space history

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

Historic Splashdowns, Lunar Leaps & Billion-Dollar Space Deals (Aug 8–9, 2025)

NASA’s Crew-10 astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskov completed a 146-day mission with a splashdown off the California coast at 11:33 a.m. ET on Aug. 9, 2025, the first crewed West Coast splashdown under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. China completed the first full-scale test of the Lanyue (“Embrace the Moon”) crewed lunar lander in Hebei on Aug. 6, 2025, validating its ascent and descent engines ahead of a 2030 lunar mission. ULA’s Vulcan rocket is slated for its first national-security launch with mission USSF-106 as early as Aug. 12, 2025, marking Vulcan’s inaugural national-security and Post-Certification

9 August 2025

History · Moon Missions · NASDAQ:AMZN · Space · Space Deals · Space Exploration · Splashdowns

Zombie Satellite! Defunct NASA Orbiter Emits Blazing Radio Burst After 60 Years

Relay-2 launched January 21, 1964 from Cape Canaveral as part of NASA’s Relay program to relay television and telemetry signals and study the Van Allen belts. Relay-2 operated 1964–1967, with the first transponder failing on November 20, 1966 and the second on June 9, 1967, after which it was retired. After deactivation, Relay-2 drifted in a medium Earth orbit of roughly 1,870 by 7,600 km. On June 13, 2024, ASKAP detected a radio burst lasting less than 30 nanoseconds, peaking at roughly 300,000–350,000 Jy, spanning 695–1,032 MHz. The event was traced to Relay-2 in near-Earth space using ASKAP’s near-field timing,

21 June 2025

NASA · Radio Signals · Satellites · Science News · Space History

Satellite Definition: Ultimate Guide from Sputnik to SpaceX and Beyond

Sputnik 1, launched on October 4, 1957, was the world’s first artificial satellite. Sputnik 2, launched in 1957, carried Laika the dog into orbit, the first living creature in space. Explorer 1, launched January 31, 1958, discovered Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts, proving satellites could do serious science. TIROS-1, launched in 1960, was the first weather satellite, demonstrating that orbiting cameras could observe cloud patterns and improve forecasting. Telstar 1, launched in July 1962, became the first active communications satellite and relayed the first live television signals across the Atlantic. Geostationary orbit at about 35,786 km above the equator allows

20 June 2025

Satellites · Space Exploration · Space History · SpaceX · Technology