nasa

Nearly 27 years after the final Blackbird flight, NASA quietly launched a project last summer to return an SR-71A to flight.

The head of NASA recent teased a new X-plane with an image that recalled the iconic Blackbird. Now one is missing.

Nearly 27 years after the final Blackbird flight, NASA quietly launched a project last summer to return an SR-71A to flight.

A historic Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird has gone missing from NASAs Neil Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, igniting speculation about a new cutting-edge experimental aircraft initiative. Recently, NASA…

NASA has quietly removed a Lockheed SR-71A from public display.

So is SpaceX just being selfish or what?

NASA isn't saying much. The problem may be temporary.

Explore the 3D world of Asteroids, Comets and NEOs. Learn about past and future missions, tracking and predicting orbits, and close approaches to Earth.

A special Lockheed SR-71A has gone missing after being displayed in front of a NASA facility for more than 26 years. Meanwhile, the NASA administrator is dropping hints that a new X-plane is in the works that happens…

NASA's PRIMA mission will use spare parts from Webb to do major science at a lower cost.

If you come up short with who comes down the ladder first, the impact is felt around the world."

Imagine the feeling after being able to hack into the NASA center and copy all their files about an...

For two decades, largely in service to the International Space Station, NASA has sought to foster an "economy" in low-Earth orbit. Twenty years ago, with a program to develop private spacecraft for cargo delivery to the space station, NASA sought to "stimulate efforts within the private sector to develop and operate safe, reliable, and cost-effective commercial space transportation systems." In recent years this has expanded to creating an entire commercial ecosystem in orbit, with transportation, space stations, manufacturing, tourism, and more, such that NASA is one of many customers in the market. In April 2024, the space agency explicitly laid out its philosophy: "NASA supports a robust commercial space economy that advances American industry and promotes technological discovery through in-space work and research. NASA remains committed to fostering innovation and collaboration within the American space industry." Read full article Comments

NASA announced on Monday that it will exercise options to purchase two additional flights on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, as well as financially support the company in its efforts to return the crewed vehicle to flight and find a new rocket after the Atlas V vehicle retires. The space agency's announcement confirms reporting by Ars Technica earlier this month on NASA's plans to maintain access to low-Earth orbit after the impending retirement of SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle. "I do not think it's a secret that SpaceX intends to sunset older platforms like Falcon and Dragon as they concentrate on their next-generation capability, Starship," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a news conference on Monday afternoon. Read full article Comments

Recently, the astronauts on board the International Space Station performed a routine "walk-off" maneuver with the large, 58-foot-long robotic arm attached to the orbiting laboratory. The robotic arm, known as Canadarm2 because it was supplied by the Canadian Space Agency, is something of a modern engineering miracle—it can effectively move around the exterior of the large space station like an inchworm because both ends are essentially identical. However, after this particular walk-off maneuver, the robotic arm, along with the mobile transporter that guides it along the main truss of the space station, could no longer be moved. Read full article Comments

The first in a new class of space telescopes is on track to reach the launch pad in the early 2030s, NASA announced this week. The PRIMA mission will be the first of NASA's Probe Explorers, a new line of observatories intended to do more science for less money. The agency's space telescopes typically fall into lower-cost "Explorer-class" missions, with cost caps in the range of a few hundred million dollars, or flagship observatories like the recently launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which came with a price tag of some $4.3 billion. With the Probe Explorers, NASA officials seek to find a better balance between the smaller Explorer missions and multibillion-dollar flagships. NASA has studied potential Probe Explorer mission concepts for several years after an independent panel of scientists recommended the new mission category. But it wasn't clear until recently whether NASA's science budget, which is under pressure from the Trump administration , would be sufficient to actually start developing one. Read full article Comments

Last month, China delayed the launch of an ambitious robotic mission to the South Pole of the Moon, Chang’e 7, until early next year. The country did not provide a detailed explanation for the schedule slip, but it was welcomed by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. "They are targeting the exact same location on lunar South Pole," Isaacman said Wednesday evening at the Off World conference in Houston. "We may have dodged a bullet with the Chang'e 7 mission a couple of weeks ago because that would have gone to the Shackleton crater." Much of the lunar surface is pretty barren, but the South Pole, and the Shackleton Crater in particular, offers some of the most coveted real estate there. That's because the high rims of the crater create permanently shadowed regions known as “cold traps,” where it’s thought that water (in the form of ice, of course) and other useful materials may have accumulated over billions of years. Read full article Comments

In a forthcoming memoir, former US politician and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson offers a blistering assessment of China, saying the United States must do all it can to retain its leadership in space exploration. "Beijing's intended strategy is to dominate the high ground of the twenty-first century," writes Nelson in Space Odyssey , a book to be published by Harper Horizon in January 2027. A former Congressman and Senator from Florida, Nelson served as a mission specialist on a space shuttle flight in 1986 and later as NASA administrator from May 2021 to January 2025 under President Biden. The book largely focuses on his space policy work in Congress and his tenure as NASA's leader. Read full article Comments

NASA must be more selective in the way it forges international partnerships as the race to the Moon transforms from a battle for national prestige between the United States and China into a high-stakes competition for extraterrestrial real estate and resources, the agency's administrator said. Jared Isaacman, now in his 10th month at the helm of the world's largest civilian space agency, told a gathering of military leaders and defense contractors last week near Washington, DC, that the 21st century race to the Moon is more than a battle of ideologies. The sweet spot for a Moon base, Isaacman said, is a relatively small region near the lunar south pole, and there are tangible implications for who gets there first. The Moon's south pole harbors substantial quantities of water ice concentrated on the floors of craters away from the reach of sublimating rays of sunlight. The ice inside these eternally dark craters could be used to supply water, air, and rocket fuel for a Moon base, supporting a permanent settlement and providing a springboard for future expeditions to Mars. Read full article Comments