander for NASA. The company said it would “pause its New Shepard flights and shift resources to further accelerate development of…
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NASA Awards Axiom Fifth Private Astronaut Mission to ISS, Targeting 2027 Launch
NASA has awarded Axiom Space its fifth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, reinforcing the agency’s strategy to expand commercial participation in low Earth orbit as it prepares for future missions beyond Earth. The mission, known as Axiom Mission 5, is scheduled to launch no earlier than January 2027 from Kennedy Space Center.…
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Countdown underway for critical moon rocket fueling test Monday
A full moon rises behind NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket atop pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. If a practice countdown and fueling test Monday go well, NASA is expected to press ahead with launch of the Artemis 2 mission on Feb. 8, sending four astronauts on a flight around the moon. Image:…
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NASA Activates Athena Supercomputer to Expand High-End Computing Capacity
NASA has placed its Athena supercomputer into service at the Modular Supercomputing Facility at the Ames Research Center, significantly increasing the agency’s high-end computing capacity for science and exploration missions. Athena delivers 20.13 petaflops of peak performance and replaces the Pleiades system, which offered 7.09 petaflops and was retired earlier this month. The new system…
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FAA Warns Airlines to Plan for Rising Risks From Space Launch Debris
Commercial airlines should plan for an increased risk from space launch and reentry activity, including rare but potentially serious debris events, the Federal Aviation Administration said in guidance issued earlier this month, as the pace of spaceflight accelerates. In a Safety Alert for Operators, SAFO 26001, the FAA advised carriers and flight crews to prepare…
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Cold weather delays earliest Artemis 2 launch opportunity
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft sit atop the Mobile Launch at Launch Complex 39B the morning of Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Abnormally cold weather forecast over the weekend for Florida delayed both the earliest possible launch date for the Artemis 2 mission and a crucial fueling test for…
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Former SpaceX astronaut discusses training as a NASA astronaut candidate
Training is underway for NASA’s newest class of astronaut candidates at the Johnson Space Center in Texas. The nearly two-year long process began this past September for the four men and six women of Astronaut Group 24. One of those ‘ASCAN’s, as they’re known, is Anna Menon, who previously flew on the SpaceX Polaris Dawn…
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NASA Review Finds PlanetiQ Satellite Weather Data Exceeds Benchmarks
U.S. space agency NASA has completed a one-year independent evaluation of commercial radio occultation data from satellite weather company PlanetiQ, concluding that the firm’s products meet or exceed key performance claims and deliver capabilities not matched by other providers, the company said on Wednesday. The assessment was conducted under NASA’s Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA)…