BREMEN, Germany — ArianeGroup has started testing what it considers to be a versatile answer to numerous challenges facing European spaceflight.

WASHINGTON — NASA expects that a Mars smallsat mission will be on the first launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch vehicle within a year, although with some risk about whether the rocket will be ready in time.

WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency announced Nov. 6 it will start a competition to develop commercial vehicles to transport cargo to and from the International Space Station by 2028, a step towards developing a crewed vehicle.

WASHINGTON — The European Union is in the final stages of completing a deal with SpaceX to launch four Galileo navigation satellites in 2024.

Even though the day when humans live and work on the moon is still in the unidentified future, NASA is actively planning for how to get us there. 

SpaceX’s 29th robotic cargo mission to the International Space Station successfully  lifted off on Thursday (Nov. 9).

The supermassive black hole of M87 —  also known as M87* —  has a mass equal to around 6.5 billion suns. It especially came to the public’s attention in 2019 when an image of M87*, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), was the first glimpse of the surrounding environment of a black hole ever obtained by humanity.

NASA’s first robotic moon rover is ready for final assembly and testing, and you can watch engineers bring the lunar explorer to life. 

CEDAR PARK, Texas — The European Space Agency has signed an agreement with Airbus and Voyager Space to study potential use of the companies’ Starlab commercial space station as a successor to the International Space Station.

Two more nations have joined the United States’ moon-exploration club.

WASHINGTON — House appropriators would fully fund NASA’s Mars Sample Return program despite its ongoing problems but halt the agency’s plans to cooperate with a European Mars mission.

WASHINGTON — A NASA official opened the door to keeping the International Space Station in operation beyond 2030 if commercial space stations are not yet ready to take over by the end of the decade.

HELSINKI — Norway inaugurated its northern Andøya spaceport Thursday as commercial launch competition on continental Europe heats up.

WASHINGTON — NASA has delayed the award of contracts to develop a lunar rover for future Artemis missions by four months, raising concerns in industry about the future of the program.

LAS VEGAS — United Launch Alliance now plans to launch its first Vulcan Centaur rocket on Christmas Eve, carrying a commercial lunar lander.

LAS VEGAS — The Japanese government is providing ispace with $80 million to help fund development of a new lunar lander in parallel with a similar effort by the company’s U.S. subsidiary.