Play buttonSpaceX SpaceX’s test rocket catches fire after engine testThe Verge - Loren GrushA prototype version of SpaceX’s next-generation rocket caught fire last night following an engine test in Boca Chica, Texas. About four minutes after SpaceX briefly ignited the vehicle’s engine, a second
Play buttonSpacecraft High-speed lunar dust could cloud the future of human missions to the MoonThe Verge - Loren GrushLanding people on the Moon is messy — a lesson that the Apollo astronauts learned the hard way. Using a rocket engine to lower a large spacecraft down to the lunar surface kicks up a whole lot of fast-moving
Play buttonNASA Apollo was NASA’s biggest win — but its legacy is holding the agency backThe Verge - Loren GrushEver since Apollo 11 carried the first people to the Moon, NASA has vowed that it will surpass its most historic achievement — either by returning to the Moon or by sending people to Mars. But after half
SpaceX SpaceX finally reveals cause of April spacecraft explosionThe Verge - Loren GrushSpaceX says it has figured out what caused one of its spacecraft to explode during a ground test in April. A valve accidentally leaked some of the vehicle’s propellant, starting a chain reaction that the
Satellites Europe’s GPS alternative has been offline since FridayThe Verge - Jon PorterGalileo, the European satellite navigation system, has been suffering a major outage since Friday, reports BBC News. The system’s status page currently lists all 22 of its satellites as either “Not Usable”
Military France’s Air Force is getting a space commandThe Verge - Andrew LiptakAhead of this weekend’s Bastille Day celebration on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a space command that would be part of the country’s Air Force, according to Reuters.
NASA NASA administrator on recent personnel shakeup: ‘There’s no turmoil at all’The Verge - Loren GrushIt’s been a week of major change for NASA after the top two leaders of the agency’s human exploration program were suddenly reassigned without much warning. It was a shocking personnel shakeup, coming
NASA Head of NASA’s human exploration program demoted as agency pushes for Moon returnThe Verge - Loren GrushThe head of NASA’s human exploration program has been replaced within the agency, just months after Vice President Mike Pence challenged NASA to send humans to the Moon within the next five years. The
Asteroids Japanese spacecraft grabs second asteroid sample near blasted craterThe Verge - Loren GrushA Japanese spacecraft has snagged a sample of dust from an asteroid zooming through space more than 151 million miles from Earth. It’s the second sample that this vehicle has grabbed from the asteroid,
Play buttonArianespace Arianespace launch failure destroys military satelliteThe Verge - Jon PorterA European mission to launch a satellite aboard Arianespace’s Vega rocket has come to a premature end after a “major anomaly” occurred just two minutes after liftoff. The anomaly occurred during the Vega
Business Virgin Orbit’s giant plane drops rocket over California during crucial flight testThe Verge - Loren GrushThis morning, Virgin Orbit — the spinoff company of Richard Branson’s space tourism venture Virgin Galactic — dropped a small test rocket from an airplane over Southern California where it slammed into
Israel Aerospace Industries Israel’s failed lunar lander will live on in the design of Firefly Aerospace’s new Moon spacecraftThe Verge - Loren GrushIsrael’s first lunar lander crashed into the Moon’s surface in April, but the design of the doomed spacecraft may live on during future missions to the Moon. US company Firefly Aerospace announced that
Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic will reportedly become the first space tourism company to go publicThe Verge - Jon PorterVirgin Galactic could soon become the first publicly traded space tourism company, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal. A public shell company called Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings
Play buttonLight Sail Now you can check in on Bill Nye’s solar sail as it orbits EarthThe Verge - Mary Beth GriggsA new dashboard will let people track the progress of one of Earth’s most unique satellites from anywhere in the world. The Planetary Society just announced a new website that will constantly display status
Play buttonSpace Travel The only way the Lego Apollo 11 lander set could be better is if it flewThe Verge - Chaim GartenbergLego’s official Apollo 11 anniversary set is pretty slick already, but aerospace engineer Adam Woodworth has made it even cooler by adding a set of propellers so that the lunar lander can actually fly,
