On Monday, 22 April, ESA celebrated the graduation of its class of 2022 astronaut candidates. The ceremony, held at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, signified the successful completion of basic training for the five European astronaut graduates and the Australian Space Agency’s first astronaut, all now eligible for spaceflight assignments.
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To address a rapidly changing space operating environment and ensure its preservation for generations to come, NASA released the first part of its integrated Space Sustainability Strategy on Tuesday, April 9th at Space Symposium.
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On April 9th, 2024 at 12:53 PM EST- the final rocket of the Delta family lifted off from SLC-37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, ending a career and lineage with roots as far back as the dawn of the space program.
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After meeting to discuss ideas and assess technologies, the European Space Agency has begun the process of designing their next “Large Class” mission – one that could explore Saturn’s moons of Enceladus and Titan up close.
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The NASA Dragonfly mission, a groundbreaking endeavor aiming to explore Saturn’s moon Titan, is making significant progress towards launch in 2028.
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US-New Zealand based company Rocket Lab is preparing for their next mission to fly out of Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia: a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on March 21, 2024.
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SpaceX has begun the final prep work for a third flight of their Starship heavy lift reusable launch vehicle, with March 14 as the currently projected liftoff date, pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
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After several weather related delays and juggling launch pads, NASA and SpaceX have launched the Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station, setting course for a six month scientific endeavor onboard the orbiting laboratory, and setting the stage for the start of Expedition 71.
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NASA’s next crew to depart for the International Space Station, Crew-8, are nearly ready for launch, set to embark on a voyage of scientific discovery onboard the orbiting laboratory for the benefit of all on Earth.
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Following a failure with the second stage engine in March 2023 during its maiden flight, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched its second H3 rocket on January 16th, 2024.
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On February 15th, at 1:05 AM Eastern Time, Intuitive Machine’s NOVA-C, Odysseus, lifted off in support of the IM-1 mission – with the aim of becoming the first American spacecraft to make it to the lunar surface in over 50 years.
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NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced Feb. 6 it will lay off 530 employees, about 8% of its staff, citing uncertainty about its budget for 2024.
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After nearly nine years of planning, preparation, and even once being slated for cancellation entirely, NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Earth-observation mission lifted off from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on February 8, at 1:33:36 AM.
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Starlab Space, a joint venture of Voyager Space and Airbus Space and Defense, announced Jan. 31 it reached an agreement with SpaceX to launch the consortium’s Starlab space station on the currently under development Starship system.
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On January 30th, at 12:07:15 PM Eastern Time, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 lofted the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft as part of the NG-20 mission in a historic first for both Commercial Cargo providers.
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On January 25, 2024, NASA’s Ingenuity mission officially concluded. The small, autonomous helicopter performed 72 flights on Mars, the first time an aircraft has flown on another planet.
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Amidst schedule delays and uncertainties surrounding the return to flight of the Vega launch vehicle, the European Space Agency and European Commission are considering the purchase of an American Falcon 9 rocket to launch their Sentinel-1C climate satellite, with a decision expected in the coming days or weeks.
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Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on January 18th, 2024, ending its mission after a 10 day, tumultuous journey through cislunar space.
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On January 18th, 2024 at 4:49 PM, SpaceX and Axiom Space launched their third mission to the International Space Station,
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SpaceX and Axiom Space are targeting January 18th, 2024 at 4:49 PM for the launch of their third mission to the International Space Station, Ax-3, carrying a historic all-European crew on a 14-day mission.
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On January 8th, 2024, at 2:18:34 AM, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket flew for the first time, carrying the Astrobotic Peregrine Lunar Lander towards the Moon.
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NASA and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced Sunday plans for the space centre to provide an airlock for Gateway, humanity’s first space station outside of Low Earth Orbit.
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On Friday, January 5, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket rolled to the pad for the first time, ahead of its first flight scheduled for January 8, 2024.
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After considerable delay, USSF-52/OTV-7 has gotten underway, lifting off at 8:07 PM on Thursday, December 28th atop a Falcon Heavy.
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After several delays due to uncooperative weather, Firefly’s Alpha launch vehicle has flown for the fourth time as part of the Fly the Lightning mission. However, an anomaly has resulted in the orbit for the Tantrum satellite being lower than planned.
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At the National Space Council meeting on December 20, 2023, Vice President Kamala Harris and her advisors announced that the Artemis Program will land an international astronaut on the moon “before the end of the decade.”
