A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands in launch position at Launch Complex 39A, ready to support the Polaris Dawn commercial astronaut mission. Image: SpaceX
The SpaceX and Polaris Dawn teams are working towards some of the final big tests before they are ready to launch the historic commercial mission.
In the coming years, China and Roscosmos plan to create the International Lunar Research PStation (ILRSP), a permanent base in the Moon’s southern polar region. Construction of the base will begin with the delivery of the first surface elements by 2030 and is expected to last until about 2040. This base will rival NASA’s Artemis Program, which will include the creation of the Lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon and the various surface elements that make up the Artemis Base Camp. In addition to the cost of building these facilities, there are many considerable challenges that need to be addressed first.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft that launched NASA’s Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, seen from a window on the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. Image: NASA.
After weeks of debate, NASA has ruled out bringing two astronauts back to Earth aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule because of lingering concerns about multiple helium leaks and degraded thrusters, both critical to a successful re-entry, officials said Saturday.
NASA decided Saturday (Aug. 24) to return its two Boeing Starliner astronauts to Earth in February 2025. Their Starliner capsule will come back empty over thruster concerns.
Paradoxically, even though we produce more scientific output than ever before – each year, researchers around the world publish millions of academic papers – the pace of scientific discovery is slowing down.
Scientists have transmitted quantum and conventional internet data through the same fiber-optic channel, meaning a future quantum internet could theoretically use existing infrastructure.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, Boeing’s Crew Flight Test Commander and Pilot respectively, inspect safety hardware aboard the International Space Station. Image: NASA
NASA is at a crossroads when it comes to the conclusion of the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test. The agency is set to announce its decision on whether or not to return NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams on Starliner as originally intended or on a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
Two women astronauts on Polaris Dawn are set to break an altitude record set in 1990. Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon will fly higher than any female astronaut before them.
On Episode 125 of This Week In Space, Rod and Tariq chat about the next 9 months in space.
Scientists have "boldly gone" where no one has gone before, discovering what would happen if a faster-than-light warp drive like the one used in Star Trek were to fail.
In his famous novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein describes a future lunar settlement where future lunar residents (“Loonies”) send payloads of wheat and water ice to Earth using an electromagnetic catapult. In this story, a group of Loonies conspire to take control of this catapult and threaten to “throw rocks at Earth” unless they recognize Luna as an independent world. Interestingly enough, scientists have explored this concept for decades as a means of transferring lunar resources to Earth someday.
Supermassive black holes have masses of more than a million suns – but their growth has slowed as the universe aged
Japanese space-sustainability company Astroscale just signed a $90 million contract to take a bus-sized rocket stage out of orbit by the end of the decade.
StarFOX is an autonomous satellite swarm that scientists hope to send beyond our planet's orbit someday.
Cities around the world are now growing upward more than outward, an analysis of three decades of satellite data has found.
An explanation of "The Offspring" hybrid monster in "Alien: Romulus."
Astronomers have traced the origins of 200 meteorites to five impact craters in two volcanic regions on Mars, known as Tharsis and Elysium.
The complex history of the orbits of the TRAPPIST-1 planets has been revealed, showing how they interacted with the disk of gas and dust that gave birth to them.
ASA leaders will give an update on Saturday (Aug. 24) to outline their plan on how to return Starliner's astronaut crew to Earth.
A preview of "Avatar Land," a planned new addition coming to the Disneyland Resort in California.
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