After the plethora of orders in April, May’s orders seemed paltry. Nevertheless, there were a few to note: The biggest order for a single mission was a €340 million (US$369 million) one to Airbus DS for the Vigil solar storm warning spacecraft. It is to operate...
An unknown object, suspected of being an inspection subsatellite, was released from a Chinese robotic spaceplane on 24 May at about 1900 GMT. The CSSHQ 1 (Flight 3) reusable mini-shuttle has been in a low Earth orbit (LEO) since its launch in mid-December from the...
A Chollima-1 rocket failed to reach orbit after the vehicle suffered an explosion just two minutes into its flight. The North Korean rocket, carrying the Malligyong-1 F4 reconnaissance satellite, was launched from the Sohae site at Tongchang-Ri, North Korea, at 1344...
On the ISS, NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin boarded Crew Dragon – NASA Crew 8 (Endeavour) on 2 May. They undocked from the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module (IDA-2) on the...
On a recent suborbital Blue Origin flight, six more people gained the credentials to call themselves astronauts (or, more accurately, space travellers). However, the moment was of especial importance for one passenger, who had waited 63 years to reach space. Ed Dwight...
The Chang’e 6 mission is under way. Its goal is to be the first to bring back a sample from the far side of the Moon. It uses backup hardware originally designed for the near side version of this mission, Chang’e 5, which flew in November 2020. Ahead of the mission, a...
