Tag: NASA
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Report argues NASA is illegally using President’s Budget Request to circumvent Congress’ budgeting process
The Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. Image: NASA Update Oct. 1, 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC): Added new responses from NASA; update noting that the shutdown began on Oct. 1, 2025. A new report from the Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (CST) argues that NASA…
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In their own words: The Artemis II crew on the frenetic first hours of their flight
How calm, cool, and utterly chill is the crew of NASA’s first Moon mission in more than half a century? Let’s start with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. “You know me, personally, I hope to take a very short nap on the pad,” he said. “There’s enough time built in there to have a nap. I’ve…
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Sen. Maria Cantwell releases report citing NASA whistleblowers’ concerns about budget cuts
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., speaks during a hearing on legislative priorities for NASA. (Senate Commerce Dems via YouTube) U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., today released a report that quotes NASA whistleblowers as saying they’ve “already seen safety impacts” affecting the space agency, due to budget cuts that are canceling out previously appropriated funding. One whistleblower…
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Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser debut mission delayed again, no longer docking to station
Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane (right) and its Shooting Star cargo module (left) seen inside a processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image: Sierra Space The debut of Sierra Space’s cargo space plane Dream Chaser has delayed again and will no longer see a docking with the International Space Station. In a…
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The space race is tightening up for Blue Origin and SpaceX, and for America and China
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have both celebrated space victories, but they’ve also faced setbacks. (Musk at left: GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota, 2020. Bezos at right: Blue Origin Photo, 2021) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has only just begun to launch a heavy-lift rocket that was a decade in the making — its orbital-class New Glenn launch vehicle, which…
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NASA Awards $30 Million to Katalyst to Save Swift Observatory with First-of-Its-Kind Docking Mission
NASA has selected Arizona-based startup Katalyst Space Technologies to carry out a short-notice mission aimed at saving the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a $500 million space telescope in low-Earth orbit that has been gradually losing altitude. The U.S. space agency on Wednesday announced a $30 million contract for Katalyst to deploy a modified version of…
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SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke, and others make major progress on Cape launch facilities
The two spaceport launch facilities in the Cape Canaveral area — NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and the U.S. Space Force’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) — are on the verge of even bigger changes than have been seen in the last few years. In a recent flyover of the Cape, NSF obtained new…
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Blue Origin Wins NASA Contract to Deliver VIPER Rover to Lunar South Pole
The United States’ space agency NASA has awarded Blue Origin a contract worth about $190 million to deliver its VIPER rover to the lunar surface, giving new life to a mission previously shelved due to cost overruns and delays. Under the award, Blue Origin will transport the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) aboard its…
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SpaceX launches NASA, NOAA missions exploring the impacts of the Sun
The Falcon 9 carrying NASA’s IMAP mission transits the disk of the Sun seconds after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now. Update: Launch occurred at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 UTC). With successful payload deployments complete about 1.5 hours after liftoff. A trio of Sun-studying, marquee missions for both NASA and the…
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Zeno Power to Acquire Nuclear Waste for Long-Duration Space Missions
Zeno Power has signed an agreement with French nuclear fuel cycle manager Orano to acquire Americium-241, an isotope the U.S. startup plans to repurpose for powering long-duration and deep-space missions. The company said it will make a “multi-million-dollar” annual payment to Orano for the supply, which will be sourced from the firm’s recycling site in…