NASA delays Mars rover launch until at least July 30th

You’ll have to wait longer than you might like to see the Perseverance rover begin its journey to Mars. NASA and United Launch Alliance have delayed blast-off for the Mars 2020 mission from July 22nd to “no earlier than” July 30th. Processing problem...

Senate bill offers more incentives for private spaceflight

Politicians are seizing on Crew Dragon fervor to offer more incentives for private spaceflight. A group of US senators including Marco Rubio, Dianne Feinstein and Ted Cruz have put forward the American Space Commerce Act, a bill that would expand per...

X-37B space plane launches on its most ambitious mission to date

A day later than planned, the X-37B space plane has gone back into low Earth orbit for its sixth mission. The vehicle launched aboard a United Launch Alliance rocket on the morning of May 17th. It’s the first X-37B mission under the Space Force’s ove...

SpaceX sues over ‘wrongly awarded’ Air Force rocket contracts

To say that SpaceX was unhappy with losing out on the US Air Force's rocket development contracts would be an understatement. The company has sued the US government under claims that the Air Force "wrongly awarded" contracts to Blue Origin, Northrop...

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin beats key rival to rocket engine deal

Blue Origin is best known for its own rocket programs, but it just scored a deal that could make it an important name in the spaceflight industry. United Launch Alliance has chosen Blue Origin's BE-4 engine (two of them, to be exact) to power the bo...

NASA launches Parker Solar Probe in mission to ‘touch’ the Sun

After a few delays, the Sun-chasing Parker Solar Probe is on its way. NASA launched the spacecraft aboard a ULA Delta IV Heavy rocket at 3:31AM Eastern this morning (August 12th) and confirmed that the vessel was healthy at 5:33AM. The probe still...