Humans have been launching rockets to space for nearly 80 years, yet it feels as though we’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s possible. These upcoming rockets provide a promising glimpse of what we can expect during the next era of spaceflight.
Editor’s note: After several holds and aborted attempts, Relativity Space scrubbed its Saturday afternoon launch of the Terran 1 rocket. The company said further updates and a new launch plan will be issued soon. Check Gizmodo’s Spaceflight in the coming days for more information.
In 1962, John Glenn became the first U.S. citizen to orbit the Earth, riding into space on board the Friendship 7 capsule, which took off from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 14. More than 60 years later, that same old launchpad will be put to new use after being assigned to a private space venture to launch its…
Blue Origin’s chief architect, Gary Lai, provided an update Tuesday on the investigation into the failed launch of the company’s New Shepard rocket in September of last year. Troublingly, it’s what he didn’t say about the ongoing investigation that’s giving us cause for concern.
A Virgin Galactic stockholder is taking the company’s execs to task, saying their penchant for covering up major failures encountered during tests of its Unity spaceplane have tanked investors’ chances of winning big in the commercial space race.
Virgin Galactic’s carrier aircraft VMS Eve took to the California skies yesterday for an important two-and-a-half-hour flight test. It’s the latest sign that the Richard Branson-founded company is preparing to resume suborbital flights.
NASA’s interest in sending missions to Mars and beyond continues as the agency just tapped private space company Blue Origin to help it reach the Red Planet.
Last month, Virgin Orbit ran into trouble when its LauncherOne rocket crashed, destroying seven payloads on board in an attempt to deploy satellites in low Earth orbit. Now, the company suspects that the cause of the anomaly could have been a pesky filter that only cost around $100.
Virgin Investments Limited has pumped $55 million into Virgin Orbit since November of last year, in what is a troubling sign for the fledgling satellite launch company.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket is currently grounded, but that’s not stopping the Jeff Bezos-led company from making plans. A future flight in 2024 will feature an all-women crew led by Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos’ partner Lauren Sánchez.
