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Today9
SpaceX’s new Starship pad readies for first launch
Over the last two years, SpaceX has been constructing a completely redesigned launch pad for… The post SpaceX’s new Starship pad readies for first launch appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
NASA Outlines Preliminary Artemis III Mission Plans
NASA is moving quickly to define next year’s Artemis III mission in Earth orbit, a crewed flight that will test rendezvous and docking capabilities between the agency’s Orion spacecraft and commercial landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX. Since a February announcement adding an Artemis mission ahead of crewed landing missions to the Moon’s South Pole region, […]
Studying Pneumonia in Space for Heart Health on Earth
Expedition 74 astronauts aboard the International Space Station are uncovering how bacteria that causes pneumonia can lead to long-term damage in the heart. Researchers are leveraging the space environment to observe how stem cell derived heart tissues respond to bacterial infections, to discover new methods to manage cardiovascular health and infectious diseases. In space, bacteria […]
NASA’s Planet-Hunting TESS Reveals Dazzling Night Sky
NASA’s TESS has released its most complete view of the starry sky to date
Varda signs deal with major US pharma firm to develop drugs in space
"I do think it's a really good historical moment for the space industry."
The young minds space-proofing ESA’s missions
Assembling a spacecraft is a complicated process, and one that requires materials that are far from ordinary. To ensure the success of the European Space Agency’s missions, researchers in the Materials, Environments and Contamination Control Section investigate and test materials to ensure they will survive the harsh environment of space. The section is supported by many young researchers, who bring fresh and innovative ideas.
Waterworn chaos on Mars
This month, ESA’s Mars Express takes us to Shalbatana Vallis: a fascinating martian valley surrounded by signs of water, lava, craters and chaos.
America’s Emerald Isle
Beaver Island is one in a string of verdant and scenic jewels in a northern Lake Michigan archipelago.
CBO Estimates Golden Dome at $1.2 Trillion, Space-Based Interceptors Biggest Cost
The Congressional Budget Office issued an updated estimate today of the cost of President Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system. Lacking detailed data from the Administration, CBO based its analysis […]
Yesterday12
SpaceX targets May 19 for debut of Starship Version 3, Launch Pad 2
The mission will test a host of changes made to both the launch vehicle and the launch infrastructure as SpaceX prepares to support the Artemis 3 mission in 2027.
SpaceX CRS-34 resupply mission to ISS delayed 24 hours
Just over two weeks after Progress MS-34 docked to the Station, the ISS is set… The post SpaceX CRS-34 resupply mission to ISS delayed 24 hours appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
NASA Langley Engineer Attends FAA Training
At a busy airport, every aircraft in the area shares just a handful of radio frequencies. Spectrum and time are constrained and if multiple people speak at once, both messages can get lost. Communications like “clearance delivery,” which require long transmissions and readbacks, are challenging in high-traffic areas, particularly when weather or other factors require […]
Perseverance Stuns in New Selfie
NASA’s Perseverance rover recently took a self-portrait against a sweeping backdrop of ancient Martian terrain at a location the science team calls “Lac de Charmes.” Assembled from 61 individual images, the selfie shows Perseverance training its mast on a rocky outcrop in the foreground after creating a circular abrasion patch, with the western rim of […]
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Snaps Selfie in Mars’ Western Frontier
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover recently took a self-portrait against a sweeping backdrop of ancient Martian terrain at a location the science team calls “Lac de Charmes.” Assembled from 61 individual images, the selfie shows Perseverance training its mast on a rocky outcrop on which it had just made a circular abrasion patch, with the western […]
Hello Universe: NASA’s Next-Gen Space Processor Undergoes Testing
NASA’s High Performance Spaceflight Computing project aims to dramatically improve the computing power of spacecraft. Missions need processors that can withstand the harsh space environment, so they use chips developed years ago that are hardy and reliable. But upgraded chips are needed to enable the development of autonomous spacecraft, accelerate the rate of scientific discovery […]
I Am Artemis: Kathleen Harmon
Listen to this audio excerpt from Kathleen Harmon, the Artemis II Mission Interface Manager for NASA’s Deep Space Network: Captivated by Apollo launches on her television as a child, Kathleen Harmon now plays a key role in NASA’s Artemis program. Harmon serves as the Artemis II mission interface manager for NASA’s Deep Space Network, an […]
Live coverage: NASA, SpaceX to launch 34th Cargo Dragon mission to the space station
SpaceX’s 34th mission as part of the Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract with NASA will deliver 6,500 pounds of science and supplies to the International Space Station. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 7:16 p.m. EDT (2316 UTC).
