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In recent updates on NASA’s Artemis program, all four core stage engines have been installed onto the booster of the second Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, but a production issue has temporarily slowed work on the third.
When it comes to the inaugural crewed launch of Starliner, it increasingly feels as though Boeing and NASA are chasing the proverbial carrot on a stick. The latest delay pushes the earliest available launch date to April 2024, a month later than planned, in what’s a seemingly never-ending succession of postponements.
NASA’s plans to retire the International Space Station and replace it with commercial projects are not kaput, they’re just changing. Wrinkles are now appearing in Blue Origin’s plans for Orbital Reef, while Northrop Grumman’s unnamed space station project might not even happen.
Once among the star companies championing a deal to create a private successor to the International Space Station, talks between Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Sierra Space regarding the Orbital Reef project now appear to be souring.
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While traditional giants like Northrop Grumman and United Launch Alliance continue to contribute to space exploration with decades of experience, a new wave of ambitious and pioneering companies is rising.
Firefly Aerospace and its partner Millennium Space Systems have entered into the hot standby phase of Space Force’s Victus Nox mission. The groundbreaking initiative aims to launch a satellite with a mere 24-hour notice, a capability that traditionally takes months—if not years.
Update: August 29, 8:13 a.m. ET: ULA announced last night through an emailed statement that the launch has been postponed indefinitely because of the approaching Hurricane Idalia, which was just recently upgraded from a tropical storm and is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning. ULA also said in…