Spaceflight

History was made today when Axiom Mission 1, the first private crewed mission to the International Space Station, lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 11:17 am EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

On May 5, 1961, about 45 million US television viewers watched as a single-stage Redstone rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral. Mercury Redstone 3 carried Alan Shepard on a 15-minute flight to become America's first man in space.

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.

A review team has concluded its investigation of NASA and Boeing’s failed Starliner launch last year. Some 80 recommendations for future missions were put forward across several categories. Both organizations also conducted internal investigations.

Blue Origin's New Shepard booster completed its 12th successful test flight on December 11, marking the first time a booster has made six consecutive missions. At 11:53 am CDT, the single-stage rocket lifted off for a 10 min 16 sec flight.

A recent NASA-funded study has found dormant viruses can reactivate in the human body during spaceflight, presenting yet another physiological problem for scientists to solve before we journey out into deep space.

​How the space environment impacts the human body is the source of much intrigue for scientists at NASA and beyond. A fascinating new study has sought to provide answers, uncovering some thought-provoking changes in the brains of astronauts before and after missions into space.

When it comes to space travel, and space in genera​l, 2018 has been a busy year. It was one marked by remarkable technological firsts, dramatic incidents, and new milestones set. Oh, and space champagne. So, let's look back on the highlights of the year in space, 2018.

For over a century people have floated the idea of a space elevator – which is exactly what it sounds like – but the logistics of that just aren’t possible yet. Now Japan has launched a pair of satellites to test out some technologies that might help make a space elevator a reality in future.

Several experiments have shown that the EMDrive can generate thrust from basically nothing – in apparent violation of Newton’s Laws of Motion. Unfortunately, a German team has now built and tested their own EMDrive, and found that environmental factors may have been responsible for false positives.

A big challenge humanity faces in venturing off Earth and into deep space is how to tackle the dangers of cosmic radiation.​ A team has now discovered a drug treatment that could not only prevent cognitive deficits caused by this radiation, but actually repair damage in the brain after exposure.

​On this day 60 years ago, America became the second country to send a human-made object into low-Earth orbit, with the successful launch of its first satellite – Explorer 1.