Policy

Commercial CrewESAHuman SpaceflightInternationalInternational Space StationNASANews and UpdatesPolicy

ISS Operations Continue with New Cargo and Crews

NASA’s flagship laboratory, the International Space Station (ISS), has returned to a period of normalcy, but as the facility approaches its third decade of operation – considerable shakeups and changes are expected as the space agencies responsible face an uncertain future.

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ESAInternationalNASANew SpaceNews and UpdatesPlanetary SciencePolicyScience Missions

After Biosignature Announcement, Mars Sample Return Remains in Limbo

Ambitious plans by NASA and the European Space Agency to return samples of the Martian surface to Earth continue to remain in limbo even as the Agency has announced the collection of a potentially biosignature-containing sample aboard the Perseverance rover.

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ArtemisNew SpaceNews and UpdatesPolicySpaceXStarbase

A Shaky Step Forward for Starship Flight 9

The ninth flight test of SpaceX’s Starship-Super Heavy rocket took place on May 27, 2025, achieving a marginal improvement over the previous two missions. Although Ship 35 completed a successful ascent, fuel leaks and a loss of control in space prevented the spacecraft from completing most of its intended objectives.

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ArtemisNASANews and UpdatesSpaceXStarbase

Starship Faces Complications after Flight 7 Anomaly

On January 16th, 2025 SpaceX’s Starship-Super Heavy launched on its seventh flight test, in what aimed to be a test of block upgrades of the Starship upper stage. While IFT-7 looked fairly similar to previous test flights during the first few minutes of ascent, problems quickly developed, ultimately resulting in the dramatic loss of the Starship vehicle over the Caribbean Sea.

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Blue OriginCommercial CrewHuman SpaceflightInternational Space StationNASANew SpaceNews and UpdatesPolicySierra Space

A Graceful Exit, Part 2: What Comes After ISS?

The end of the International Space Station will mark a tectonic shift in human spaceflight. The ISS program united the efforts of fifteen nations, including a landmark union between the United States and Russia, and citizens from eight other countries have since visited the orbiting laboratory. Now, approaching retirement, we begin to ask the question of what comes next?

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