SpaceShipTwo glide flight a prelude to powered test flights

SS2 landing on 2014 Aug 28

SpaceShipTwo approaches the runway at Mojave Air and Space Port in California after its most recent test flight on August 28, 2014. (credit: Jason DiVenere/Scaled Composites)

Virgin Galactic flew SpaceShipTwo on Thursday, sending the suborbital vehicle on a glide flight above the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The purpose of the flight, […]

SpaceX postpones next Falcon 9 to review vehicle data

A Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 5, carrying the AsiaSat 8 satellite. Another Falcon 9 launch of an AsiaSat satellite, planned for after midnight on Wednesday, has been postponed by one to two weeks. (credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX has postponed a Falcon 9 launch of an AsiaSat communications […]

Falcon 9 test vehicle destroyed in accident

F9R-Dev failure

A frame from a video aired by a local TV station showing the destruction of SpaceX’s F9R test vehicle after it suffered an in-flight anomaly on August 22, 2014. (credit: KWTX-TV)

An experimental version of a Falcon 9 first stage used to test technologies for future reusable versions of that launch vehicle was destroyed […]

NASA promotes commercial crew advances, but remains quiet on CCtCap award timing

CST-100 approaches ISS

Boeing’s CST-100 commercial crew spacecraft approaches the International Space Station in this illustration. (credit: Boeing)

Today was rumored to be one of the days that NASA would announce the winner or winners of contracts for the next phase of the agency’s commercial crew program, called Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap). Barring an unlikely last-second […]

Northrop Grumman (finally) reveals its XS-1 design

Northrop XS-1

An illustration of Northrop Grumman’s XS-1 concept. (credit: Northrop Grumman)

More than a month after DARPA formally announced the winners of Phase 1 contracts for its Experimental Spaceplane 1 (XS-1) program, the last of the three companies that received those contracts unveiled the design of the concept.

In a press release Tuesday, Northrop Grumman […]

Uwingu offers you a chance to beam your message to Mars

Uwingu, the company that has previously given people the opportunity to name extrasolar planets and Martian craters, is now starting a new project. The company announced yesterday its “Beam Me To Mars” campaign, where people can pay to have a message transmitted from Earth to Mars on November 28, the 50th anniversary of the launch […]

Report claims SpaceX raising more outside funding (updated)

Dragon V2 and Musk

Update 8/20 7am: SpaceX late yesterday denied the TechCrunch report that it’s raising $200 million at a valuation of up to $10 billion. “SpaceX is not currently raising any funding, nor has any external valuation of that magnitude or higher been done,” SpaceX spokesperson John Taylor told Re/code, offering a similar denial to Bloomberg News.

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Branson suggests SpaceShipTwo powered flight tests to resume in next few weeks

SS2 3rd powered flight

SpaceShipTwo fires its hybrid rocket engine during its third powered test flight on January 10, 2014. The next powered test flight, using a new hybrid rocket motor, may take place within weeks. (credit: Virgin Galactic)

It’s been more than seven months since SpaceShipTwo last flew under rocket power, a hiatus linked in large part […]

XCOR breaks down a wall in its path to Midland

XCOR hangar at Midland

A 2012 photo of the hangar at Midland International Airport being renovated for XCOR. That renovation, first announced in July 2012, officially gets underway today. (credit: XCOR Aerospace)

XCOR Aerospace moved a step closer to moving its headquarters from Mojave, California, to Midland, Texas, on Friday with a ceremony marking the beginning of renovations […]

Report: commercial crew decision coming this month

Dragon V2 and Musk

Elon Musk stands in front of the Dragon V2 spacecraft unveiled at SpaceX on May 29. SpaceX is one of three leading contenders for the next phase of NASA’s Commercial Crew program. (credit: J. Foust)

The long-awaited decision on which company or companies will win contracts from NASA for the next phase of the […]