Space Shuttle

It was set to be the world's first flight test for an aerospike rocket engine, but the MIRA I prototype crashed on takeoff before the most innovative part of its propulsion system could fire. Undeterred, Polaris is building two bigger prototypes.

2023 turned out to be a busy year in space and the general vicinity. New Atlas looks back at everything from rocket launches and cosmic tsunamis to asteroid samples and the latest astronaut fashions.

The Alexeyev/Sukhoi Albatros launch system, proposed in 1974, would have launched a Soviet space shuttle on the back of a carrier spaceplane, launched off the back of a hydrofoiling barge. It never happened, but here's what it would've looked like.

Engineers have mated the fourth and final Space Shuttle-era engine to the core stage of NASA’s first Space Launch System Moon rocket. NASA hopes to use the super heavy launch vehicle to return astronauts to the Moon before striking out for Mars.

America's most experienced astronaut has passed away at the age of 87. In a statement, acting NASA said that Captain John Young (US Navy, retired) died on January 5 due to complications from pneumonia. He was the only astronaut to command three different kinds of spacecraft.

April 24 will mark a significant milestone in the life of one of mankind's greatest scientific instruments – the 25-year anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. Join us as we celebrate the history and achievements of the telescope that inspired a generation.

At the NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, engineers are crushing an enormous can by subjecting it to almost one million pounds of force, as part of a project to design the fuel tanks for the Space Launch System (SLS).

The Space Shuttle Enterprise, recently moved to a permanent home in New York City, appears to have been damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

The Dream Chaser space plane is going to undergo full-scale drop tests in 2012.

The space shuttle Atlantis touched down today in the final space shuttle mission marking the end of an era - we take a look back at the program.

The Endeavour space shuttle is currently on its final mission, and the second-last mission of the entire shuttle program.

Space Shuttle Discovery's final mission into space