Rocket Lab has been selected to launch a NASA technology test satellite, scheduled for “mid-2022”. The ACS3 (Advanced Composite Solar Sail System) satellite will test composite materials in the deployable booms which support the solar sail. The project is...
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket has carried the NASA Landsat 9 (and four co-payloads) into low Earth orbit (LEO). The mission lifted-off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, USA, at 1812 GMT on 27 September. For this mission the Atlas V utilised...
ABL Space Systems, a prospective American launch provider, is set to launch a NASA science mission in 2023. The company announced the contract which will make use of its RS-1 launch vehicle on 16 September. ABL is anticipating the maiden launch of its rocket before...
SpaceX was awarded the launch contract for the GOES U weather satellite by NASA on 10 September. A Falcon Heavy rocket will be provided by SpaceX for this launch, planned for April 2024. GOES U is the fourth and last in the current series of GOES (Geostationary...
Vladimir Soloyov, Chief Engineer at the spacecraft manufacturer Energia, has noted via the RIA News Agency that the International Space Station (ISS) is slowly breaking down. Cracks discovered in the Russian-built Zvezda module in 2019 had been repaired by Roscosmos...
A SpaceX Cargo Dragon was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, at 0714 GMT on 29 August. The Falcon 9 launch vehicle carried the freighter making up the SpaceX CRS-23 mission into a low Earth orbit, from where it...