Latest Private spaceflight Stories

One of the U.S. companies looking to establish a private-sector space transportation system is considering building a personal airfield in southern Texas, according to an FAA document posted on Tuesday. According to Adi Robertson of The Verge, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) is said to be eyeing locations in Cameron County, located at the southern tip of the state, for the future home of a facility which could support as many as a dozen commercial launches each year....

CENTENNIAL, Colo., April 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- United Launch Alliance (ULA) today announced the formation of a new organization that will focus exclusively on NASA's human spaceflight programs. ULA's Human Launch Services organization will be dedicated to supporting NASA and its partners in the development of capabilities to deliver U.S. astronauts to Low Earth Orbit and human exploration beyond Earth orbit. "NASA is making tremendous progress towards closing the U.S. human...

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Tuesday that space tourism will be a $1 billion industry in 10 years. With the retirement of the space shuttle program, the burden to sending astronauts to low-orbit has been placed on the commercial industry for NASA by the Obama administration. Now that these new spacecrafts are under development, a new industry for space tourism is also underway. Commercial space flights by companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic may...

NASA, governments around the world and civil society organizations will co-host the International Space Apps Challenge on April 21-22 with events across seven continents and in space. The apps competition will bring people together to exploit openly available data collected by space agencies around the world to create innovative solutions to longstanding global challenges. An initiative of the U.S. Open Government National Action Plan, the challenge will showcase the impact scientists and...

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA, governments around the world and civil society organizations will co-host the International Space Apps Challenge on April 21-22 with events across seven continents and in space. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The apps competition will bring people together to exploit openly available data collected by space agencies around the world to create innovative solutions to longstanding global...

Virgin Galactic, an arm of Richard Branson’s British conglomerate Virgin Group, is planning to test fly its first spacecraft beyond the Earth’s atmosphere this year, with commercial passenger service to follow within two years, company officials reported Monday. The commercial space venture is also looking to form a partnership with Abu Dhabi as the emirate builds itself a global aerospace hub. Virgin Galactic, 37.8 percent-owned by the Abu Dhabi government’s Aabar Investments...

MOJAVE, Calif. and PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- XCOR Aerospace announced today that it recently closed a $5 million round of equity funding. The round, combined with cash on hand plus anticipated and existing contracts, should fund the company through production of its Lynx Mark I Suborbital vehicle. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120227/LA60426) The financing included participation of new and previous investors. Among them are Esther Dyson,...

MOJAVE, Calif., and PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- At the Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) 2012 in Palo Alto, California, XCOR Aerospace announced that EMXYS of Spain, Texas A&M's Space Engineering Research Center, and the Planetary Science Institute have joined XCOR's payload processing sales channel for the Lynx suborbital vehicle. The new members of the XCOR team will provide services to the research, scientific, educational,...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA is seeking proposals for small technology payloads that could fly on future NASA-sponsored suborbital flights. These future flights will travel to the edge of space and back, testing the innovative new technologies before they're sent to work in the harsh environment of space. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "NASA's Game Changing Development Program focuses on maturing advanced space...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA is seeking technology demonstration proposals for green propellant alternatives to the highly toxic fuel hydrazine. As NASA works with American companies to open a new era of access to space, the agency seeks innovative and transformative fuels that are less harmful to our environment. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Hydrazine is an efficient and ubiquitous propellant that can be stored for...