Smile's journey from launch to orbit
Our next space science mission is about to begin its space adventure.
Australia’s Cloudy Beauty
Valley fog gathered in the Victorian Alps while an arch-shaped cloud drifted across Port Phillip Bay.
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4886-4892: Ingenuity and Perseverance, Curiosity Style
Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator Earth planning date: Friday, May 8, 2026 While we know the monikers Ingenuity and Perseverance are attached to our sister helicopter and rover on the Mars 2020 mission, those characteristics were in full force with Curiosity over the past week. The science we achieved this week was […]
NASA’s Curiosity Takes Close Look at Rock That Got Stuck on Drill
Description NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this view of a rock nicknamed “Atacama” on May 6, 2026, the 4,877th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The rock had gotten stuck to the drill on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm on April 25. Engineers spent several days […]
Mon, May 119
May 2026 Satellite Puzzler
Your challenge is to tell us the location of the satellite image and why it is interesting.
Launch Preview: SpaceX and Chinese missions fill busy launch manifest
The week of May 11 brings nine launches across the United States and China, spanning… The post Launch Preview: SpaceX and Chinese missions fill busy launch manifest appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
Nicholas Houghton: Engineering Crew Safety for NASA’s Artemis Missions
Nicholas Houghton always dreamed of working at NASA and one day becoming an astronaut. Today, he helps design systems that keep crews safe during missions aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, including the successful Artemis II mission around the Moon. After joining NASA as a Pathways intern, Houghton later became a full-time engineer on the Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) […]
Live coverage: SpaceX to launch intelligence-gathering satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office
The NROL-72 mission will be the 13th to date supporting what the NRO calls its “proliferated architecture” satellite constellation. Liftoff of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 7:13:50 p.m. PDT (10:13:50 p.m. EDT / 0213:50 UTC).
NASA Invites Media to Annual Lunabotics Robotics Competition
NASA will hold its 2026 Lunabotics Challenge Tuesday, May 19, to Thursday, May 21, at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Links to view the Lunabotics competition live can be found on the agency’s Lunabotics page. The competition is slated to run between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day. Media are invited to attend the […]
Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines Documents Released
The Optical Guidelines document provides standardized, transparent, and repeatable process for assessing the quality of optical data from commercial Earth Observation missions.
Hubble Survey Sets Up Roman’s Future Look Near Milky Way’s Center
The Milky Way’s galactic bulge, the bulbous region that surrounds the galactic center, contains a dense collection of stars, planets, and other free-floating objects. This region has been studied for decades with numerous ground-based and space-based telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. Soon, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be the […]
NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir
NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir sits for a portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Sept. 23, 2025. This photo was chosen as one of the 2025 NASA Photographer of the Year finalists. Meir launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station in February 2026 with fellow NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, […]
Sun, May 101
Fri, May 815
Rescue mission for NASA’s $500 million space telescope passes key testing milestone
Katalyst Space Technologies’ Link spacecraft is set to head to orbit in June 2026 onboard Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL air-launched rocket. NASA awarded Katalyst a $30 million contract for the mission in September 2025.
