Space Explored

Just after becoming the chief of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov said on Tuesday that the country has decided to withdraw from the International Space Station after 2024.

The controversial head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, is officially out, with no official word about what lies ahead for him. This command change came around when NASA and Roscosmos finally announced a deal to trade seats on Russia’s Soyuz and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.

Update: As of July 20, NASA says it is holding three placeholder dates for possible launch targets: August 29 between 8:33 a.m. and 10:33 a.m. ET, September 2 between 12:48 p.m. and 2:48 p.m. ET, and September 5 between 5:12 p.m. and 6:42 p.m. ET. Mission duration would be 42 days, 39 days, and 42 days, respectively.

NASA conducted its fourth wet dress rehearsal attempt for its Space Launch System rocket this week, completing a critical trial run at fueling the rocket mostly without issue. Officials were uncertain one day after the test if the Moon rocket would require another round of fueling. The agency has since communicated that it intends to launch SLS as early as last August without a fifth go at working out the kinks during fueling.

It’s a hot and humid summer morning. On July 16th, 1969 the silence was broken by the sound of five F-1 engines roaring to life. Apollo 11 lifted off at 9:32 AM EDT on a mission of a lifetime. On July 20th, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are about to land on the Moon.

The third supermoon of the year is officially upon us. Tonight’s supermoon also called a buck or thunder moon will be the largest and brightest this year. Here’s what to know.

While the world was focused on the first James Webb Space Telescope color images released by NASA, SpaceX was busy testing its Super Heavy booster 7 down in Starbase. What was believed to be just a fueling test turned into an unexpected explosion underneath the Starship booster stage, thankfully not producing any significant damage that we can see to Booster 7 or the surrounding pad.

Yesterday, the very first full-color image from the James Webb Space Telescope was released during an event at the White House. Now, the full set of initial images has been released, with the next generation observatory looking back in time at five different cosmic targets.

Today in an event at the White House, President Biden, Vice President Harries, and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson unveiled the first color image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.

The time is near. After launching on Christmas Day, the first full-color images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will be released tonight and tomorrow. Here is what we know so far about the first images.

SpaceX just launched Maritime Starlink, which will offer high-speed internet at any point across the oceans – but you better be a millionaire if you hope to afford it.

It’s that time of year again (I feel like it is always that time of year) when drafts of NASA’s next fiscal year budget start to form. During this process, we gain insight into how Congress wants that money spent, which could include changes to existing programs. For example, this year, it looks like Congress was so impressed with Ingenuity’s success that it wants more helicopters (air spacecraft?) for NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission.

In an interview with the German publication Der Spiegel, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson discussed the question many have been asking for a while. Why doesn’t NASA ditch SLS and replace it with SpaceX’s cheaper and more capable Starship rocket?

Customers and fans have been asking SpaceX for a mobile version of their Starlink internet service for a while, with some even finding their own solutions. Now that the FCC has approved in-motion Starlink use, a mobile-optimized version of the Starlink service could be on the way.

An unknown rocket stage impacted the Moon this year completely unplanned after launching a payload into space possibly back in 2015. First, it was believed to be from SpaceX, but now it is thought to be Chinese. New photos of the rocket’s impact site on the Moon could point us toward the true owner.

Rocket Lab launched the first Artemis program mission, called CAPSTONE, from its launch site in New Zealand on June 28. Its purpose? Testing out the orbit and procedures for where NASA’s proposed Gateway space station will be.