NASA CHIEF BLASTS BOEING, SPACE AGENCY FOR FAILED STARLINER ASTRONAUT MISSION - NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is blaming Boeing and his own agency for botching a test flight of the Starliner spacecraft, designed to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station. A 311-page report details the issues that led to the failure of Starliner's first crewed test fli... More (Source: NPR - Feb 20)
TOO MANY SATELLITES? EARTH'S ORBIT IS ON TRACK FOR A CATASTROPHE—BUT WE CAN STOP IT - On January 30, 2026, SpaceX filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission for a megaconstellation of up to 1 million satellites to power data centers in space. The proposal envisions satellites operating between 500 and 2,000 kilometers in low Earth orbit. Some of the orbits ... More (Source: Phys.org - Feb 20)
DOD EYES COMMERCIAL SATELLITES THAT CAN SPY ON OTHER SATELLITES - The Pentagon is looking for cheap commercial satellites that can maintain surveillance on other satellites in orbit, including close-range inspections, according to a Defense Innovation Unit solicitation published Tuesday. The Geosynchronous High-Resolution Optical Space-Based Tactical Reconnaiss... More (Source: Defense News - Feb 19)
THIS COMPANY JUST INKED 1ST NASA DEAL TO SEND ASTRONAUTS TO THE ISS - More non-government astronauts are due to spend some time at the International Space Station under NASA's latest commercial partnership. California-based Vast inked a deal that paves the way for the aerospace company to send four private astronauts not affiliated with space agencies like NASA to ... More (Source: USA Today - Feb 19)
NOAA’S NEXT JPSS WEATHER SATELLITE, JPSS-4, COMPLETES SOLAR ARRAY DEPLOYMENT TEST - In an accordion-like motion, five solar panels successfully unfolded from the JPSS-4 satellite during its solar array deployment test, marking a major milestone for the next satellite launch in NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). As one of the major testing milestones for the weather satel... More (Source: NESDIS - NOAA - Feb 18)
'FULLY UNLOCKING THE ORBITAL ECONOMY': THIS CALIFORNIA COMPANY WILL FLY ASTRONAUTS TO THE SPACE STATION IN 2027 - A California startup will operate its first astronaut mission next year, if all goes according to plan. NASA announced on Thursday (Feb. 12) that it has picked Long Beach-based Vast to conduct the sixth private astronaut flight to the International Space Station (ISS), which will launch no earlie... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 17)
DOUBLE DELIVERY: SPACEX SENDS STARLINK SATELLITES INTO ORBIT ON LAUNCHES FROM CALIFORNIA AND FLORIDA - paceX added a 53 satellites to its Starlink megaconstellation over the course of two launches in as many days. First up was a Valentine's Day (Saturday, Feb. 14) liftoff of 24 satellites (Group 17-13) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.. The F... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 17)
REPLACEMENT CREW DOCKS AT SPACE STATION, BOOSTS CREW BACK TO SEVEN - A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule glided in for a Valentine’s Day docking at the International Space Station Saturday boosting the lab’s crew back to a full complement of seven one month after four other fliers came home early because of a medical issue. The Crew Dragon docked at the space-facing ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 16)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 600TH FALCON 9 ROCKET TO DATE WITH STARLINK FLIGHT FROM VANDENBERG - SpaceX continued its busy weekend with the launch of its 600th Falcon 9 rocket to date. The milestone mission comes hours after its Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station as part of its 20th human spaceflight mission. The Starlink 17-13 mission launched Saturday evening from... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 15)
SPACEX DRAGON ASTRONAUTS MAKE VALENTINE'S DAY DOCKING AT SPACE STATION TO BOOST SKELETON CREW - The residents of the International Space Station received a special Valentine's Day treat. SpaceX's Crew-12 astronaut mission docked with the short-staffed International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday (Feb. 14) at 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 GMT), ending a 34-hour orbital chase.... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 14)
EUROPE'S MOST POWERFUL ROCKET LAUNCHES FOR 1ST TIME, CARRYING 32 AMAZON INTERNET SATELLITES TO ORBIT - Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket just notched another milestone. The most powerful version of the Ariane 6 — known as the 64, because it sports four strap-on solid rocket boosters — lifted off for the first time ever today (Feb. 12). The Ariane 64 launched from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, Fr... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 14)
SATELLITE MEGACONSTELLATIONS CONTINUE TO GROW. COULD THEIR DEBRIS FALL ON US? - As more and more satellite megaconstellations continue to be launched into Earth orbit, some researchers are beginning to calculate the chances that people on the surface could be struck by the incoming remnants of these spacecraft reentering the atmosphere. A new study by a team of Canadian rese... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 14)
SPACEX LAUNCHES CREW-12 ASTRONAUTS TO SHORT-STAFFED INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. 'WE HAVE LEFT THE EARTH, BUT THE EARTH HAS NOT LEFT US.' - A quartet of astronauts have reached orbit and are on their way to support the skeleton crew of three left behind after the first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX launched the Crew-12 mission this morning here from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, send... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 13)
VULCAN SUFFERS SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER PROBLEM DURING USSF-87 LAUNCH - United Launch Alliance said an issue affected one of the four solid rocket boosters that helped propel its Vulcan rocket into space Thursday on a mission for the United States Space Force. Despite the problem the rocket, making only its fourth flight, continued on its planned trajectory, the company... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 13)
NASA SELECTS VAST FOR SIXTH PRIVATE MISSION TO SPACE STATION - NASA and Vast have signed an order for the sixth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch no earlier than summer 2027 from Florida. This private astronaut mission marks the company’s first selection to the orbiting laboratory, underscoring NASA’s ongoin... More (Source: NASA - Feb 13)
NASA, SPACEX TARGET FRIDAY FOR CREW-12 LAUNCH DUE TO WEATHER - NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than 5:15 a.m. EST, Friday, Feb. 13, for launch of the Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Mission teams completed a weather review Tuesday morning and have waived off the Thursday, Feb. 1... More (Source: NASA - Feb 12)
AST SPACEMOBILE UNFURLS MASSIVE SATELLITE TO CHALLENGE CELLULAR STARLINK - AST SpaceMobile has successfully unfolded its massive 2,400 square-foot satellite in orbit as the company tries to challenge SpaceX’s cellular Starlink service. On Tuesday, AST SpaceMobile posted a picture of the satellite’s antenna array fully deployed, weeks after it flew into space in late... More (Source: PCMag - Feb 12)
EARTH ORBIT IS GETTING CROWDED. CAN THIS MAP OF 1 MILLION ROUTES AROUND OUR PLANET HELP PREVENT SATELLITE COLLISIONS? - Space is getting crowded — nowadays, over 45,000 human-made objects orbit Earth. A portion of that figure is indeed represented by the thousands of satellites humans use for internet, GPS and other communications, but it also takes into account space junk from humanity’s previous space escapades... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 11)
WEATHER DELAYS NASA’S SPACEX CREW-12 FLIGHT TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - The launch of the next crew rotation mission to the International Space Station will have to wait at least another day after NASA and SpaceX leadership determined weather along the flight path would be unacceptable. Leaders moved the launch of Crew-12 from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Sta... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 10)