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Sierra Space has entered the final test and checkout campaign for their Dream Chaser spaceplane; delivering the first flight article, Tenacity, to NASA’s Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio.
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After completion of a successful Wet Dress Rehearsal this week, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket is one step closer to its debut – entering a new chapter of American rocketry for both military and civilian space launch.
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2024 is shaping up to be a year of triumphant lunar return, with several missions planned to welcome in a new age of international exploration of Earth’s nearest neighbor.
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South Korea has successfully launched a new small launch vehicle from a floating platform near Jeju, South Korea on December 4, 2023.
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On November 30th, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report detailing the various challenges remaining for SpaceX, Axiom, and NASA as they work towards the first Moon landing in more than 50 years as part of the Artemis III mission.
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After repeated delays, the European Ariane 6 rocket has completed a crucial hotfire test of its Vulcain 2.1 engine, one of the final key steps in preparing the vehicle for its maiden launch in the coming year.
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The Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gasses, Chemistry, and Imaging, or DAVINCI mission, is a groundbreaking new approach to studying Earth’s sister planet, one which truly embodies its namesake’s ideology of revolutionary new ideas.
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After weeks of reshuffling, NASA and SpaceX’s CRS-29 mission lifted off from Historic Launch Complex 39A for the International Space
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At NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, work on NASA’s next lunar explorer has begun. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) is now in assembly ahead of its projected launch in 2024 onboard a Falcon Heavy.
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Blue Origin has unveiled their latest, full size mockup of their Blue Moon MK1 Cargo lander at their Huntsville facility, showcasing an updated design of their uncrewed cargo vehicle.
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As NASA prepares to go back to the moon, the CLPS program stands on a dangerous fulcrum – will program structure help or hurt our lunar return?
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On Friday the 13th, 2023 SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy beat the odds and
lifted off carrying NASA’s Psyche spacecraft on a two billion mile trek to the asteroid of its namesake.
After a technical delay the previous week, NASA’s Psyche mission remains grounded in the face of weather constraints.
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After 7 years in space, and 3.8 billion miles traveled, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule (SRC) completed a picture perfect touchdown on the muddy sands of the Utah Test and Training Range in Dugway, Utah
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This past year saw an unexpected addition to the list of record-setting flights – Frank Rubio and the crew of MS-22’s stay on the International Space Station lasting 371 days.
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Rocket Lab has suffered a fourth failure of their Electron small launch vehicle this morning while carrying Capella Space’s Acadia-1 synthetic aperture radar satellite.
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With Pad 41 activated for the National Reconnaissance Office’s SILENT BARKER mission, the historic launch complex looks ready to begin a long stretch of continued launch operations with Atlas and Vulcan.
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SpaceX and the Space Development Agency (SDA) are gearing up to launch their next batch of satellites as part of their Tranche program.
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On August 27th, 2023 at 9:16 AM Eastern Standard Time, Crew Dragon Endurance docked to the Zenith port of the Harmony Module of the International Space Station.
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Launching at 3:27 AM Eastern Time August 26th, Crew-7 will continue to inspire those on Earth, and conduct important research that will take us higher, further and faster than ever before.
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On the 24th of September, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will complete its primary mission, delivering nearly 1 kilogram of material from the asteroid Bennu after 7 years in space.
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Boeing revealed to Business Insider that they were planning to target a March window for their first crewed flight of their Starliner capsule.
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On August 4, at 09:52 UTC, the Northrop Grumman Cygnus, NG-19 S.S. Laurel Clark, was grappled by the International Space Station’s robotic arm, and subsequently berthed to the nadir (downward facing) port on the Unity Node.
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On August 1 2023, at 8:31 pm – Northrop Grumman’s Antares launch vehicle will lift off from Wallops Island, bound for the International Space Station with 8,000 pounds of cargo, experiments and food for the multinational crew onboard the orbital lab. This launch marks the final launch of the Antares’ “classic” configuration – following a 10 year service history.
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As SpaceX’s Crew – 7 gears up for launch in August, 2023 – the crew of the sixth rotation mission to the International Space Station are wrapping up a record setting, history-making long duration segment.
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DEC. 3, 2020–What if there was a near-invisible threat, quietly lurking above, that could put an end to spaceflight as we know it? That threat is real – and it’s orbital debris.
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