Derek Wise

If you’re ever at Disney’s EPCOT theme park, you might expect to see some NASA-related gear at “Mission: SPACE” or “Spaceship Earth,” but you can actually spot some NASA-developed tech in an unlikely place: The Land Pavilion.

Ten years ago today, Astronaut Chris Hadfield released a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” entirely filmed aboard the International Space Station. He released the song the same day he relinquished command of the International Space Station, and he returned to Earth in a Soyuz capsule the following day.

ispace’s HAKUTO-R lander, which was launched last December, attempted to land on the Moon today, April 25. The mission was looking likely to be the first commercial company to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon, but late in the landing phase, ispace lost communication with the uncrewed spacecraft.

This past week, Lakeland, FL served as home once again for the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In Aerospace Expo. People from all around the country converged at Lakeland-Linder International Airport to celebrate all-things aviation.

Earlier today, SpaceX launched another set of satellites to fill out OneWeb’s internet providing constellation of satellites. Today’s launch saw 40 OneWeb satellites launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket out of SLC-40 in Florida.

Last week, SpaceX launched its first set of Starlink V2 Mini satellites, which will help the company build out their internet service to be more financially viable. Now, a company has shared imagery of one of these satellites with its solar panels deployed which they captured using on-orbit assets.

SpaceX successfully launched 21 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket flying out of SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This launch was the first to carry SpaceX’s larger and more capable V2 Mini satellites, further expanding the capability of their satellite internet constellation

Nigeria just became the first African country to gain SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet. The internet service relies on a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit that connect with user terminals and stations on the ground to provide low latency and high speed internet.

SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet has continued to expand, and new partnerships will be using the service to provide internet to even more of the general public outside of the home. These latest partnerships, with Carnival Corporation and Thor Industries, will bring Starlink service aboard Carnival Cruise line and Aida Cruise ships, and also integrate the technology into newly built RVs.

SpaceX’s Starlink high-speed satellite internet service is currently down for thousands of users as the company prepares for another Starlink launch from California tonight. The exact cause of the outage is unclear, but users globally are without internet.

For the first time in 13 years, the European Space Agency has chosen a new class of astronauts. This group of 17 was chosen from a group of over 22,500 candidates and brings in five new career astronauts, 11 members of the astronaut reserve, and one astronaut with a disability as a member of the Parastronaut Feasibility Study.

That’s right! While Artemis 1 is an important mission for the return of humanity to the Moon, everyone back here on Earth has the opportunity to participate by sending messages to an iPad that resides within the Orion spacecraft. A camera will capture the message on the iPad within the capsule and share the recording, so while sending your message beyond the Moon you can spread it to other people here on Earth. And sending your message is really simple. Here’s how.

NASA’s SLS rocket is the most powerful rocket the agency has every built. It should be no surprise that the two five-segment SRBs and four RS-25 engines left behind a bit of damage at the pad. Yesterday, NASA shared some of the first photos showing the Mobile Launcher, and the damage it sustained, up close.

After launching last Wednesday, the Orion spacecraft has reached the Moon, with Snoopy as its zero-G indicator on board. This test flight around the Moon and back will prove the systems of the Orion spacecraft and the SLS rocket, allowing humans to step aboard the rocket the next time it launches ahead of our return to the Moon.

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket may have taken flight early Wednesday morning, but as with most missions, the rocket launch is only the start of it! The Orion spacecraft is on a journey to the Moon and back, proving all the systems ahead of humans stepping aboard the spacecraft on Artemis II. Here’s how you can follow with this historic mission and track Orion on its journey.

Artemis 1 is a historic mission, the first flight of the SLS rocket that will return humans to the Moon. For now, the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft are uncrewed, as this test mission will fly around the Moon and prove the systems that will carry humans in a few years time.

Early November 10, ULA launched an Atlas V from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Station. The mission carried JPSS-2 and an inflatable decelerator to prove the systems to and gather data on this unique type of heat shield.

SpaceX’s high-speed satellite internet service, Starlink, has changed a great deal from when it first came out. Starlink has seen reduced real-world speeds for a while as a result of the large number of customers, but now Starlink has changed its expected download speeds to much lower targets. Additionally, the company has introduced soft data-caps and the ability to pay for more priority access.