HOUSTON (NASA PR) — Three Expedition 66 Flight Engineers are returning to Earth in less than two days as four private astronauts prepare for their mission to the International Space Station. The crew activities haven’t stopped the ongoing space research as the orbital residents studied biology, botany, and physics on Monday.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is nearing the end of his mission as he prepares to return to Earth on Wednesday after a NASA-record breaking 355 days in space. Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov will lead Vande Hei and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov inside the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship when they undock from the Rassvet module at 3:21 a.m. EDT on Wednesday. The trio will parachute to a landing just over four hours later.

The Tianzhou-2 cargo ship departed the Tianhe core module of China’s space station on Sunday after 10 months in space, the Xinhua news agency reported. Controllers plan to send the vehicle to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere at an unspecified time. Tianzhou-2 was launched with 6.6 metric tons of supplies and fuel from Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on May 29, 2021. The vehicle was the first cargo ship sent […]

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — A pair of news conferences on Thursday, March 31, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will highlight the agency’s upcoming SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station. The mission will be NASA’s latest crew rotation flight involving a U.S. commercial spacecraft carrying astronauts.

The agency will hold a mission overview news conference at 10:30 a.m. EDT and a crew news conference at noon. Both news conferences will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) have selected two astronauts to launch on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, for the mission. Two mission specialists will be announced later, following review by NASA and its international partners.

Video Caption: Offering rare inside access to NASA and SpaceX, this is the thrilling story of the nearly 20 year journey to send American astronauts back to space aboard U.S. rockets, from Oscar-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Free Solo, The Rescue).

Axiom Space Mission Update Axiom Space and SpaceX are now targeting no earlier than Sunday, April 3 – pending range availability – for launch of the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida After 10 days in orbit, including eight days living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory, the Ax-1 crew will splash down off the coast […]

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA experts will join a virtual news conference hosted by Axiom Space to preview the launch of Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The briefing will take place at 11 a.m. EST Monday, Feb. 28.

The virtual press conference will be available on Axiom Space’s YouTube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/axiomspace

European leaders kicked off the process of developing an independent human spaceflight capability at a space summit chaired by French President Emmaneul Macron on Wednesday.

Officials representing the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union (EU) directed ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher to initiate detailed discussions on how to initiate the program.

For months everyone has wondered who it was who gave up his seat aboard the Inspiration4 commercial space mission to Chris Sembroski. Now we know. The New York Post reports: Kyle Hippchen, 43, said he’s still struggling with the disappointment of learning that he could not claim his seat on the space flight last September since he weighs 330 pounds, above the 250-pound weight limit for the voyage. “It hurts too […]

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

A new chairman has taken over the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at a crucial time as the space agency continues to struggles with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the challenge of becoming only the fourth nation capable of launching astronauts into orbit.