China’s curious spaceplane is at it again, releasing an unidentified object into orbit that could signal the end of its mysterious mission.
There’s new drama in the space industry. Boeing filed a lawsuit against Virgin Galactic, accusing it of retaining trade secrets that the two companies had exchanged while working to develop a new mothership, which is still in development.
During its most recent flight, Virgin Galactic’s carrier aircraft dropped an alignment pin which helps in the mating process between the mothership and the spaceplane. The company is investigating the issue, which could potentially delay its upcoming mission.
A new rocket is designed for its own destruction, eating itself as it makes its way through Earth’s atmosphere to power its journey.
China’s Shenlong robotic spaceplane, on its third mission, has added a new layer of intrigue to its space activities by deploying six unidentified objects into Earth’s orbit.
X-planes are a class of experimental aircraft designed to test and demonstrate new innovations in flight—some were created for NASA, others for DARPA or the U.S. military. The first X-plane, X-1, was flown by Chuck Yeager in the 1940s and was the first craft to fly faster than the speed of sound. Over the decades,…
After a few short trips to the edge of space, Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity spaceplane is set for retirement, making room for a worthy successor. The company’s Delta class vehicle is gearing up for its debut in 2025, promising to bring in some profit with weekly suborbital flights.
After wrapping up a lengthy mission in Earth orbit nearly a year ago, Space Force’s spaceplane is ready to take off again for the seventh flight of the Shuttlesque test vehicle.
In an effort to cut cost for the sake of the development of its next generation spaceplane, Virgin Galactic will lay off a number of its employees and save on expenses in hopes of bringing in future profits from its commercial flights.