Virgin Galactic passengers will have to wait until at least 2021 for the first flight opportunities. Before passengers climb aboard the suborbital space plane SpaceShipTwo, the space tourism firm will send at least two powered test spaceflights aloft from New Mexico’s Spaceport America, where the company moved earlier this year. Virgin performed two glide tests at the
CONTINUE READING

  SpaceX’s first astronaut mission for NASA is in the books. A Crew Dragon capsule carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley splashed down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, at 2:48 p.m. EDT (1848 GMT) today (Aug. 2), bringing an end to SpaceX’s historic Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station. “Welcome back to planet Earth,”
CONTINUE READING

Humanity’s first interplanetary sample-return campaign is now underway. NASA’s car-sized Perseverance Mars rover launched yesterday (July 30), kicking off a nearly seven-month cruise to the Red Planet. Perseverance will hunt for signs of ancient Mars life after its February 2021 touchdown on the floor of Jezero Crater, which hosted a lake and a river delta billions of years ago. But
CONTINUE READING

Virgin Galactic, a space tourism company that aims to launch passengers on suborbital flights, will lift the veil on what that experience will be like today (July 28) and you can watch it live online. You can watch the reveal live at 10:am PST     In a live webcast at 1 p.m. EDT (1700
CONTINUE READING

SpaceX called off its latest attempt to launch dozens of new Starlink internet satellites Wednesday (July 8) due to bad weather at their Florida launch pad. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch 57 Starlink satellites and two small BlackSky Global Earth-imaging satellites from Pad 39 of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 11:59 a.m. EDT (1519 GMT). But 11
CONTINUE READING

July is the month of Mars. Three missions are poised to launch toward the Red Planet this month, including NASA’s car-sized Perseverance rover, which will hunt for signs of ancient Mars life and cache samples for a future return to Earth. The action will start next week if all goes according to plan. The United Arab Emirates’
CONTINUE READING

SpaceX will launch its next batch of Starlink internet satellites into orbit tonight (June 3) after two weeks of weather delays and the company’s historic first astronaut flight. A Falcon 9 rocket, which SpaceX has already flown four past missions, will launch 60 new Starlink satellites into orbit from the company’s pad at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral
CONTINUE READING

SpaceX successfully test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket in Florida today (May 13), setting the stage for a predawn launch of a new fleet of Starlink internet satellites this weekend. The SpaceX rocket ignited the nine Merlin engines on its first stage in a brief static fire test atop a pad at Space Launch Complex 40 of the Cape Canaveral
CONTINUE READING

The effects of the coronavirus outbreak are extending into the final frontier. COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has sickened more than 130,000 people worldwide to date, with more than 5,000 confirmed deaths. Both of those numbers are bound to rise considerably because we’re still in the early stages of the pandemic, health officials have stressed.
CONTINUE READING

SpaceX successfully launched another batch of 60 Starlink satellites into orbit Monday (Feb. 17),  but missed a milestone rocket landing on what was the company’s fourth flight of the year. Smoked billowed and flames erupted as the sooty Falcon 9 roared to life at 10:05 a.m. EST (1505 GMT), lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air
CONTINUE READING

An unidentified astronaut aboard the International Space Station had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) — or blood clot — in the jugular vein of their neck, according to a new case study. The astronaut’s identity and exactly when the incident took place are being kept secret for privacy reasons, so identifying information was omitted from
CONTINUE READING

Holiday shopping season is now in full swing, and if you’re looking for the right gift for the space nerd in your life, Air Electro has you covered. Throughout the year we keep our eyes peeled for exciting, new and interesting gift ideas for all ages and interests. This list includes a replica of the
CONTINUE READING

It’s going to take a lot more than a doggy paddle to explore the oceans hidden below the icy surfaces of some of the solar system’s most intriguing moons. That’s why NASA engineers are already working on an underwater rover they hope could one day tackle the challenges posed by ocean worlds like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon
CONTINUE READING

Boeing’s crew capsule bound for the International Space Station took its next big step on that journey yesterday (Nov. 21) as it moved from the company’s facility out to its Florida launch site. The CST-100 Starliner capsule is due to make its first flight, an uncrewed test mission, on Dec. 17. The spacecraft will spend its final month on
CONTINUE READING

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX’s plans to bring global internet coverage to the world just took another leap forward as its 9th Falcon 9 rocket flight of the year launched 60 new Starlink internet satellites into orbit Monday (Nov. 11). The satellites rode into space atop a veteran Falcon 9 first stage, ending a nearly three-month launch
CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON – Made In Space’s new satellite-construction robot could herald a new generation of autonomous machines working on the moon — and perhaps even Mars. At the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) here on Oct. 25, representatives from NASA and the California-based company Made In Space talked about the forthcoming opportunities for in-space manufacturing, which they say will
CONTINUE READING

SpaceX, the private spaceflight company known for reusable rockets and a giant, shiny Starship, will begin offering its own satellite internet service in 2020, according to SpaceNews. In fact, the U.S. Air Force is already testing it in planes. To build the service, SpaceX will have to launch up to eight Falcon 9 rockets filled with the
CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos on Tuesday (Oct. 22) unveiled a “national team” for his company’s plan to land astronauts on the moon for NASA’s Artemis program, with three veteran aerospace companies joining the project. The U.S. companies Draper, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman will join Blue Origin’s bid to build a crewed lunar
CONTINUE READING

The commercial resupply mission will launch no earlier than Nov. 2.   A Northrop Grumman Innovations Systems launch of a commercial cargo ship to the International Space Station for NASA on Oct. 21 will now liftoff on Nov. 2, NASA officials said. The NG-12 Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard an
CONTINUE READING

Blue Origin’s first crewed spaceflight probably won’t take place this year after all. The company, which was founded in 2001 by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, had been hoping to start launching people to space aboard its suborbital New Shepard vehicle before the end of 2019. But the chances of meeting that target are low at this point,
CONTINUE READING

BOCA CHICA, Texas — Elon Musk has a Starship, and one day he expects it will help SpaceX reach other worlds. Standing beneath a towering Starship Mk1, a prototype for SpaceX’s massive reusable launch system, Musk laid out his plan for interplanetary travel at the company’s South Texas test site here on Saturday (Sept. 28) —
CONTINUE READING

Space Mysteries: If you travel through a black hole, where do you go? So there you are, about to leap into a black hole. What could possibly await should — against all odds — you somehow survive? Where would you end up and what tantalizing tales would you be able to regale if you managed to
CONTINUE READING

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray refueling drone, destined to be the first carrier-launched autonomous unmanned aircraft integrated into the service’s strike arm, took its first test flight from MidAmerica Airport in Illinois, Boeing announced Thursday. The two-hour flight, remotely controlled by Boeing pilots, tested the basic flight functions of the aircraft, a Boeing statement said.
CONTINUE READING

What might it take to feed a million people on Mars? Lab-grown meat, tunnel-grown crops and cricket farms, a new study finds. When it comes to plans for crewed missions to Mars, NASA typically assumes round trips with only brief stopovers on the Red Planet. However, commercial space companies have emerged with the goal of
CONTINUE READING