Crew-8 Will Reveal Hospitalization Details “In Fullness of Time”The three NASA Crew-8 astronauts who returned to Earth last month firmly declined to answer questions today about who was hospitalized and why after splashdown. Astronaut Michael Barratt, a physician...
Math, Mentorship, Motherhood: Behind the Scenes with NASA EngineersEngineering is a huge field with endless applications. From aerospace to ergonomics, engineers play an important role in designing, building, and testing technologies all around us. We asked three engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley to share their experiences, from early challenges they faced in their careers to the day-to-day of […]
NASA Kennedy’s Applied Chemistry Lab Achieves Agency FirstNASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has a long record of achievements in sustainability and recently added another to the list when the spaceport’s Applied Chemistry Lab became the first in the agency to be certified for its environmentally conscious practices. The My Green Lab Certification recognizes sustainability best practices in research facilities around the […]
Czechia Partners With VAST for Possible Private Astronaut MissionThe Czech Ministry of Transport has signed a memorandum of understanding with the US-based private space station company Vast to explore a potential private astronaut mission. During the most recent round of the European Space Agency’s astronaut selection process, Aleš Svoboda from Czechia was one of twelve selected for a brand-new designation, Astronaut Reserve. Put […]
Student-Built Capsules Endure Heat of Re-entry for NASA ScienceIn July 2024, five student-built capsules endured the scorching heat of re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere as part of the second Kentucky Re-Entry Probe Experiment (KREPE-2). Scientists are now analyzing the data from the KREPE-2 experiments, which could advance the development of heat shields that protect spacecraft when they return to Earth. The mission was designed […]
NASA MSR review continues despite committee leadership changeNASA says it still expects to make a recommendation on a new architecture for the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program by the end of the year despite a change in leadership of a key review committee.
X-59’s Engine Started for TestingNASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits in its run stall at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, in this image from Oct. 30, 2024. The engine-run tests, which began Oct. 30, allow the X-59 team to verify the aircraft’s systems are working together while powered by its own engine. In previous tests, […]
POLARIS Spaceplanes Completes MIRA II Rocket-Powered Roll TestBremen-based POLARIS Spaceplanes has completed a rocket-powered roll test of its MIRA II demonstrator. The test represented the last major milestone before the company attempts the vehicle’s first rocket-powered flight. MIRA II is one of a pair of identical vehicles that POLARIS began developing after the original MIRA demonstrator was damaged following a take-off incident […]
U.S. Navy Fleet Training Launch to be Conducted at NASA WallopsA rocket-propelled target is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia during a window Thursday, Nov. 7 to Friday, Nov. 8 between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. EST both days as part of a U.S. Navy Fleet Training exercise. No real-time launch status updates will be available. The launch will not be livestreamed […]
Gilmour Space touts permit for launch of Australia’s first orbital-class rocketThe Eris rocket was first vertically raised at the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in Australia on April 4, 2024. A specific launch date for Eris TestFlight 1 hasn’t been announced, but is anticipated between “early December or mid-January,” per Gilmour Space.
Gilmour Space touts permit for first orbital launch attempt of Australia’s first orbital-class rocketThe Eris rocket was first vertically raised at the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in Australia on April 4, 2024. A specific launch date for Eris TestFlight 1 hasn’t been announced, but is anticipated between “early December or mid-January,” per Gilmour Space.
Devastating floods in Spain witnessed by satellitesTorrential rainfall causing deadly flash floods has hit southern and eastern Spain in regions including the Costa del Sol, where the city of Malaga is located, and Valencia in the east. As these areas struggle to cope with the aftermath, satellite technology has played a crucial role in assessing the damages of the affected areas.
UK Ministry of Defence Entrusts SSTL with £40M Spy SatelliteThe United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence has awarded a £40 million contract to Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) to build its Juno spy satellite. Once launched in 2027, Juno will capture daytime images of the Earth’s surface to advance the country’s space-based intelligence capabilities. According to a 4 November press release, the satellite will build […]
Sols 4352-4354: Halloween Fright Night on MarsEarth planning date: Friday, Nov. 1, 2024 Yesterday evening (Thursday) was Halloween for many of us here on Earth. My neighborhood in eastern Canada was full of small (and not so small!) children, running around in the dark collecting sweets and candy but also getting scared by the ghostly decorations hung at each house. Little […]
Still Kickin’ Since the ’70s: NASA’s Voyager Mission Keeps ExploringNASA’s Voyager mission launched in the 1970s. Today, it’s making history as it conducts new science. But how are two spacecraft from the ’70s not just surviving, but thriving farther out in space than any other spacecraft has been before? A Little Mission Background Voyager is a NASA mission made up of two different spacecraft, […]
NASA, Bhutan Conclude Five Years of Teamwork on STEM, SustainabilityNASA and the Kingdom of Bhutan have been actively learning from each other and growing together since 2019. The seeds planted over those years have ripened into improved environmental conservation, community-based natural resource management, and new remote sensing tools. Known for its governing philosophy of “gross national happiness,” and has a constitutional mandate to maintain […]
Atlantis Begins 13th Space TripSpace shuttle Atlantis lifts off in this Nov. 3, 1994, image, with NASA astronauts Donald R. McMonagle, Curtis L. Brown, Jr., Ellen S. Ochoa, Scott E. Parazynski, and Joseph R. Tanner, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Jean-Francois-Clervoy aboard. During the 11-day mission, the crew studied Earth’s atmosphere, gathering data on the Sun’s energy output, […]
NASA’s NEOWISE Spacecraft Re-Enters Atmosphere, But More Discoveries Await!NASA’s NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft re-entered and burned up in Earth’s atmosphere on Friday night, as expected. Launched in 2009 as the WISE mission, the spacecraft has been mapping the entire sky at infrared wavelengths over and over for nearly fifteen years. During that time, more than one hundred thousand amateur […]
30 Years Ago: STS-66, the ATLAS-3 Mission to Study the Earth’s AtmosphereOn Nov. 3, 1994, space shuttle Atlantis took to the skies on its 13th trip into space. During the 11-day mission, the STS-66 crew of Commander Donald R. McMonagle, Pilot Curtis L. Brown, Payload Commander Ellen Ochoa, and Mission Specialists Joseph R. Tanner, Scott E. Parazynski, and French astronaut Jean-François Clervoy representing the European Space […]
Japan launches Kirameki 3 military communications satellite with H3 rocketHELSINKI — Japan launched the Kirameki 3 communications satellite for defense purposes early Monday with the fourth flight of the H3 rocket. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) H3 rocket lifted […]



















