Space News

APOD: 2026 August 19 – The Case of the Mysterious Maybe Meteor

Zhuque-3 Completes Second Flight with Successful First-Stage Landing

Zhuque-3’s second flight marked a major milestone for LandSpace as the methalox rocket lifted off…

Space nuclear programs face near- and long-term challenges

While space nuclear programs are “having a moment,” industry officials say they face near-term challenges as well as longer-term concerns.

China’s Landspace recovers booster with second orbital launch of Zhuque-3 rocket

HELSINKI — Landspace successfully landed the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket Tuesday following the second launch of the rocket from the Gobi Desert. The second Zhuque-3 rocket lifted off […]

Rocket Lab to test Space Force data network connection in orbit in 2027

The company will use a Photon spacecraft to test interoperability with the Space Data Network's core infrastructure built by SpaceX

Astronauts remove failed antenna; run out of time to install a spare

It was the 282nd EVA devoted to station assembly and maintenance, the fifth so far this year, the second for Menon and the first for Adenot, now the first French woman to walk in space. Total ISS EVA time now stands at 74 days 10 hours and 44 minutes since station assembly began in 1998.

NASA’s LRO Images Falcon 9 Crater on Moon, Learns New Details

Between Aug. 11 and 12, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a series of images of a new crater on the Moon. The crater formed on Aug. 5, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage impacted the surface following its January 2025 launch of the Firefly Blue Ghost 1 mission. To capture imagery of the […]

NASA Student Aviation Challenge Focuses on Nation’s Infrastructure

NASA’s next Gateways to Blue Skies competition invites collegiate teams to imagine innovative new ways aircraft could inspect land-based infrastructure, such as bridges and tunnels, to improve safety, reliability, and costs by 2035 or sooner. Infrastructure is the foundation of the nation’s strong economy, global competitiveness, and daily quality of life. When that infrastructure is […]

The United States is about to wake up to the threat from China's space program

One big question, will China assert territorial rights where its rover explores?

NASA’s B777 Gets New Coat of Paint

NASA’s Boeing 777 shows off a new paint job in this Aug. 11, 2026, photo. The B777 was acquired to replace and extend the capabilities of the NASA DC-8, which was retired in 2024. The B777, set to begin operations from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia in 2027, will be a unique flying […]

NASA Glenn’s Legacy Forged Through Decades of Flight Research

Many of NASA’s most important aerospace breakthroughs that began in the laboratory were ultimately proven in the sky. For decades, experts at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland conducted flight tests — piloting aircraft into targeted environments such as icing clouds and carefully defined atmospheric routes. This approach allowed them to collect measurements directly in flight, providing critical data […]

Live coverage: SpaceX to send Starlink satellites to orbit with Tuesday night launch from California

The Starlink 17-50 mission will add another 24 broadband satellites to the company’s megaconstellation. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 8:45 p.m. PDT (11:45 p.m. EDT / 0345 UTC).