NASA’s X-59 experimental aircraft has made its highest and fastest flights so far, expanding its operational range and making progress toward supersonic flight. In a pair of test flights on April 10 and April 14, the aircraft reached new altitudes and speeds, reaching 43,000 feet and 528 to 627 mph (approximately Mach 0.8 to 0.95 […]
Editor’s note: The article has been updated to reflect who developed AEPEX Several NASA science and technology payloads launched in the early morning hours on March 30 to test new thermal protection methods, improve in‑space communications, and study Earth’s atmosphere, advancing future innovation and exploration. The missions launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from […]
Editor’s Note: This post was updated April 21, 2026, to reflect mission funding by the U.S. National Science Foundation. NASA’s latest small satellite mission is now in orbit studying how natural and human-made radio waves travel from Earth’s surface into space, helping scientists better understand and predict changes in the near‑Earth space environment. The Climatology […]
On April 4, comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) plunged toward the Sun — flying about twice as far from our star as the Moon is from Earth. Comet watchers held their collective breath, waiting to see whether comet MAPS would survive its sweltering passage by the Sun. The SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft — a joint NASA and ESA […]
NASA has given approval for the agency’s Rosalind Franklin Support and Augmentation (ROSA) project to begin implementation, underscoring the agency’s continued partnership with ESA’s (European Space Agency) Rosalind Franklin mission. The mission is led by ESA and that agency is responsible for providing the spacecraft, including the carrier module, the landing platform, as well as […]
The International Space Station is orbiting higher today after the Progress 93 resupply ship, docked to the Zvezda service module, fired its engines for just over five minutes Wednesday night. The orbital reboost places the space station at the correct altitude for the upcoming Progress 95 cargo mission scheduled to resupply the Expedition 74 crew at the end of April.
Following the conclusion of NASA’s Artemis II test flight, teams at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are shifting focus to Artemis III, which is targeted to launch next year, by rolling the mobile launcher from Launch Complex 39B to NASA’s Kennedy Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in Florida in preparation for rocket stacking operations. The mobile launcher began its approximately 4-mile trek on top of the agency’s crawler-transporter 2 at 8:11 a.m. EDT Thursday, […]
New science experiments are getting underway and new research hardware is being activated aboard the International Space Station after being delivered aboard the Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft on Monday. The Expedition 74 crew spent Wednesday unpacking Cygnus XL and stowing the new gear and supplies throughout the orbital outpost.
As NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic jet takes to the air, its sleek configuration is now on display thanks to a key milestone it reached in April – flying wheels-up. The transition marks an important step in the aircraft’s testing. Experimental aircraft typically make their earliest test flights with the landing gear down, then begin retracting […]
