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A new report has come out stating that Anek Laothamatas, Thailand’s Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation, wants to build a spacecraft capable of orbiting the moon. The news has sparked some controversy among Thailand residents as they see more pressing issues that could be addressed with the money. 

On October 14, NASA announced that it had selected an experiment by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to participate in its Flight Opportunities program. However, what’s unique about this experiment is that the payload will include a human named Alan Stern.

The 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act includes a rather interesting section involving Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP). The particular section of the act calls upon the UAP Task Force at the Office of Naval Intelligence to submit a report to Congress within 180 days of the act’s enactment date.

While most satellites these days use the highest grade metals that can withstand the harsh environment of space, Japan has started developing a satellite that will be made out of wood to help prevent space junk and harmful particles from falling off as they re-enter the atmosphere.

NASA has added two new science missions to its slate of future explorations to study the Sun. The two missions will cost just over $100 million to better understand how the Sun works and how it affects us here on Earth.

The Extreme Ultraviolet High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope Epsilon Mission, or EUVST, and the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer, or EZIE will help NASA and an international cooperation of researchers study how the Sun’s atmosphere and Earth’s magnetosphere work, two parts of the solar system we still don’t fully understand.

While everyone was mesmerized by SpaceX’s leaning B1051.7 Falcon 9 first stage booster returning to Port Canaveral after launching SXM-7, another interesting spectacle caught the eye of regular port stalkers: a new structure going up on the dry dock.

SpaceX plans to launch its first dedicated ridesharing mission in January called Transporter-1. ExoLaunch will be providing integration and dispensing services for their new EXOport cubesats.

The United Arab Emeritus has been in the process over last year to select its next class of astronauts that will begin training to join the international team of researchers on the International Space Station. With the help of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anne McClain, they will choose two new astronauts out 14 candidates.

It turns out Iron Man 2 isn’t just a classic entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The 2010 American superhero film is also a piece of SpaceX history, and not just because of the Elon Musk cameo with Tony Stark.

Space Explored’s Zac Hall and Seth Kurkowski unpack the last week in launches from SpaceX’s SXM-7 mission to Astra’s first rocket reaching space, the latest status update on Space Launch System and the Artemis I mission around the Moon, Canada’s plans to send the first Canadian astronaut to the Moon, Space Force naming its members and gaining its first astronaut, three Crew-3 astronauts being named, updates on Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket, and much more.

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Humans first orbited the Moon on this day in 1968, and while on their first pass around the backside of the Moon, they first saw with their own eyes Earthrise over the horizon.

While we didn’t see much from Firefly during 2020 in terms of launches, we did see them in the news plenty for making deals for launches and testing their new Alpha launcher which plans to debut early next year. Firefly says they already have an almost full launch manifest for 2021 with two launches going to Adaptive Launch Solutions.

After a busy year for the newer small sat launcher, Rocket Lab released a video recapping all of their achievements over 2020.

The California based small sat launcher provider conducted seven launches across 2020 and experienced its first failure of the Electron in flight. Rocket Lab was able to return to flying just two months later. While headquartered in California, Rocket Lab currently conducts most of its operations in New Zealand where they have their own launch complex with one operational launch pad with a second pad nearing completion.

After months of negotiations, NASA finally received a budget for 2021 that includes more funding for the Artemis Human Landing System, although not as much as requested, and the survival of several missions and programs.

The technology used by airports to communicate with aircraft appears to be relatively advanced, but this is the opposite of the truth upon closer inspection. Outdated technology that relies heavily on voice communications is what you actually see, and that creates problems.

NASA announced that Pat Forrester will be replaced with Reid Wiseman as the new Chief Astronaut at Johnson Space Center. Forrester will be pursuing a career opportunity outside of NASA after his tenure in the office since 2017.

A team of researchers from the Southwest Research Institute has come across new evidence of a large, previously unknown asteroid that once prowled our solar system. The discovery was made when studying a fragment of a 9-ton asteroid that exploded over Sudan in 2008.

Virgin Orbit planned to conduct its second Launch Demo mission before the end of the year, but the spread of COVID-19 forced the team to halt pre-flight work this month. After following recommended safety guidelines, the team at Virgin Orbit is back on track, the company shared today. Virgin Orbit’s launch approach involves dropping a space-bound rocket called LauncherOne from the wing of a 747 plane named Cosmic Girl.

Are we alone? This is arguably the biggest question that mankind has ever asked. Now, a newly published study suggests the answer to that question is no, but with one substantial caveat, the alien civilizations are out there; they’re just all dead.

Originally planned to be a part of the first iteration of Space Launch System, the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) is set to start being used on the SLS Block 1B variant of NASA’s Moon rocket. Boeing, the prime contractor for NASA’s SLS, announced this week that they have completed a critical design review for the new upper stage of the rocket.

Both the House and Senate passed the Consolidated Appropriations Bill for 2021 this week, and while the biggest topic is the new COVID relief measure, this is a consolidation of several appropriation bills including the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill that oversees the Arecibo Observatory.