Technology Startup’s plan to deliver baby in space halted over ‘serious ethical, safety and medical concerns’The Verge - Sean O'KaneNetherlands startup SpaceLife Origin’s mission to become the “first company that will make human reproduction in space safely possible” has been put on pause. CEO Kees Mulder says serious “ethical, safety
Politics The Department of Defense wants ideas for a tiny autonomous space stationThe Verge - Andrew LiptakThe Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has issued a solicitation for a tiny, “self-contained and free flying orbital outpost” that can host experiments and equipment in orbit and could eventually
Solar Eclipse How to watch today’s total solar eclipse if you’re not in a small portion of South AmericaThe Verge - Loren GrushThis afternoon, another total solar eclipse will grace the skies over the Earth, but this time, most of the show will take place over the Pacific Ocean. Unlike the Great American Eclipse of 2017, which
Play buttonOrion Spacecraft NASA is testing how its new deep-space crew capsule handles a rocket emergencyThe Verge - Loren GrushTomorrow morning, NASA will test its new deep-space crew capsule to see if the vehicle can keep people safe during a botched launch. The agency will activate a special emergency system on the capsule to
SpaceX SpaceX is in communication with all but three of 60 Starlink satellites one month after launchThe Verge - Loren GrushIt’s been over a month since SpaceX launched its first batch of 60 internet-beaming satellites for the company’s massive Starlink initiative, and all but three of the satellites seem to be working as Initially,
Photography The technology, sweat, and anxiety that goes into shooting a Falcon Heavy rocket launchThe Verge - Loren GrushMy heart started pounding as our bus pulled closer to the launchpad. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket was long gone, but I didn’t care. I was about to be reunited with the camera I had staked into the grass
Titan (Moon) NASA chooses Saturn’s moon Titan as its next destinationThe Verge - Mary Beth GriggsA new mission involving a drone-like lander will explore the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. The mission — called Dragonfly — received a coveted funding slot from NASA’s New Frontiers program, which funds
Moon Israeli team will no longer send a second spacecraft to the MoonThe Verge - Natt GarunIsraeli nonprofit SpaceIL has announced that it will abandon plans for a second moonshot after a crash landing in its original mission earlier this spring. At the time, the company said it would make second
SpaceX SpaceX catches rocket nose cone for the first time with giant net-wielding boatThe Verge - Loren GrushAfter launching its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket this evening, SpaceX caught part of the vehicle’s nose cone when it fell back to Earth — the first time the company has ever pulled off such a feat. The
Falcon Heavy SpaceX loses Falcon Heavy’s center core in an otherwise successful launchThe Verge - Mary Beth GriggsThe center core of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket crashed into the ocean as it attempted to land on a drone ship early Tuesday morning. While the momentous launch has been otherwise successful for SpaceX,
Play buttonFalcon Heavy Why the third launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket has the highest stakes yetThe Verge - Loren GrushUpdate June 25th, 3:06AM ET: At 2:30AM ET, the Falcon Heavy lifted off, carrying 24 satellites towards space. The two side boosters both landed successfully shortly after launch, but the center booster
Play buttonSailing An atomic clock, ‘green’ propellant, and a sunlight-surfing sail are headed to space next weekThe Verge - Loren GrushOn Monday, SpaceX is set to launch the third flight of its most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy. And this time, it’s carrying a host of new technologies into space, ranging from a new type of atomic
Jeff Bezos Blue Origin fires up the engine of its future Moon lander for the first timeThe Verge - Loren GrushFor the first time, aerospace company Blue Origin has fired up a brand-new engine the company developed for its future Moon lander. The engine, dubbed the BE-7, ignited for a full 35 seconds during a at
NASA NASA’s future Moon rocket will probably be delayed and over budget yet again: auditThe Verge - Loren GrushThe giant rocket that NASA is building to send astronauts to the Moon will likely be delayed and over budget — yet again. That’s according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, which
