As the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) officially ended this week – closing out 30 years of achievements and advancements in human space travel – United Space Alliance (USA) Vice President and SSP manager Howard DeCastro noted his pride in the strong finish to the program, whilst adding he fears there may be a price to [...]

International Space Station (ISS) Program managers are working to re-align resupply and crew rotation manifests following last week’s launch failure of the Progress M-12M/44P spacecraft. The failure of the Soyuz-U booster’s third stage grounded both the Soyuz-U rockets used to launch cargo, and the Soyuz-FG rockets used to launch crews, since both rockets share very [...]

For over 30 years, the Space Shuttle Program captured the hearts and minds of millions of people throughout the world. From following the missions on TV, in newspapers, on websites, the Shuttle program has been lived by people on every continent. And through it all, the missions, the people, and the workforce have been brought [...]

The Russian Progress M-12M spacecraft, also known by its US designation of 44P, blasted off toward the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today (Wednesday 24th August) at around 1:00 PM GMT, which was 7:00 PM Baikonur time. Unfortunately for the ISS, around 325 seconds into the flight, the third stage [...]

On August 20, 1977, the intrepid spacecraft Voyager 2 launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL on what was supposed to be only a four year mission to Jupiter and Saturn. But exactly 34 years later, Voyager 2 has cemented itself into the upper echelons of unmanned space exploration, continuing to beam back [...]

NASA’s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) are preparing for involvement in an underwater simulation of protocols which may become part of a manned mission to a Near Earth Object (NEO). The tests will be carried out during October’s NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission, which will be based at the Aquarius underwater habitat in Key [...]

Orbital Sciences Corporation launched a Minotaur IV rocket carrying an experimental hypersonic prototype for the United States Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency into space on a suborbital trajectory. The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base’s Space Launch Complex 8 at 14:45 UTC (07:45 local time) on Thursday. However, the HTV-2b [...]

The Voyager spacecraft - NASA’s longest operational interplanetary probes – are about to enter their 34th year of operation, as they continue their sail out of the confines of our solar system toward the ever-present void of interstellar space. And as controllers on Earth manage the gradual and progressive power-down of the two spacecraft, the Voyagers [...]

Two Russian cosmonauts have conducted what turned out to be an eventful EVA outside of the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, as part of the ongoing Expedition 28. Going by the designation of RS (Russian Segment) EVA-29 (Extra Vehicular Activity-29), the excursion’s timeline had to be reorganized, resulting in the loss of a major [...]

The Indian Space Research Organisation have successfully launched a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), placing the GSAT-12 satellite into orbit. Liftoff occurred on time at 11:18 UTC (16:48 local time), from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island – prior to a successful deployment of the telecommunications satellite.

For Atlantis, the last decade of her career would be marked with many more triumphs as she joined her sisters in the most ambitious project in space to date: construction of the International Space Station. This would mean dodging the order for retirement a whooping two times to become the only Space Shuttle orbiter with [...]

With Atlantis’s early years behind her, the middle years of OV-104′s impressive career would serve to radically shift the gears of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program as the iconic vehicles gradually drifted away from solo research missions toward construction, utilization, and support of orbiting space stations. But for Atlantis, this shift in priorities would be immediate, [...]

The Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis, in many ways the middle-child orbiter of the Space Shuttle Program – in many ways the one vehicle that has consistently represented the spirit and determination of the Shuttle Program. Over her 25 and a half year, 33 mission career, the Shuttle orbiter Atlantis has ingrained herself into our hearts [...]

With the US Segment of the International Space Station (ISS) now complete, NASA managers are turning their attention away from the era of construction and maintenance of the station and toward the new era of utilization, which includes advanced technology demos ranging from beam energy transfer to robotic servicing.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft, also known by its US designation of 25S, departed from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday after five months on-orbit. Prior to a successful landing, Soyuz TMA-20 participated in a unique and historical event to photograph the ISS while the Space Shuttle Endeavour is docked to the complex, providing [...]

Arianespace have launched two telecommunications satellites via their Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle. The two passengers – ST-2 and GSAT-8 – are being lofted into their respective transfer orbits from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana – with lift-off on time at the opening of the launch window at 20:38 GMT.

From the beginning of the Space Shuttle Program, the promise of a permanent, space-based work platform – dubbed Space Station Freedom – was a fixture within the Program. And while Space Station Freedom didn’t quite materialize as expected, what came from the fruits of those laborious development sessions provided a solid foundation for unprecedented international [...]

The Space Shuttle Program was well underway by January 1986 – with preparations marching toward the launch of the 25th Space Shuttle mission, a mission to place a school teacher in Low Earth Orbit. And while the STS-51L/Challenger mission ended in disaster, from its devastating aftermath came the hope of a new beginning in the [...]

April 12, 1961: Yuri Gagarin launches into orbit aboard Vostok 1 to become the first human being to travel into space. April 12, 1981: Space Shuttle Columbia proudly soars into the early-morning sky over Central Florida to a) become the first-ever reusable spacecraft, b) the first spacecraft to launch like a rocket and return like [...]