Category: Commercial Space

NASA’s Push Toward Commercial Space Communications Gains Momentum 

NASA’s commercial partners are actively demonstrating next-generation satellite relay capabilities for spaceflight missions, marking a significant step toward retiring the agency’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system and adopting commercial services. The demonstrations – ranging from real-time spacecraft tracking during launch to transmitting mission commands and scientific data – are part of NASA’s Communications […]

NASA Ignites New Golden Age of Exploration, Innovation in 2025

With a second Trump Administration at the helm in 2025, NASA marked significant progress toward the Artemis II test flight early next year, which is the first crewed mission around the Moon in more than 50 years, as well as built upon its momentum toward a human return to the lunar surface in preparation to […]

NASA Seeks Industry Input on Next Phase of Commercial Space Stations

NASA is requesting feedback from American companies on the next phase of its commercial space stations strategy to ensure a seamless transition of activities in low Earth orbit from the International Space Station. The agency released a draft Phase 2 Announcement for Partnership Proposals (AFPP) Friday, asking for feedback from industry partners by 1 p.m. […]

NASA Seeks Volunteers to Track Artemis II Mission

NASA seeks volunteers to passively track the Artemis II Orion spacecraft as the crewed mission travels to the Moon and back to Earth. The Artemis II test flight, a launch of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA […]

Human Rating and NASA-STD-3001

Human-rating is a critical certification process that validates the safety, reliability, and suitability of space systems—including orbiters, launch vehicles, rovers, spacesuits, habitats, and other crewed elements—for human use and interaction. This process ensures that systems are designed not only to protect human life but also to accommodate human needs and effectively integrate human capabilities. Human-rating requires […]

U.S. Transportation Secretary & Acting NASA Administrator Sean P. Duffy Joins President Trump Executive Order Signing to Boost U.S. Space Competitiveness

U.S. Transportation Secretary and acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy joined President Donald J. Trump at the White House Wednesday for the historic signing of the Executive Order (EO), “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry.” “People think the Department of Transportation (DOT) is just planes, trains, and automobiles – but we have a critical role […]

NASA Selects Six Companies to Provide Orbital Transfer Vehicle Studies

NASA has selected six companies to produce studies focused on lower-cost ways to launch and deliver spacecraft of various sizes and forms to multiple, difficult-to-reach orbits. The firm-fixed-price awards comprise nine studies with a maximum total value of approximately $1.4 million. The awardees are: “With the increasing maturity of commercial space delivery capabilities, we’re asking […]

NASA Sees Key Progress on Starlab Commercial Space Station

As NASA continues its transition toward a commercial low Earth orbit marketplace, an agency-supported commercial space station, Starlab, recently completed five development and design milestones. Starlab’s planned design consists of a service module and a habitat that will be launched to orbit on a single flight. The milestones, part of a NASA Space Act Agreement […]

NASA to Provide Coverage of Axiom Mission 4 Departure from Station

NASA will provide live coverage of the undocking and departure of the Axiom Mission 4 private astronaut mission from the International Space Station. The four-member astronaut crew is scheduled to undock from the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at approximately 7:05 a.m. EDT Monday, July 14, pending weather, […]

NASA, SpaceX Invite Media to Watch Crew-11 Launch to Space Station

Media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA’s 11th rotational mission of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft carrying astronauts to the International Space Station for a science expedition. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission is targeted to launch in the late July/early August timeframe from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space […]