A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket lifted off from the company's Texas launch site at 10:11 am CDT on July 19. On its ninth test flight, engineers studied how the launch system operates on the edge of its design envelope.
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UK Space Agency has announced that Melness on the north coast of Scotland has been chosen for the country's first vertical launch spaceport with an initial grant of £2.5 million (US$3.3 million) to develop the site, which will be used to launch small satellites into orbit.
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DARPA's Phantom Express experimental spaceplane took a step closer to flight as Aerojet Rocketdyne announced that the AR-22 booster rocket engine successfully completed 10 test firings in 240 hours at NASA's Stennis Space Center.
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ESA is gearing up to test on one of the largest solid rocket motors ever built this week. At the space agency's Spaceport in French Guiana, the first complete P120C rocket motor will be mounted on a static test stand where 600 sensors will monitor the motor during its 135-second burn.
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Firing rockets from beneath the wings of an airborne 747 isn't the most conventional way to get satellites into space, but Virgin spinoff company Virgin Orbit has been awarded a license for its maiden attempt to do just that, with hopes of beginning commercial services before the year is out.
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It's one of the most recognizable machines of the 20th century, but the building of the Saturn V is a story of brilliant technical innovation tinged with engineering conservatism, politics, in-fighting, and having to work on a project that no one had more than a hazy conception.
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The first test engine that will power DARPA's next generation spaceplane has completed assembly. The updated AR-22 rocket engine for the Phantom Express project was completed by Aerojet Rocketdyne for use in ground tests to demonstrate its performance capabilities and fast turnaround design.
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A team of engineers has built and test-fired a new style of "autophage" rocket engine that eats its own structure from the bottom up during flight. They believe it could lead to cheaper, more efficient and less wasteful small satellite launches.
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Photographing rocket launches involves some pretty fine margins – too far away and you’ll miss out on some spectacular snaps, too close and you might just get burned. NASA photographer Bill Ingalls has experienced this firsthand during the launch of a SpaceX rocket on Tuesday.
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The US-based private space firm Rocket Lab and its wholly owned New Zealand-based subsidiary have announced plans to go ahead with its first fully commercial mission, with the launch window to open later this month.
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