NASA’s SpaceX 34th Commercial Resupply Mission Overview
NASA and SpaceX are targeting a mid-May launch to deliver scientific investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. Loaded with about 6,500 pounds of supplies, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will lift off aboard the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Following its arrival to the orbital complex, Dragon will dock autonomously to the forward port of […]
Booster 19 completes Static Fire as Ship 39 prepares for rollout
Following Booster 19’s successful full-duration, full-thrust 33-engine static fire on May 7, 2026, its partner… The post Booster 19 completes Static Fire as Ship 39 prepares for rollout appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
Brian Hughes Returns to NASA in Charge of Kennedy and Wallops Launch Operations
Brian Hughes, who headed the Florida arm of President Trump’s 2024 campaign and served as NASA Chief of Staff for several months last year, is returning to the agency to […]
NASA’s Psyche Mission Captures Mars During Gravity Assist Approach
Description This colorized image of Mars was captured by NASA’s Psyche mission on May 3, 2026, about 3 million miles (4.8 million kilometers) from the planet. The spacecraft is approaching the planet for a gravity assist on May 15 that will give it a boost in speed and adjust its trajectory toward asteroid Psyche for […]
I Am Artemis: Anton Kiriwas
Listen to this audio excerpt from Anton Kiriwas, senior technical integration manager for NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program: When Anton Kiriwas first spotted an image of the Moon and Mars hanging over a job fair booth while in college, it captured his imagination, yet felt like a dream too distant to chase. He had no […]
NASA, Industry Advance High Performance Spaceflight Computing
For decades, NASA has advanced on-board spacecraft computer processors that coordinate and execute the functions needed to support mission success. Space computing originated in the 1960s with the Apollo Guidance Computers, which were pivotal for guidance, navigation, and control computations during NASA’s first Moon missions. For decades, radiation-hardened processors have been the backbone of the […]
Glowing Views from the Space Station
NASA astronaut Chris Williams captured the Milky Way rising above Earth’s atmospheric glow on April 13, 2026, while aboard a SpaceX Dragon docked to the International Space Station. This atmospheric glow is also called airglow. It occurs when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, excited by sunlight, emit light to shed their excess energy. […]
NASA Names Brian Hughes to Launch Operations Role
NASA announced Friday that Brian Hughes will return to the agency as senior director of launch operations, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In this role, Hughes will provide enterprise-level leadership, strategic direction, and operational oversight for NASA’s launch infrastructure. Reporting to NASA Headquarters in Washington, Hughes will have direct responsibility for […]
NASA Fuel Cell Tests Pave Way for Energy Storage on Moon
With a small blue crane, four researchers hoist a cylindrical fuel cell, which looks like a stack of flattened silver and gold soda cans bundled together, into the air and lower it into a rectangular cart on wheels. A tangle of tubes and wires spiral away from the system, where nearly 270 sensors and 1,000 […]
The US military just released a bunch of UAP files, but there's no there there
Here at Ars Technica, we do not preclude the possibility that aliens have visited Earth.
Thu, May 717
Meet the Fleet: NASA Armstrong Continues Legacy of Flight Research
NASA’s home for experimental flight is welcoming more flyers to its already high-performing fleet as it continues to support science and aeronautics test missions – continuing the legacy of pioneers like Neil Armstrong. NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, added multiple aircraft this year: two F-15s supersonic jets, a Pilatus PC-12 utility plane, […]
Rocket Lab announces five-launch Neutron deal as it continues aiming for late 2026 debut
The company pivoted to a Neutron rocket launch debut no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2026 following a first stage tank test failure earlier this year. The first flight of Neutron won’t be reusable, but aims to recover the first stage during its second flight with a landing barge.
