The much delayed SLS Heavy-lift Launch Vehicle (HLV) due to take NASA astronauts back to the Moon won’t be going anywhere soon. Its Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) on launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Centre, starting on 4 April, suffered a series of setbacks that in the...
NASA has upped the number of cargo missions as part of its CRS-2 contract originally signed in 2016, from 20 to 32 with all to take place before 2026. The 12 extra flights have gone to Northrop Grumman (six on the Antares-launched Cygnus) and SpaceX (six on the Falcon...
NASA has outlined the Project Artemis plan to land humans back on the Moon. Having already selected SpaceX to supply its Starship-based lunar lander, NASA has released more detail into the public domain. The plan involves two Starship launches initially into low Earth...
European launch provider Arianespace successfully launched an Ariane 5 ECA vehicle from Kourou Space Centre, French Guiana, at 1220 GMT on 25 December carrying the 6.2 metric ton James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The JWST was starting its 29-day transfer to the L2...
A Falcon 9v1.2 Block 5 rocket successfully launched the IXPE – Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer mission for NASA on 8 December 2021. The launch took place at 0600 GMT from the former Space Shuttle Pad 39A in Cape Canaveral. The reusable first stage B1061 (on...
Hollywood’s disaster movie genre has long been keen on the theme of the Earth being threatened by the imminent impact of a large object – usually an asteroid – from space. Examples include Meteor (1979), Armageddon (1998) and Deep Impact (1998). In the movies, the...