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James Webb Space Telescope’s 1st view of the cosmos has scientists thrilled for more

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The James Webb Space Telescope’s main mirror is fully aligned and performing even better than it had been designed to do, NASA officials revealed in a news conference held virtually on Wednesday (March 16). The 21.3-foot-wide (6.5 meters) mirror composed of 18 hexagonal segments had to travel to space folded. Aligning it into one smooth … Read more

Astra aces return-to-flight mission, deploys satellites for 1st time

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Astra bounced back from last month’s launch failure with a groundbreaking success, deploying satellites in Earth orbit for the first time ever. The California company’s two-stage Launch Vehicle 0009 (LV0009) lifted off from the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Alaska’s Kodiak Island today (March 15) at 12:22 p.m. EDT (1622 GMT; 8:22 a.m. local time on … Read more

Relive some top SpaceX highlights from its 1st 20 years (video)

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SpaceX celebrated its 20th anniversary Monday (March 14) with a short video showcasing Starman, Starship and company innovations in orbit and beyond. “Today we celebrate the founding of SpaceX and 20 years of accomplishments by this incredible team — here’s to creating a future that we can all get excited about,” the California-based company tweeted … Read more

International Women’s Day 2022: China’s 1st woman on space station sends message from orbit

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The first woman on China’s space station beamed a message to Earth Tuesday (March 8) to celebrate International Women’s Day from orbit. “Dear fellow women, hello, I’m Chinese astronaut Wang Yaping. I’m currently carrying out a six-month mission in the China space station,” Wang said in the video message from aboard the orbiting Tiangong space … Read more

NASA’s 1st Artemis moon landing will likely slip another year to 2026

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NASA’s first crewed landing of the Artemis program will see boots on the moon no earlier now than 2026, the agency’s inspector general said.  NASA Inspector General Paul Martin delivered the news to lawmakers during a House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday (March 1) as part of a larger update on the Artemis … Read more

Rocket Lab launches Earth-observation satellite in 1st mission from new pad

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Pad B’s debut mission went off without a hitch. Rocket Lab lofted a private Earth-observation satellite today (Feb. 28) from the newly finished second pad at its Launch Complex 1, on New Zealand’s North Island.  An Electron rocket topped with Strix-β, which will be operated by the Japanese company Synspective, lifted off from Pad B … Read more

Ax-1, 1st all-private crewed flight to ISS, aims to blaze trail for future missions

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Axiom Space aims to set a standard for future crews with its pioneering mission to the International Space Station (ISS) next month. Axiom’s Ax-1, the first all-private crewed mission to the orbiting lab, is scheduled to launch on March 30 and last for 10 days. Ax-1’s four spaceflyers — three paying customers and Axiom’s Michael López-Alegría, … Read more

NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission, 1st flight of new megarocket, won’t launch until May

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NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission may end up being a summertime affair. An April launch is no longer possible for Artemis 1, which will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon using a huge Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, agency officials said today (Feb. 24). And May could be difficult to hit as well. … Read more

1st sighting of ‘ball lightning’ in England uncovered

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This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Giles Gasper, Professor in High Medieval History, Durham University Brian Tanner, Emeritus Professor of Physics at Durham University, Durham University On June 7, 1195, a fiery spinning ball emerged from a dark cloud in an erstwhile sunny sky … Read more