Focus: Human Spaceflight

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Getting back to the Moon with Artemis II has ignited plans to accelerate building a base on the Moon, while NASA takes steps to launch Artemis […]

The Artemis II crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Friday, wrapping up a historic nearly 10-day mission that marked the first crewed […]

The Artemis II crew has now officially traveled farther from Earth than any previous human mission. On Monday afternoon at approximately 1:56 p.m. EDT, the crew surpassed the Apollo 13 […]

NASA launched Artemis II, its first crewed mission under the Artemis program, on Wednesday evening. The mission will test the Orion spacecraft’s life support capabilities on live astronauts for the […]

Voyager Technologies is making a multi-million dollar strategic investment in Max Space to develop expandable lunar habitats, the companies announced on Monday. In a statement, Voyager said it would support […]

LONDON — Virgin Galactic expects to start flying the next generation of its suborbital spaceship, the Delta Class, by the end of the year, Sir Richard Branson said this week during […]

Vast and Sierra Space, two U.S.-based developers of commercial space stations, announced major funding rounds on Thursday. Vast secured $300 million in Series A equity and $200 million in debt […]

Blue Origin flew a crew to the edge of space on the New Shepard rocket on Friday in its ninth human spaceflight mission. The civilian astronaut crew included TV host […]

Spanish launch startup PLD Space announced plans for a large reusable launch vehicle and a crew capsule on Monday.  Last October, PLD Space launched its suborbital Miura 1 rocket for […]

The Polaris Dawn mission, in which a crew of four civilians will attempt the first civilian spacewalk, will also test out Starlink laser communications aboard the Dragon spacecraft.   SpaceX launched […]

Shortly after SpaceX completed its first test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday, the company’s CEO Elon Musk outlined potential next steps for the launch vehicle in a series […]

Blue Origin flew a crew of astronauts to the edge of space on May 19, returning the New Shepard rocket to crewed flight after a gap of almost two years. […]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched the new Texas Space Commission this week to improve the state’s position in the national space industry. Abbott also announced inaugural members of the commission’s […]

Virgin Galactic has completed its first spaceflight this year and its 11th overall. Interestingly, the latest flight was the first flight that all four seats aboard VSS Unity were occupied […]

Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson’s space tourism company, returned to flight on Thursday with a successful crewed mission to the edge of space. The mission — Unity 25 — was staffed […]

Blue Origin will now land astronauts on the surface of the Moon, as the Jeff Bezos-owned company won the second NASA human landing system award on Friday. It is a […]

Airbus Defence and Space is joining Voyager Space’s work to build the Starlab commercial space station. A Wednesday announcement from Airbus and Voyager was light on details but said that […]

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket is currently en-route to Virginia, and the launcher plans to hold its first mission from Wallops Island by the end of the year. Rocket Lab […]

Voyager Space has chosen Ohio State to host the Earth-based component of the George Washington Carver Science Park, a research park in space.  The George Washington Carver Science Park is […]

NASA awarded SpaceX five additional crewed flights to the International Space Station through 2030, as part of its Commercial Crew Program. With this award, SpaceX has been awarded 14 total […]

Sierra Space and Blue Origin have completed the system definition review (SDR) with NASA for the Orbital Reef commercial space station. The SDR establishes the functional baseline of the project, […]

NASA and Boeing successfully completed an uncrewed flight test of the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station, ending with a desert landing on Wednesday afternoon.  This was a success […]

Axiom Space and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. are forming a joint venture in Japan to offer on-orbit services to commercial and government customers. The agreement announced Monday comes after Mitsui […]

SpaceX launched an all-private astronaut crew to the International Space Station on Friday, marking the first such mission to the ISS. The mission is for Axiom Space, a company working […]

Blue Origin and Sierra Space have plans to build a commercial space station, described as a “business park” in space for research, industrial, international, commercial, and tourism customers. The companies […]

​​Nanoracks, Voyager Space, and Lockheed Martin are working together to develop the first commercial space station, known as Starlab. The companies announced the collaboration Thursday, and they expect Starlab to […]

Blue Origin made safety a primary focus of the conversation around its second human spaceflight launch on Wednesday as the company faces allegations and concerns relating to leadership, safety, and […]

An all-civilian crew dubbed Inspiration4 is currently orbiting the Earth in a major milestone for commercial spaceflight. SpaceX launched the crew of Inspiration4 on a Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office on Friday denied protests from companies affiliated with Jeff Bezos that NASA wrongly awarded a lucrative astronaut lunar lander contract solely to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The complaints were filed […]

Nearly two decades after founding Virgin Galactic, Sir Richard Branson has made it to space, in a flight that could signify the start of space tourism. Brason was along for […]