Space News & Blog Articles

File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands in the launch position during sunset at Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Image: SpaceX

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is preparing to deliver the latest 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. The mission, dubbed Starlink 11-13, will be the 25th Starlink flight of the year.

SpaceX launched the Fram2 astronaut mission today (March 31), the first-ever crewed spaceflight to orbit Earth over its poles.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A to begin the Fram2 polar orbit mission. This was the 200th orbital launch from LC-39A. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now

A historic mission took flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Monday night. Against the backdrop of an off-shore band of thunderstorms, four first-time astronauts soared off the pad at Launch Complex 39A onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and headed into a polar orbit.

The four astronauts of the Fram2 mission pose inside the suit up room near Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. From left to right: mission commander Chun Wang, vehicle pilot Rabea Rogge, vehicle commander Jannicke Mikkelsen and mission specialist and medical officer Eric Philips. Image: Fram2

Four people united by their fascination with the Earth’s polar regions are embarking on a spaceflight that will allow them to experience those remote areas like no human before.

A dramatic video shows Isar Aerospace's first orbital launch attempt, which ended with a fiery crash into the frigid sea about 30 seconds after liftoff.

It’s getting a little harder to be the first humans to achieve something but, if all goes to plan, a team of four private astronauts are expected to head off into a polar orbit around Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule today (31 March) at 9:46pm ET and take the crew over the North and South Poles of Earth. Financed by Chun Wang, a Malta-based investor, they are planning a series of experiments, including attempting to grow oyster mushrooms in microgravity, which could eventually become a source of food for space missions.

Astronomers suspect that Europa has cryovolcanoes, regions where briny water could erupt through Europa's ice shell, throwing water—and hopefully organic molecules—into space. NASA's Europa Clipper and ESA's JUICE mission are on their way and will be able to scan the surface of the icy moon for signs of cryovolcanism. What should they be looking for? Pockets of brine just below the surface could be active for 60,000 years and should be warmer than their surroundings.

The FAA has closed its investigation into the SpaceX Starship Flight 7 mishap, accepting the company's findings and verifying its corrective actions.

SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink internet satellites to orbit on Monday (March 31), on the first of the company's two planned liftoffs for the day.

Two NASA rockets launched into auroras over Alaska last week, and the results were gorgeous.

The clouds were cruel on the Bay of Fundy coast, but a memorable experience was had.

Subsurface Habitats on the Moon and Mars Could Be Grown Using Mushrooms and Inflatable Robots

Find out the latest about SpaceX's private Fram2 polar astronaut mission for cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang.

One of the first verified predictions of general relativity is the gravitational deflection of starlight. The effect was [first observed in 1919 during a total solar eclipse.](https://briankoberlein.com/post/einstein-and-eddington/) Since stars appear as points of light, the effect is seen as an apparent shift in the position of stars near the eclipse. But the effect happens more generally. If a distant galaxy is obscured by a closer one, some of the distant light is gravitationally lensed around the closer galaxy, giving us a warped and distorted view of the faraway stars. This effect can also magnify the distant galaxy, making its light appear brighter, and we have used this effect to observe some of the most distant stars in the Universe.

NASA's Orion crew module test article is framed by the well deck of the U.S. Navy's USS Somerset as teams practice Artemis 2 recovery ops.

SpaceX is building Starship as a full reusable heavy-lift rocket to fly astronauts to the moon and Mars.

In-situ resource utilization will likely play a major role in any future long-term settlement of the Moon. However, designing such a system in advance with our current level of knowledge will prove difficult, mainly because there's so much uncertainty around both the availability of those resources and the efficacy of the processes used to extract them. Luckily, researchers have tools that can try to deal with both of those uncertainties - statistical modeling. A team from Imperial College London, the University of Munich, and the Luxembourg Institue of Science and Technology recently released a pre-print paper on arXiv that uses a well-known statistical modeling method known as Monte Carlo simulation to try to assess what type of ISRU plan would be best for use on the Moon.

Even though Jupiter's moon Io is considered the most volcanically active world in the Solar System, Venus actually has more volcanoes and volcanic features on its surface. For a long time, scientists thought that most of these features and volcanoes were ancient remnants of the planet's geological past. However, newer research shows that Venus is still volcanically active.

The Hubble Space Telescope has sent back a gorgeous new view of one of our nearest galactic neighbors, which is full of bright, colorful stars.

NASA's flight directors have taken a page from the astronauts they support, if not also the Masters, Hells Angels and Saturday Night Live's Five-Timers Club. There is now a flight director's jacket.

The U.S. Space Force is funding the development of a new "Orbital Carrier" spacecraft that can deploy multiple satellites when needed.