NASA

The long-awaited crewed debut of Boeing’s Starliner caps off a 13-year effort to certify multiple commercial providers of low-Earth-orbit astronaut transport.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

NASA’s inspector general has identified a range of technical issues of concern that arose during the uncrewed 2022 Artemis I mission.

Joby said it will launch into flight testing with production prototypes of its S4 air taxi.

The three NASA Crew-8 astronauts and their Russian cosmonaut colleague undocked their SpaceX Dragon capsule from the ISS and redocked on May 2.

NASA on May 1 selected nine companies for a dozen concept studies aimed at expanding the exploration of Mars.

Launch is planned for 10:34 p.m. EDT on May 6 atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral.

Earlier this year, NASA announced a rescheduling of the Artemis II and Artemis III missions.

The work will culminate with flights of a De Havilland Dash 7 regional airliner modified with a hybrid-electric propulsion system in 2026.

SpaceX's resupply mission to the ISS, CRS-30, returned early April 30 with a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.

The specially configured X-59 has been designed to collect community response data on the public acceptability of reduced sonic booms.

John Bailey, a 25-year veteran of NASA Stennis Space Center operations, has been named director of the Bay St. Louis, Mississippi-based rocket engine test facility.

The Dragon resupply mission undocking on April 28 from the ISS Harmony module's zenith docking port should enable a relocation of the Crew 8 Dragon capsule.

The 10-min. laser transmission while the Psyche spacecraft was 140 million mi. (226 million km) from Earth, occurred on April 8.

NASA and Boeing on April 25 completed the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) for the long-awaited CST-100 Starliner crewed flight test (CFT).

A reusable hypersonic Next-Generation Responsive Strike prototype could be commissioned by the end of the decade.

Each linkage features special adhesive similar to the feet of a gecko that allows the arms to grip objects.

The NASA Voyager 1’s mission engineers report continued progress toward restoring the transmission of scientific data to Earth from a distant human-made object.

The approx. $120 million NASA Earth science campaign aims to bring airborne scientific insight to environmental concerns and is set to unfold over 2026 to 2029.

Axiom and Collins are working on new spacesuits for the agency’s lunar and LEO programs.

The second of two Blue Origin BE-4 engines has arrived at United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Decatur, Alabama, factory for installation on a Vulcan rocket.

Ingenuity received a software update that will prompt it to activate daily, awaken flight computers, test its solar panel, batteries and electronics, and more.

What began as an operational ballistic missile evolved into one of the most successful and storied space launch vehicles.

The agency seeks cheaper options for retrieving samples collected by the Perseverance rover.

The plan is part of a 51-page MSR Independent Response Team (MIRT) report released by NASA on April 15.