SNC: Dream Chaser flight a success despite gear failure

SNC’s Dream Chaser engineering test article (ETA) moments before landing at Edwards Air Force Base on October 26. The image is a still from a video released by the company on October 29; the video cuts off before the actual landing but the missing left main gear is evident in the video. (credit: SNC)

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Chris Hadfield: suborbital space tourism “not much of a space flight”

Chris Hadfield on the ISS in early 2013. In an interview, he wonders if some Virgin Galactic customers know about the limited spaceflight experience they’ll get. (credit: NASA)

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who gained fame earlier this year for his social media outreach while serving on the International Space Station, is doing some interviews […]

Dream Chaser suffers landing gear failure on first free flight

Dream Chaser performs a captive carry flight above Edwards AFB in California on Thursday, suspended under a helicopter. (credit: NASA/Carla Thomas)

The engineering test article of Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser commercial crew vehicle made its first free flight on Saturday at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Saturday, but suffered the failure […]

World View to offer high-altitude passenger balloon flights, regulated as a launch vehicle

Illustration of World View’s balloon in the upper atmosphere, with a capsule carrying up to eight people suspended under a parafoil. (credit: World View Enterprises)

A new company featuring some familiar faces is planning to develop a high altitude balloon system that will carry passengers to the edge of space on multi-hour flights, but […]

Next SpaceShipTwo powered test flight coming “very soon”

SpaceShipTwo flies on its second powered test flight on September 5. (credit: MarsScientific.com and Clay Center Observatory)

The next powered test flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle is coming up “very soon,” a top company executive said at a conference Thursday, as some observers continue to speculate about the reasons for the extended […]

SpaceX wrapping up Falcon 9 second stage investigation as it moves on from Grasshopper

An image released by SpaceX of the Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage after reentry on its maiden flight, just three meters above the ocean. The stage was intact at the time, but broke up upon impact with the water. (credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX is expected to complete its investigation into why the second stage engine […]

Teasing a few clues out of Bezos and Blue Origin

Blue Origin’s PM2 suborbital experimental vehicle, shown here on a flight before being lost during a test flight in August 2011. (Credit: Blue Origin)

Blue Origin has developed a reputation over the years as a notoriously secretive company, only grudgingly releasing information about the company and its plans. While other companies hold high-profile events […]

Grasshopper flies again, sets new altitude record

SpaceX released Saturday video from the latest flight of its Grasshopper reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology demonstrator. The flight took place on Monday, October 7, from the company’s test site near McGregor, Texas. The vehicle flew to a peak altitude of 744 meters, the highest flight yet for the vehicle, before returning to a […]

What happened with the Falcon 9’s second stage?

While the inaugural launch of the Falcon 9 v1.1 on Sunday appeared to be successful, placing the CASSIOPE satellite and several secondary payloads into low Earth orbit, there has been some chatter over the last two days about what happened to the rocket’s second stage after it released its payloads, including speculation—now refuted by the […]

Miley Cyrus claims she wants to fly on Virgin Galactic

Pop star Miley Cyrus has become famous—or infamous—for a number of things, including her performance at the MTV VMAs a few weeks ago. But in an interview in Rolling Stone magazine, she reveals something else: an interest in going in space. “I’ve always dreamed of going into space. I’m going to go at some point,” […]