artemis

With its metaphorical feet held over the allegorical fire by NASA, SpaceX has released a new, simplified plan to build a lander to put US astronauts back on the Moon now that the competition for the spacecraft has been reopened due to delays.

In one of the strangest partnerships we've come across, Axiom Space and Prada (yes, that Prada) have teamed up to produce the space suits NASA astronauts will wear when they return to the Moon as part of the space agency's Artemis program.

NASA has selected three companies to develop extreme off-road vehicles that astronauts will drive on the Moon during Artemis missions starting in 2030, awarding US$4.6 billion in contracts to Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab.

Tackling one of the unsung but absolutely necessary tasks of Moon exploration, NASA and SpaceX are doing intensive testing of the docking mechanism that will be used to transfer astronauts from Artemis to the Starship Human Landing System.

NASA's next Moon landing may have been put back a year, but that hasn't stopped Axiom from showing off the practical version of its Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU). Better known as a space suit, it will protect next-gen Moonwalkers.

Last year, we heard how NASA had awarded a service contract to Axiom Space for the design and production of the agency's Artemis III spacesuit. NASA and Axiom have now unveiled a prototype of the outfit.

NASA took its first step today in establishing its Gateway orbital lunar outpost with the launch of its CAPSTONE CubeSat that will be used to test a new lunar orbit slated for the future space station.

Artemis Technologies has launched what is claimed to be the world's first commercially viable all-electric foiling workboat, which cuts through the water at up to 34 knots and offers a per-charge cruising range of up to 60 nautical miles.

NASA has awarded service contracts worth up to US$3.5 billion through 2034 to Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to provide new space suits to the agency and private firms, for use on the International Space Station (ISS) and on the Moon.

NASA has awarded SpaceX a contract to develop the lunar lander for the Artemis program that will ferry humans to and from the surface of the Moon in 2024. SpaceX’s Starship prototype beat out competing companies Blue Origin and Dynetics for the job.

NASA has announced that it will be using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to launch the first elements of its future Moon-orbiting space station. The initial outpost modules are currently expected to launch no earlier than May 2024.

Space exploration in 2021 will see some major milestones to look forward to. From maiden flights to fiery endings, long-awaited launches to history-making first steps, here are some of the biggest upcoming events in space exploration this year.