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Triumph Group announced that its Integrated Systems business unit will provide the landing gear system for the Dream Chaser spacecraft, a reusable, lifting-body vehicle in support of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS2) program that will resupply the International Space Station (ISS). Triumph signed the contract for work with Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), and includes the...

SpaceX is preparing to launch a highly classified payload for the U.S. government this week, known only as “Zuma.” Other than it being a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, no information about the payload has been released, including which government branch procured it. Read more at Sky News 

Each year, the global space industry raises the bar on what mankind is able to accomplish beyond the confines of the Earth’s atmosphere. Amid the uprise of fully reusable rockets and record-breaking smallsat launches, we’ve curated a gallery of our favorite moments in spaceflight in 2017. First SpaceX Relanding This photo captures SpaceX’s Falcon 9...

RSC Energia announced Friday that it successfully restored its communications link with the AngoSat 1 spacecraft. Energia lost contact with the satellite shortly after its launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 26. In a press release, RSC Energia — AngoSat 1’s manufacturer — stated that its specialists received telemetric information from the satellite...

JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries successfully launched two new Earth Observation (EO) satellites in the days before Christmas: the Global Change Observation Mission–Climate (GCOM-C) spacecraft, nicknamed Shikisai, and the Super Low Altitude Test Satellite (SLATS), nicknamed Tsubame. An H-2A F37 rocket carried both satellites into orbit on Dec. 23 from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center. JAXA...

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has announced an official launch date — January 10 — for its Cartosat 2 satellite and 31 other secondary payloads. This is the first Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launch since a mission failure in August, when a heat shield fairing malfunction prevented the rocket from deploying its payload...

SpaceX’s new Falcon Heavy rocket has gone vertical for the first time on Launchpad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Now upright, the rocket will undergo testing ahead of its first demonstration flight next month. When Falcon Heavy lifts off — clocking in at 229 ft tall and 40 ft wide — it will...

India’s space industry has had a banner year, with the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) bringing its number of total successful launches to 39. For ISRO to continue to grow as a commercial operator, the next steps seem to be pivoting focus to the smallsat market, as well as involving...

SpaceX has officially reached the midway point of the Iridium Next launch campaign, lofting an additional 10 satellites for the constellation in the evening hours of Dec. 22. Illuminated against an inky dusk backdrop, the Falcon 9’s first stage separation and secondary stage ignition left a bright streak in its wake as it crossed the...

Blue Origin announced that its New Shepard vehicle flew again for the seventh time on Dec. 12. Known as Mission 7 (M7), the flight featured the company’s next-generation booster and the first flight of Crew Capsule 2.0. While Blue Origin’s primary objective was to progress testing this new system for human spaceflight, it also sent 12...