Washington, DC – May 30, 2012 (ME PR) – Moon Express, Inc., a provider of commercial and scientific missions to the Moon, announced today that it has acquired Next Giant Leap, LLC of Colorado (NGL).

The NGL acquisition by Moon Express will leverage and carry forward the substantial work done by NGL supported by its corporate partners, Sierra Nevada Corp., The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, MIT Space Systems Laboratory, Aurora Flight Services, Jolted Media Group, The Center for Space Entrepreneurship (eSpace) and the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. The announcement was made at the Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Summit taking place this week in Washington, DC.
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SpaceShipTwo glides downward on its first test flight. (Photo: Mark Greenberg)

MOJAVE, Calif. – May 30, 2012 (VG PR) — Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline, announced today that its vehicle developer, Scaled Composites (Scaled), has been granted an experimental launch permit from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its suborbital spacecraft, SpaceshipTwo, and the carrier aircraft, WhiteKnightTwo.

“This important milestone enables our team to progress to the rocket-powered phase of test flight, bringing us a major step closer to bringing our customers to space,” said George Whitesides, president and CEO of Virgin Galactic.  “We thank the FAA for their timely issuance of this permit, and for their responsible oversight of the test program.”

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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (USAF PR) – Preparations for the second landing of the X-37B, the Air Force’s unmanned, reusable space plane, are underway at Vandenberg Air Force Base. While the exact landing date and time will depend on technical and weather considerations, it is expected to occur during the early- to mid-June timeframe. Space professionals from the 30th Space Wing will monitor the de-orbit and landing of the […]

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA Television will provide extensive coverage of the departure of the SpaceX Dragon capsule from the International Space Station before its reentry and splashdown on May 31.

On Wednesday, May 30, a news briefing previewing the departure activities will be held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston at 9 a.m. CDT (10 a.m. EDT) and will be broadcast live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Participants include NASA Flight Director Holly Ridings and SpaceX Mission Manager John Couluris.
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The Space Report 2012 is now available for purchase. The premier research and analysis product of the Space Foundation covers the state of space activity and thoroughly examines the impact of the space industry on the overall economy and our daily lives. Highlights Include: Impact of budget austerity on the global space economy Global launch capabilities and performance in 2011 Demographic information for ESA and JAXA, updated NASA figures and […]

Some video of a captive carry test of Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser on Tuesday.

Sparks, NV –May 29, 2012 (SNC PR) – Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems announces that the Dream Chaser^® Space System has successfully completed four additional NASA Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) Program Milestones.

The four Milestones included: Separation System Testing, Flight Article Main Landing Gear Drop Testing, Captive Carry Interface Testing, and a Captive Carry Flight Test Readiness Review.

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SSI President Gary Hudson will appear on The Space Show with David Livingston tonight from 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT). Gary will discuss his G-Lab plan for a variable gravity research station in low Earth orbit. To listen live to The Space Show podcast, go to https://www.thespaceshow.com. The show will be archived later in the week if you can’t listen in live. —– SSI Vice President […]

The moon rising over Half Moon Bay, California on Halloween 2009. (Credit: Douglas Messier)

Alexandra Hall, Senior Director of the Google Lunar X Prize Foundation, talked about the status of the lunar rover competition during the International Space Development Conference in Washington, DC, on Sunday.

It looks like things are getting down to the wire for many of the 26 teams. With a 2015 deadline looming, a long lead time in securing a booster, and many of the teams falling significantly short on raising money, it looks like the field will be significantly smaller by the end of the year.

Highlight from her talk are after the break.

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The International Space Station Over Italy.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (May 29, 2012) – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization managing research on the International Space Station (ISS), signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the TERC to provide a $300,000 investment that will greatly improve the process for attaining on-orbit photography from the ISS, as well as use of Earth images for scientific research and education. TERC, an education non-profit, in collaboration with the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) will enhance and adapt the Windows on Earth software for use by astronauts to replace the current multi-step process for targeting, photographing and geo-referencing images.

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