Virgin Orbit is pausing all impending operations after announcing it is furloughing the majority of its staff in a companywide effort to cut costs and secure investor funding. The company informed its staff of the furloughs at a meeting on Wednesday, telling employees they would receive further information next week,…
As the Axiom-2 crew prepares to take off to the International Space Station (ISS) in a few weeks from now, NASA is already looking ahead to the third private mission to the orbiting space station later this year, in a mission that will once again involve Axiom.
The Malapert massif region near the Moon’s lunar south pole is one of several possible locations where NASA astronauts could land later this decade. A new image from the space agency’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals it to be a bleak, dreary, and beautiful place for us to visit.
Texas-based Firefly has been tasked with placing a lunar lander on the far side of the Moon, where it will drop off a pair of communications experiments.
A ransomware gang is threatening to release SpaceX’s prized business secret: the design of its rockets. The Lockbit gang claimed it breached Maximum Industries, a fabricator of rocket parts for Elon Musk’s rocket company based in Texas, and pilfered “3,000 drawings” from the contractor, according to the gang’s website.
Dubbed AxEMU, the next generation suit is designed to be safe, flexible, and capable of withstanding the extreme temperatures experienced at the lunar south pole, where two NASA astronauts are expected to land later this decade.
Update: March 15 at 9:31 a.m. ET: The Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:30 p.m. ET on March 14, carrying 6,200 pounds of cargo to the ISS. The Dragon is expected to dock at the orbital outpost on March 16 at 7:52 a.m. ET.
It’s been over 50 years since the final Apollo mission, but NASA’s ambitious Artemis program seeks to return humans to the lunar surface after that long absence. For that to happen, however, the space agency needs an updated Moon suit, the prototype of which will be revealed today.
NASA has chosen Axiom Space's proposal yet again for the third private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The two parties have already signed a mission order, and they're hoping to launch sometime in November 2023 and beyond from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A more specific date will be announced later, since it will depend on the timing of other flights to the ISS, as well as on in-orbit activity planning.
The Long March 2D second stage is believed to have reentered over an unpopulated part of Texas on March 7 and so far there are no reports of injuries or damage to property. Sadly, as more rockets are sent to space and as rules around these matters remain vague, it’s the new normal we have to deal with.
