Tag Archives: Nasa

On August 29th, NASA made a significant decision to bring its astronauts back to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft rather than Boeing's Starliner. However, things haven't gone as planned. Starliner will now return to Earth uncrewed on September 6th, marking a substantial commercial and reputational setback for Boeing. Should a catastrophic failure occur during re-entry or landing, it could spell the end of Boeing's Starliner program altogether.

At the initiative of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), representatives from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) and the newly created Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) met in Busan, South Korea, on 15 July 2024 to explore coordinating their planning and approach for missions to the asteroid (99942) Apophis. 

The Iceland Space Agency (ISA), together with the Science Park, and the University of Iceland is hosting representatives of the world’s major space agencies from September 2nd to the 6th in Reykjavík, to work together to explore Mars further. Around 50 representatives are expected from 15 space agencies, which form part of the International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG). 

Boeing’s Starliner mission has been plagued with problems, and now NASA is turning to SpaceX to save the day. After another helium leak and months of delays, two NASA astronauts will have to hitch a ride back home on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. How bad does it look when your competition has to rescue the crew? Is this the end of Boeing’s space ambitions?

Astrobotic has published its Peregrine Mission 1 post-mission report, detailing the mission's journey and its propellant leak which prevented the mission from achieving its primary objective of landing on the moon. After the mission, Astrobotic assembled external experts for an incident investigation team and review board to analyze the mission. The board was chaired by Dr. John Horack, Professor and Neil Armstrong Chair, Ohio State University. 

The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded further SpaceX launches after a Falcon 9 booster anomaly on Wednesday, 28th of August. The booster was part of a Falcon 9 mission to place Starlink satellites in orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. However, after the stage separation, the booster, intending to land on an uncrewed drone ship, suffered an anomaly and ended up tipping into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Axiom Space has partnered with Nokia to integrate advanced 4G/LTE communication capabilities into the next-generation spacesuits for the Artemis III lunar mission. Together, Nokia and Axiom Space will incorporate high-speed cellular-network capabilities in the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), supporting HD video, telemetry data, and voice transmission over multiple kilometers on the Moon

NASA has announced that it will return Boeing’s Starliner to Earth without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the spacecraft. The uncrewed return allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight home, while also not accepting more risk than necessary for its crew. 

The European Space Agency (ESA)’s third European Service Module (ESM-3), for NASA’s Artemis III mission, has departed from the Airbus facility in Bremen, Germany, and will soon leave Europe on its way to the United States. This marks a critical milestone in Europe's continued contribution to humankind’s return to the Moon. 

NASA has awarded a total of $1.25 million to three U.S. teams in the third and final round of its Deep Space Food Challenge. The teams delivered novel food production technologies that could provide long-duration human space exploration missions with safe, nutritious, and tasty food. The competitors’ technologies address NASA’s need for sustainable food systems for long-duration habitation in space, including future Artemis missions and eventual journeys to Mars. Advanced food systems also could benefit life on Earth and inspire food production in parts of the world that are prone to natural disasters, food insecurity, and extreme environments.