commercial space
Artificial gravity space station startup Vast announced that it intends to put the first commercial space station in orbit in August 2025 via launch partner SpaceX — which will also…
While the bulk of commercial space launch activity is happening just south of its border, Canada is tired of watching from the sidelines and wants in on the action: The…
Rocket Lab will embark on its 25th mission using the Electron rocket on Friday, this time to send two Earth-imaging spacecraft to orbit for BlackSky. The launch, the second of…
Blue Origin is gearing up for its first crewed launch of the year, and fourth crewed launch overall, as the company seeks to expand its budding space tourism business. This…
Blue Origin has announced its next roster for a flight of New Shepard to suborbital space, and it includes Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson, as well as angel investor Marty…
If you want to go to space and you have $450,000, you can get a ticket starting tomorrow. Virgin Galactic is selling reservations for a spot on its suborbital spaceplane,…
Shift4 founder and Inspiration4 leader Jared Isaacman has unveiled a Polaris Program initiative that will include “up to” three crewed SpaceX flights, including the first commercial spacewalk.
Astra launched its first rocket from Florida’s “Space Coast” today, with a liftoff from Space Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It was the startup’s second attempt…
Your friendly neighborhood Max Q welcomes you to the week of February 7! This past week saw some strong signs that the big boom in commercial space for the foreseeable…
A film studio and sports arena could be connected to the International Space Station by December 2024. A company co-producing a Tom Cruise movie shot in space is behind the…
Astra is set to expand its launch footprint, after exclusively flying its first few rockets from Kodiak, Alaska. The startup will fly a mission from Cape Canaveral in Florida for…
Update: After a few holds, Blue Origin successfully launched the New Shepard rocket at around 10:30 AM ET / 7:30 AM PT, with a landing of the first stage at…
Virgin Orbit is set to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisitions company (SPAC), the company has confirmed. The deal values the combined enterprise at $3.2 billion,…
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Virgin Galactic president Mike Moses on what’s next for the company’s growing fleet
This last weekend featured the much-ballyhooed launch of Virgin Galactic’s first (nonpaying) passengers, with founder and CEO Richard Branson along for the ride. After the festivities, I had the chance to talk with the company’s president, Mike Moses, who seems to be familiar with every detail of the operation and…
It’s hard to understand just how steeply the cost of launching and operating satellites has dropped, particularly since the introduction of lower cost launch services…
Firefly Aerospace has raised a total of $175 million, across a $75 million Series A round that valued the company north of $1 billion, and a $100 million secondary transaction…
Blue Origin will run an ‘astronaut rehearsal’ during a launch this week to prep for human spaceflight
Blue Origin is making progress toward its goal of flying human astronauts aboard its spacecraft, with a plan to run an “astronaut rehearsal” during a launch it has planned for…
The FAA has published its updated rules for commercial space launches and reentries, streamlining and modernizing the large and complicated set of regulations. With rockets launching in greater numbers and…
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Take a first look inside Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft for private astronauts
As part of its continued preparations to begin its commercial passenger spaceflight operations, Virgin Galactic has revealed the final design of the interior cabin of its VSS Unity spacecraft. The company unveiled the interiors during a virtual event today, and offered members of the press (myself included) a special tour…
SpaceX wants to land Starship on the Moon before 2022, then do cargo runs for 2024 human landing
Speaking at a quick series of interviews with commercial space companies at this year’s annual International Astronautical Congress, SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell shed a little more light on…
Rocket Lab has added another successful commercial launch to its track record: The rocket startup’s “As The Crow Flies” mission took off today from its LC-1 launch site in New…
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine was at SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, Calif. on Thursday, delivering an address alongside NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who will launch aboard SpaceX’s commercial…
Rocket Lab has received a new five-year Launch Operator License from the Federal Aviation Administration, which grants it permission to do multiple launches of its Electron rocket from its LC-1…
The fourth test flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo took its test pilots to the very edge of space this morning, reaching just over 52 miles of altitude and a maximum…
Stratolaunch, the commercial space firm founded by Paul Allen back in 2011, has revealed a bit more of its plan for taking payloads to orbit via one of the world’s…
NASA has announced a set of public-private partnerships with several U.S. space companies, totaling an impressive $44 million. Blue Origin, Astrobotic Technology, United Launch Alliance and more are the recipients of…
The aspiring asteroid miners at Planetary Resources have struck pay dirt in Luxembourg, the tiny (but wealthy) European country positioning itself as an ally to commercial space. The country is…
Exoplanets are the talk of the solar system this year, but as exciting as they are, their existence (as is often the case in astronomy) is more inference than direct…
