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Spaceplanes related aviation news

Sierra Space enters agreement with Yuri to launch ScienceTaxi to Space

Sierra Space and Yuri announced a new agreement to further medical research in microgravity for the benefit of life on Earth. The arrangement includes plans to launch Yuri’s ScienceTaxi on board Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane beginning in 2024, on a mission to the International Space Station, where the incubator will be used for a variety of life sciences experiments....

Virgin Galactic successfully completes first fully crewed spaceflight

VSS Unity successfully reached space, completing the Company’s fourth rocket-powered spaceflight. The flight was the 22nd test flight of VSS Unity and the first test flight with a full crew in the cabin, including the Company’s founder, Sir Richard Branson. The crew fulfilled a number of test objectives related to the cabin and customer experience, including evaluating t...

SpaceShipTwo Cabin Interior revealed by Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic revealed the cabin interior of its first SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity. Aspiring astronauts and space enthusiasts around the world, now have the opportunity to explore the Virgin Galactic cabin design and spaceflight experience through an augmented reality enabled mobile app, which launches after the live event, and is available to download for free at both the App Stor...

The start of a new era for the human spaceflight industry

Virgin Galactic and Social Capital Hedosophia, a public investment vehicle, announced the completion of their previously announced business combination. The resulting company is named Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. and its common stock, units and warrants are expected to commence trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol “SPCE”, ”SPCE.U” a...

Russia’s first private cosmodrome may be built in Nizhni Novgorod Region

There are plans for building Russia’s first-ever private cosmodrome in the Nizhni Novgorod Region. A preliminary agreement on the issue was signed by the regional administration and the company CosmoCourse, a source close to the regional authorities told TASS on Wednesday. "The Nizhni Novgorod Region has signed a preliminary agreement for cooperation in creating a cosmodrome. Several...

Virgin Galactic’s Historic First Spaceflight

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, landed from her maiden spaceflight to cheers from Richard Branson and the teams from Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company. History has been made . Not only is this the first human spaceflight to be launched from American soil since the final Space Shuttle mission in 2011, but the very first time that a crewed vehicle built for comm...

Marks 30 years since the launch of the Buran spacecraft

30 years ago at November 15, 1988 was made his triumphant unmanned flight Soviet reusable space shuttle - Buran spacecraft. He twice flew around the Earth and made the first ever automatic landing of a winged spacecraft on the landing complex of the Baikonur cosmodrome. The launch of Buran occurred at 03:00:02 UTC on 15 November 1988 from Baikonur Cosmodrome launch...

Helicopter aviation safety initiatives demonstrate progress in Mexico and India

In 2017, Airbus' helicopter division safety expert, Erick Perez, led a number of safety initiatives in Latin America, all in an effort to improve helicopter flight safety in the region. Meeting with employees from the manufacturer’s customer centres, and at operators’ and authorities’ offices in Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador and...

Lockheed Martin to Build Full-Scale Prototype of NASA Cislunar Habitat

Refurbishing a shuttle-era cargo container used to transfer cargo to the International Space Station, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is prototyping a deep space habitat for NASA at Kennedy Space Center. This prototype will integrate evolving technologies to keep astronauts safe while onboard and operate the spacecraft autonomously when unoccupied. Under a public-private partnership, NASA ...

BepiColombo - a four in one satellite to uncover Mercury´s mysteries

In a 6.4-metre stack, the spacecraft is undergoing final testing in flight configuration  Mercury remains the most mysterious planet of our inner Solar System. BepiColombo, Europe's first mission to Mercury, will set off in October 2018 on a journey to the smallest and least explored rocky planet in our Solar System. The European Space Agency (ESA), the Japanese Aerospace Exploratio...

SolarStratos to represent Swiss innovation at Expo 2017 in Kazakhstan

The SolarStratos stratospheric solar plane will be one of the main attractions at the Expo 2017 Swiss Pavillion, which opens its doors on Saturday 10 June in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The theme of this first international exhibition in Central Asia is “the energy of the future”. “We are very proud to be a part of Expo 2017 with the support of Présence ...

Boeing, DARPA to Design, Build, Test New Experimental Spaceplane

Boeing and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are collaborating to design, build and test a technology demonstration vehicle for the Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program. Boeing will develop an autonomous, reusable spaceplane capable of carrying and deploying a small expendable upper stage to launch small (3,000 pound/1,361 kg) satellites into low Earth orbit. Boe...