On a colossal win announced Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted Virgin Galactic the license it needs to fly commercial passengers to space. The company cleared the final two FAA milestones, testing the spacecraft’s flight control and inertial navigation systems, with its test spaceflight last month. The...
SpaceX is building its first floating spaceport platform and plans to start hosting launches as early as next year. Dubbed Deimos, the ocean spaceport is one of two converted oil rigs that SpaceX purchased in 2020 with the aim to transform them into launch pads and landing sites for its...
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced Monday on Instagram that he will be flying to space on the first crewed flight of New Shepard, the rocket ship built by his space travel company Blue Origin. Joining him on the July 20th flight will be his brother, Mark, and two others, one...
After months of delay, Virgin Galactic successfully completed its rocket-powered test flight, bringing the company a step closer in its mission to launch commercial spaceflight and space tourism. Virgin’s VSS Unity reached an altitude of over 44,000 before safely returning its two pilots Kelly Latimer and Michael Masucci,...
Relativity Space is working on a fully reusable 3D-printed rocket called Terran R that is expected to match the capabilities of SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The rocket is slated to be capable of lifting nearly 20 times as much payload as the company’s Terran 1 rocket, which is priced...
The California-based space company Rocket Lab has announced a new reusable rocket called Neutron that can compete with SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. Standing at double the height (40 meters/131ft) of their Electron rocket, Neutron will be able to carry 8,000 kilograms to orbit. Only the rocket's first stage...
