HELSINKI — China launched its first Yaogan-42 satellite late Tuesday, adding to the country’s growing military satellite reconnaissance capabilities.

COLORADO SPRINGS — In a historic sendoff, United Launch Alliance on April 9 launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite on the final flight of the Delta 4 Heavy rocket.

TAMPA, Fla. — Viasat is considering investing in spacecraft with other Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) operators as the promise of direct-to-smartphone technology drives unprecedented cooperation among historically isolated networks.

TAMPA, Fla. — The benefits of buying space companies to pursue vertical integration are becoming less apparent in the current economic climate. 

Being an astronaut is a tremendous commitment. Astronaut candidates — who tend to be selected in their 30s and 40s — usually leave prestigious careers for a chance at being an astronaut, starting again at the bottom of the rung. Training means long days at work and lots of travel. There’s also no guarantee they’ll make it into space.

We wouldn’t be where we are today without the leaders of the past — so, to build our future, perhaps we should celebrate the innovators of our present. 

Astronomers are hunting for planets in the process of forming around infant stars using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The powerful space telescope quickly delivered the goods, albeit in an unexpected way.

WASHINGTON — A Soyuz spacecraft is en route to the International Space Station, two days after a rare last-minute launch scrub.

WASHINGTON — Japanese lunar lander developer has raised $53.5 million in a stock sale to help fund development of upcoming missions.

SAN FRANCISCO – Planet announced a $20 million agreement to provide hyperspectral data for Carbon Mapper’s greenhouse gas monitoring campaign.

TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX launched Eutelsat’s latest geostationary satellite March 30 on a trip due to take around half a year to a geostationary orbit slot over Africa and Eurasia. 

Without question, the unexpected end of Chandra would be heartbreaking for astronomers, and for astronomy. Scientists who use the Earth-orbiting spacecraft as their north star to elucidate the structures of black holes will face layoffs, and there is currently no other observatory capable of achieving the kind of X-ray resolutions Chandra has been obtaining since it reached its cozy spot around our planet in 1999. It is these resolutions, in fact, that have allowed those black hole scientists to study not just the voids themselves, but also many cosmic wanderers with the misfortune of treading too close.

On Feb. 22, Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus spacecraft, affectionately known as Odie, touched down near the lunar south pole, becoming the first commercial vehicle ever to ace a moon landing.

The capsule from Varda Space Industries’ W-1 mission landed in northern Utah February 21, bringing down to Earth crystals of an antiviral drug that were grown in orbit.

WASHINGTON — NASA and Boeing say they are working towards the first crewed flight of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in early May, a final milestone before the vehicle is cleared for regular flights to the International Space Station.

HELSINKI — China’s Queqiao-2 communications relay satellite entered lunar orbit March 24, paving the way for a lunar far side sample return mission.