China prepares cargo, crew, and deep space missions, as commercial sector steps towards reusability
China is preparing to launch both cargo and crew missions to its Tiangong space station,… The post China prepares cargo, crew, and deep space missions, as commercial sector steps towards reusability appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
NASA Welcomes Paraguay as 67th Artemis Accords Signatory
The Republic of Paraguay signed the Artemis Accords on Thursday during a ceremony in Asunción, becoming the latest nation to commit to the shared principles guiding civil space exploration. “Today, I am proud to welcome Paraguay as the 67th signatory to the Artemis Accords,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “They join an ever-growing coalition of […]
NASA Sends Mars Helicopter Blades Beyond Mach 1
Description Engineer Fernando Mier-Hicks inspects a test stand used to investigate the performance of next-generation Mars helicopter rotor blades at high speeds inside the 25-Foot Space Simulator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in November 2025. Data from the tests indicate that the rotors could surpass the sound barrier without breaking apart. The […]
NASA’s Next-Gen Mars Helicopter Rotors Are Moving Fast
Description Engineer Jaakko Karras inspects a next-generation Mars helicopter rotor blade prior to supersonic speed testing in the 25-Foot Space Simulator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in November 2025. The three-bladed rotor hanging horizontally in the foreground is the next-gen rotor being tested. The vertically aligned two-bladed rotor provided a “headwind,” enabling […]
NASA Pushes Next-Gen Mars Helicopter Rotor Blades Past Mach 1
The rotor blades that will carry NASA’s next-generation helicopters to new Martian heights broke the sound barrier during March tests at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Data from the tests, which took place in a special chamber that can simulate environmental conditions on the Red Planet, indicate that the fastest traveling part of […]
Industry Moon Lander Training Cabin Lands at NASA for Artemis
A full-scale mock-up of a crew cabin for a future industry lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis program now is operational for training and testing. The agency and its industry partners will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 crew cabin for mission simulations as the agency prepares to dock with landers in Earth orbit in […]
A Light in the Dark
A thin sliver of Earth’s edge is brightly illuminated against the vast darkness of space in this April 3, 2026, image taken during the Artemis II mission. Artemis II was the first crewed flight in a series of missions to test NASA’s human deep space capabilities, paving the way for future lunar surface missions. See […]
NASA-Supported Small Spacecraft Launches to Study Solar Particles
Through NASA, a university-designed small spacecraft is paving the way to studying particles, known as neutrinos, that move through the universe at near-light speeds. The Solar Neutrino Astro-Particle PhYsics CubeSat, known as SNAPPY, launched at 12 a.m. PDT on Sunday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space […]
NASA’s Simulated Mars Mission Marks 200 Days Inside Habitat
The four crew members of NASA’s Mars simulation recently marked 200 days into their 378-day Red Planet mission on May 7. Currently, the crew is in a simulated two‑week loss‑of‑signal period that mimics a Mars-Earth communications blackout when Mars moves behind the Sun. During this blackout, the crew works without contact with mission control, using […]
Former NASA chief takes helm of national security space firm
"The spacecraft can also be refueled, and it can refuel others."
Cornell Students Aid NASA with Drone Safety in Sky
A team of Cornell University students are turning heads within industry and the federal government with the results of their research into creating a national air transportation management system in which thousands of drones could safely operate together. NASA is sponsoring their work through the University Student Research Challenge (USRC), which provides grants to college […]
Extended Reality at ESA opens new pathways for space exploration
The European Space Agency (ESA) is using Extended Reality (XR) to support training, enhance operations, improve simulation environments, and to bring the wonders of space to the public.
A beacon of light in swirls of dust
This latest Picture of the Month from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope features Messier 77 (M77), a barred spiral galaxy famous among astronomers for its combination of relative proximity and spectacular features to study. It is located 45 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus (The Whale). This new image from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) highlights its swirling spiral arms, the dust in its disc and its piercingly bright core like never before.
Wed, May 64
Ames Science Stars of the Month May 2026
NAS Ames Science Directorate Stars of the Month: May 2026 The NASA Ames Science Directorate recognizes the outstanding contributions of (pictured left to right) Lora Jovanavić, Tammy Moore, Frances Donovan, and Jaden Ta. Their commitment to the NASA mission represents the entrepreneurial spirit, technical expertise, and collaborative disposition needed to explore this world and beyond. […]
NASA’s Dryden Aeronautical Test Range Supports Flight, Space Missions
NASA advances aeronautics and space technologies through experimental aircraft and flight research at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Behind those efforts is the Dryden Aeronautical Test Range (DATR), which provides the communications, tracking, and data services that enable safe and effective missions. For most NASA Armstrong research flights, the DATR supplies […]
NASA Wallops to Host Public Information Session May 13
To facilitate discussion and information sharing on activities at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, a public information session is being held 4–6 p.m., Wednesday, May 13, at the NASA Wallops Visitor Center. During the event, NASA will have information booths on the status on the causeway bridge construction, updates on beach replenishment, and a representative from the GLOBE program. Federal and state health experts will […]