Russia today successfully launched a Progress freighter to ISS, its Soyuz-2 rocket lifting off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. The freighter will dock with the aft port of the Zvezda module in two days. When it does so, expect NASA to require its astronauts to close the hatch between the American and Russia parts of ISS. The agency has| Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman
Earlier this week NASA moved to block Chinese citizens with visas from having access to its facilities as well as its entire operations, citing security concerns. “NASA has taken internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals, including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities, materials and network to ensure the security of our work,” NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said| Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman
Superheavy after the October 2024 flight, safely captured during the very first attempt Link here. The update comes from a presentation given this week by Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s executive in charge of build and flight reliability, at the American Astronautical Society’s Glenn Space Technology Symposium in Cleveland. Lots of new details. First, almost no tiles fell off during this flight.| Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman
EchoStar today announced it has sold two of its spectrum licenses to SpaceX for $17 billion, in a deal that will also allow EchoStar’s customers to access Starlink. EchoStar has entered into a definitive agreement with SpaceX to sell the company’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses for approximately $17 billion, consisting of up to $8.5 billion in cash and up| Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman
During its flyby of Mars in March 2025, the Europa Clipper spacecraft tested its radar instrument. This is a small section of the image it successfully produced of Mars’ surface. See the full radargram. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ UT-Austin.| EarthSky
Crew-11 launched toward the space station on August 1, 2025. Image via Greg Diesel Walck.Update: The Crew-11 mission launched today just before 12 p.m. EDT in Florida.| EarthSky
A SpaceX Starship upper stage exploded during a static-fire test on June 18, at SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. See the video. The post Another SpaceX Starship explosion! Huge fireball during test first appeared on EarthSky.| Human World | EarthSky
The space agency and its commercial partner provided more details on the spacecraft that will help destroy the space station at the end of the decade.| FLYING Magazine
ESA has unveiled the 1st images from Proba-3, an ambitious mission using 2 satellites to reveal the sun's outer atmosphere through artificial solar eclipses. The post First images from Proba-3, the 2-part sun observer first appeared on EarthSky.| Sun | EarthSky
The Japanese lunar exploration company ispace attempted to land on the moon today, June 5, 2025. Watch a replay of the livestream in the player above. The livestream ended with the company still trying to communicate with the lander. It’s not looking good.| EarthSky
Scientists increase the odds asteroid 2024 YR4 will impact the Moon in 2032| behindtheblack.com
Readers!| behindtheblack.com
Readers!| behindtheblack.com
SpaceX’s Starship Flight 9 launched from Starbase in south Texas on May 27, 2025. The 1st-ever reused Super Heavy booster exploded during its landing burn over the Gulf of Mexico. Starship itself touched orbit, then lost control and tumbled back to Earth. Image is a video still via SpaceX live feed/ Videos from Space.EarthSky isn’t powered by billionaires. We’re powered by you.| EarthSky
Watch Blue Origin’s 11th space tourism launch. It has an all-female crew. The launch window will open at 8:30 a.m. CDT on Monday, April 14.| EarthSky
The lunar lander Athena captured this selfie as it orbited the moon on March 3, 2025. Earth is the small world in the distance. Athena landed on the moon on March 6, 2025. Unfortunately, like the Intuitive Machines’ mission before it, it appears to be on its side. Image via Intuitive Machines (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).Athena landed on the moon, but on its side| EarthSky
The SpaceX Starship rocket will make its 8th test flight today, Thursday, March 6, 2025, from Boca Chica, Texas. Here's how to see it fly! The post Upgraded SpaceX Starship flying today: How to see the thrills! first appeared on EarthSky.| Spaceflight | EarthSky
NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center is the largest single-story building in the world. Here’s a peek inside NASA’s VAB showing the solid rocket boosters that will lift the Artemis 2 mission into space. The Artemis missions seek to return astronauts to the moon. Image via Greg Diesel Walck.An exclusive peek inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building| EarthSky
Firefly Aerospace plans to launch its Blue Ghost lunar lander in mid-January on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission will take 10 NASA science payloads to the moon. Image via Firefly Aerospace.Blue Ghost to launch to the moon| EarthSky
RIP booster ? pic.twitter.com/jmlt1VoKb8| EarthSky
EarthSky was there yesterday (Wednesday, July 24, 2024), when the Artemis 2 core rocket stage was unloaded at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It had been transported by barge from New Orleans over the previous week. The rocket core was moved to NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be integrated into the Space Launch System for the Artemis 2 moon mission. This mission – the 1st crewed mission for Artemis – will launch no earlier than September 2025.| EarthSky
Falcon 9 returns to flight and delivers 23 @Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit pic.twitter.com/lLUk0ADIwY| EarthSky
Tenacity, the 1st Dream Chaser spaceplane by Sierra Space, undergoes processing inside the Space Systems Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, May 20, 2024. The cargo spaceplane arrived inside a climate-controlled transportation container from the agency’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio. The inaugural launch of Dream Chaser will be an uncrewed resupply mission to the International Space Station. The date is not yet set. Image via NASA/ Kim S...| EarthSky
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft – which had been docked at the International Space Station all summer, after leaving 2 astronauts stranded there – returned uncrewed to Earth last night. NASA reported its landing at 10:01 p.m. MDT on September 6 (4:01 UTC on September 7), at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Meanwhile, the astronauts are still at the ISS … waiting to come home. Image via NASA.| EarthSky
The X-37B spaceplane mission 7 launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, designated USSF-52, on Thursday night, December 28, 2023. Greg Diesel-Walck captured this image at the launch site and said: “The dew tonight was insane”.The U.S. Space Force’s robot spaceplane – the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle – lifted off on its seventh mission Thursday night, December 28, 2023, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It rode to its highest orbit yet aboard a powerful SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket,...| EarthSky
