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The Thermal Protection System on SpaceX’s Starship has been the topic of much discussion. Ship 20 had its thermal protection installed, but the quality of those tiles has come into question. Now, with the vent of the Ship 20’s header tank, many tiles on Ship 20 flew off and hit the ground.

DARPA announced the successful flight of a hypersonic air-breathing weapon concept. The test brings the project one step closer to expanding U.S. military capabilities.

NASA will launch their Landsat 9 Earth-imaging satellite to continue the longest-running Earth-imaging satellite program, which began in the 1970s. Landsat 9 will launch on a ULA Atlas V rocket from their west coast launch facilities. The mission will replace Landsat 7, which launched back in 1999. Follow along with live updates on the Landsat 9 launch below.

Date: Monday, September 27 2:12 p.m. EDT

For decades, NASA has used mostly modified motorhomes to transport astronauts to the launch pad. Now, NASA is requesting proposals for the Agency’s next Astrovan.

Shortly after the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission returned to Earth, associate administrator of Space Operations Mission Directorate Kathy Lueders announced that Axiom will be launching its private mission to the ISS on February 21, 2022.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is getting ready to launch to space from French Guiana in early December. NASA announced a STEAM Day for students and educators to get ready for the big day ahead of the launch.

A federal court released a redacted copy of Blue Origin’s lawsuit against NASA’s Human Landing System selection. In it, we get our first glimpse at what Blue Origin is basing this lawsuit over.

Aerojet Rocketdyne will design the main engine for NASA’s Orion spacecraft for Artemis missions 6-14.

Roscosmos is preparing to relocate the MS-18 Soyuz spacecraft next Tuesday to make room for the crew of MS-19 arriving next month.

To put it bluntly, Boeing’s attempts at an Orbital Flight Test of their CST-100 Starliner capsule have been a complete wreck. The success of Starliner is imperative so NASA will have redundant systems for access to the ISS, but a delay to 2022 is unsurprising.

With the first launch of SLS for the Artemis 1 mission closer than ever before, we want to take a look back at the testing that has gotten us to this point. The most recent test being the Umbilical Release and Retract Test (URRT).

This week Space Explored’s Seth Kurkowski and Derek Wise discuss the first all civilian mission to orbit, the shocking change to NASA’s leadership for human spaceflight, what Starship’s Draft Environmental Assessment means for the program, and more.

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Artemis III landing on the Moon in 2024 has always been a lofty goal, but NASA officials stuck to the date even as the previous administration left. Today, they began to officially acknowledge the breakdown of the deadline.

Rocket Lab, an American small sat launcher, won a contract to launch a demonstration mission for Astroscale. The mission will demonstrate Astroscales active debris removal for phase one of JAXA’s Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration Project.

SLS is undergoing testing ahead of Orion integration and rollout for the Wet Dress Rehearsal for the Artemis 1 mission. But it’s not only Orion going to the Moon. 13 CubeSats are tagging along, at least now it’s 13…

The newest branch of the United States Armed Forces has slowly begun building its own brand. Following Monday’s Space Force unveiling of enlisted rank insignia, the service has shown off their dress and physical fitness uniform prototypes.

There was something refreshing last summer when NASA promoted Kathy Lueders from her leadership role over Commercial Crew and Commercial Cargo programs to lead Human Explorations & Operations.

A key goal of the Artemis program is to send the first woman and person of color to the Moon in this decade. It only felt appropriate that a highly qualified female would make key Artemis program decisions after the unceremonious departure of her predecessor.

Now Bill Nelson’s NASA is dividing the human spaceflight program into two separate mission directorates: Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate and Space Operations Mission Directorate.

Jim Free, a former NASA deputy, will take on exploration duties while Lueders retains her responsibilities in operations.

It’s hard to believe that SpaceX has only just started launching people to space, but that’s practically the case with just four crewed missions under their belt since last year. DM-2, Crew-1, and Crew-2 missions for NASA saw the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft send humans to the International Space Station. The journey inside Dragon wasn’t also the destination as it was for Inspiration4.

What changes when the experience in Dragon is tested by ordinary people for whom the SpaceX spacecraft is also the endpoint in space? SpaceX founder Elon Musk has weighed in with some early suggestions that range from cooking methods to waste management.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force Roger Towberman announced the new rank insignias for enlisted Guardians Monday.

NASA teams are racing towards the first launch of the SLS rocket at Kennedy Space Center. The final pieces needed for sull stack testing were installed a few days ago, the Orion stage adapter structural test article, and Orion Mass Simulator. The full stack of SLS is expected to roll out to LC-39B for further testing and a Wet Dress Rehearsal.

Beyond sharing a photo of his new dog Floki, talking about UFOs, and stressing the importance of reusable rockets on Twitter this week, Elon has also shared new features, including Starlink, that will be coming to the Crew Dragon capsule.

The crew of China’s Shenzhou-12 mission have returned safely back to Earth after their 90-day stay on the Tiangong space station.

The Inspiration4 crew successfully splashed down in the Atlantic following their nearly three days orbiting the Earth. In a great conclusion to the mission, Elon Musk shared that he would be donating $50 million dollars to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital—pushing the fundraising campaign past its $200 million goal.