SSI News
RFA first-stage rocket explodes on SaxaVord launch pad
A German company’s hopes of launching the UK’s first vertical rocket into orbit this year may have been extinguished, after the first stage of its rocket exploded during a hot-fire test at the SaxaVord spaceport in Shetland, UK. Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) conducted...
Starliner astronauts continue to sit in limbo on the ISS
Conversations over dinner with my in-laws usually revolve around the latest cricket game or the best new dish sampled, but last week space affairs made an unexpected appearance between courses. With wide-eyed disbelief, my husband’s father asked if we had heard about...
Launches in August 2024
Human space activity in July 2024
Spacewalks Taikonauts Ye Guangfu and Li Cong opened the hatch of the Wentian science module of the Tiangong Chinese Space Station at 0721 GMT on 3 July to begin their spacewalk. Their mission was to conduct inspections of EVA equipment and the station facilities along...
Seradata’s recommended space stories – July 2024
We are cutting through the orbital debris for you. In other words, we're keeping an eye on space news on the web so you don't have to. Here is our round-up of the most important, and interesting, space news stories of July (space orders can be found in another post):...
Mel’s Good Space – July 2024
My dad was a firefighter, just not the kind that puts out flames in buildings. Instead, he fought fires in forests, from the air. He ‘bombed’ fires with water and retardant, to save communities and wildlife. His crew used radar to track where lightning was striking,...
NASA cancels VIPER rover
NASA has cancelled its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project 14 months before the golf-cart sized rover, which has already been completed, was set to launch. The news, announced in a teleconference on 17 July, sent shockwaves around the space...
Satellite and launch orders in July 2024
There were a number of launch and spacecraft orders ranging from small to big this month. Military launch orders & bookings Both ULA and SpaceX were smiling as they both got a share of US$1.8 billion set of National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 launch...
There’s no place like an underground cave on the Moon…but apparently there is
When H G Wells imagined a species of space creatures called Selenites living under the lunar surface in his sci-fi novel The First Men in The Moon, it was still unknown if such spaces even existed. While lunar sink holes and pits have long been accepted as part of the...
SpaceX loses 20 Starlink satellites after a rare Falcon 9 upper stage leak/engine failure
A routine launch of a Falcon 9 by SpaceX turned into anything but for the industry behemoth. At 0235 GMT on 12 July a Falcon 9 v1.2FT Block 5 rocket, carrying Starlink Group 9-3, rose from its launch pad at Vandenberg, California, US. The Starlinks onboard were a set...
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