Focus: Human Spaceflight

Spanish launch startup PLD Space announced plans for a large reusable launch vehicle and a crew capsule on Monday.  Last October, PLD Space launched its suborbital Miura 1 rocket for...

The Polaris Dawn mission, in which a crew of four civilians will attempt the first civilian spacewalk, will also test out Starlink laser communications aboard the Dragon spacecraft.   SpaceX launched...

Shortly after SpaceX completed its first test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday, the company’s CEO Elon Musk outlined potential next steps for the launch vehicle in a series...

Blue Origin flew a crew of astronauts to the edge of space on May 19, returning the New Shepard rocket to crewed flight after a gap of almost two years....

Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched the new Texas Space Commission this week to improve the state’s position in the national space industry. Abbott also announced inaugural members of the commission’s...

Virgin Galactic has completed its first spaceflight this year and its 11th overall. Interestingly, the latest flight was the first flight that all four seats aboard VSS Unity were occupied...

Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson’s space tourism company, returned to flight on Thursday with a successful crewed mission to the edge of space. The mission — Unity 25 — was staffed...

Blue Origin will now land astronauts on the surface of the Moon, as the Jeff Bezos-owned company won the second NASA human landing system award on Friday. It is a...

Airbus Defence and Space is joining Voyager Space’s work to build the Starlab commercial space station. A Wednesday announcement from Airbus and Voyager was light on details but said that...

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket is currently en-route to Virginia, and the launcher plans to hold its first mission from Wallops Island by the end of the year. Rocket Lab...