PARIS (ESA PR) — For the first time in 11 years, ESA is looking for new astronauts. These recruits will work alongside ESA’s existing astronauts as Europe enters a new era of space exploration.

Media representatives are invited to a virtual press event on Tuesday, 16 February, to learn more about the vacancies that are intended to initiate a real generational change for ESA.

SPARKS, Nev. February 8, 2021 (SNC PR) – Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the global aerospace and national security company owned by Eren and Fatih Ozmen, is a step closer to landing the world’s first commercial spaceplane on U.S. soil. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) awarded the re-entry site license to Cape Canaveral Spaceport Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) in Florida at request of the state’s aerospace economic development agency, making it the first commercially licensed re-entry site. Dream Chaser, America’s Spaceplane^®, will service the International Space Station (ISS) under a NASA contract in 2022; the vehicle will return from the ISS to a runway landing for the first time since NASA’s space shuttle program ended in 2011.

GRANTOWN-ON-SPEY (Shetland Space Centre PR) — The creation of a space launch facility in Unst will result in hundreds of new jobs and significantly boost the local economy.

Major planning proposals have now been submitted to Shetland Islands Council on behalf of Shetland Space Centre by town planning consultants Farningham Planning Ltd.

New program to develop designs and materials for building large structures on orbit and moon

ARLINGTON, Va. (DARPA PR) — As commercial space companies increase the cadence of successful rocket launches, access to space is becoming more routine for both government and commercial interests. But even with regular launches, modern rockets impose mass and volume limits on the payloads they deliver to orbit. This size constraint hinders developing and deploying large-scale, dynamic space systems that can adapt to changes in their environment or mission.

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: 1. NO PROGRAM TODAY. February 09 Tuesday 2. 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM EST): No program today due to medical needs. February 10 Wednesday 3. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded. See upcoming show menu on the home page for program details. February 11 Thursday 4. No program today. February 12 Friday 5.: 9:30-11 AM PST; 11:30 AM- 1 […]

GRANTOWN-ON-SHEY, Scotland (Shetland Space Centre PR) — Shetland Space Centre secured a further boost today with a German rocket maker announcing its intention to launch from Unst. 

Video Caption: After nearly 300 million miles (470 million km), NASA’s Perseverance rover completes its journey to Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. But, to reach the surface of the Red Planet, it has to survive the harrowing final phase known as Entry, Descent, and Landing. Learn more: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020

Email from Inspiration4 I wanted to share that over $1 million was raised for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the 90 minutes after the Inspiration4 commercial aired during the first quarter of the Super Bowl. The commercial, narrated by Octavia Spencer and directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, pointed viewers to www.Inspiration4.com where they could donate to St. Jude and qualify for a chance to go to space on the first all-civilian space flight […]

Lockheed Martin has selected California-based ABL Space Systems to launch the RS1 rocket from a new spaceport on the island of Unst in northern Scotland.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — For over 50 years, NASA’s Human Research Program (HRP) has studied what happens to the human body in space. Researchers are using what they learn to design procedures, devices, and strategies to keep astronauts safe and healthy throughout their missions.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — The Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR) underwent thermal testing on Jan. 26 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The tests are preparation for a scheduled suborbital flight test later this year facilitated by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program. The testing ensures that the thermal environment of the payload won’t create additional hazards during flight and that OSCAR can successfully operate within the temperature range […]

NASA’s TechEdSat series of technology demonstrations aims to bring small payloads back to Earth or to the surface of Mars – while pushing the state of the art in a variety of CubeSat technologies and experiments.

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. (NASA PR) — TechEdSat is a series of collaborative projects and missions that pairs college and university students with NASA researchers to evaluate new technologies for use in small satellites, or CubeSats. Students do the hands-on work – designing, building, and testing CubeSat spacecraft systems and analyzing the results – for each flight mission, under mentorship of engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.