Today: 20 November 2025
Subscribe
Browse Category

Spacecraft News 24 August 2025 - 25 September 2025

Space Showdown: 48 Hours of Epic Launches, Cosmic Breakthroughs, and a New Moonship Name

Space Showdown: 48 Hours of Epic Launches, Cosmic Breakthroughs, and a New Moonship Name

Major Launches Light Up Late September Solar sentinel liftoff: The week’s biggest blast-off came early on Sept. 24, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared off Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center carrying a trio of spacecraft devoted to space weather research nasa.gov. In a single launch at 7:30 a.m. EDT, NASA and NOAA deployed the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On L1 (SWFO-L1) satellite toward the Sun-Earth Lagrange point nasa.gov nasaspaceflight.com. This “fleet” will probe how the Sun’s charged particles and solar wind affect Earth and the broader solar system. “This
25 September 2025
 ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  · 
Northrop’s New “Chonker” Spacecraft Debuts – Cygnus XL Takes on SpaceX & Boeing

Northrop’s New “Chonker” Spacecraft Debuts – Cygnus XL Takes on SpaceX & Boeing

Design and Capabilities of Northrop’s Cygnus XL Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL is an enlarged version of the company’s proven Cygnus cargo spacecraft, engineered to carry significantly more supplies to orbit. Design-wise, the Cygnus XL consists of two main parts: a cylindrical pressurized cargo module (PCM) where goods are stored, and a service module with propulsion, power, and avionics. The XL variant’s pressurized module has been stretched by 5.2 feet (1.6 m) compared to earlier models cbsnews.com. This extension boosts the internal volume by about one-third, allowing Cygnus XL to accommodate bulkier and heavier cargo loads than before. Northrop reports the new craft
16 September 2025
 ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  · 
From Space Shuttle to SpaceX Dragon: How a Reusable Capsule Became the ISS’s Lifeline

From Space Shuttle to SpaceX Dragon: How a Reusable Capsule Became the ISS’s Lifeline

In 2011, NASA retired the Space Shuttle, leaving the ISS without its primary American supply line. May 2012 marked SpaceX’s Dragon as the first commercial spacecraft to rendezvous and berth with the ISS, delivering about 1,200 pounds of cargo and later returning roughly 1,300 pounds. October 2012’s CRS-1 mission launched the first official NASA Commercial Resupply Services delivery, providing around 400 kg of supplies to the station. On June 28, 2015, a Falcon 9 rocket failure destroyed the CRS-7 mission and its Dragon cargo. June 3, 2017, the CRS-11 mission demonstrated the first reuse of a Dragon capsule, signaling major
24 August 2025
 ·  ·  ·  ·  · 
Go toTop