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Think of the X-37B as the Space Shuttle’s smaller, younger brother and you wouldn’t be wrong. With its bullet-like shape, stubby wings, and two tone black and white appearance, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle looks like a smaller, cuter version of the manned orbiter that served NASA for decades. That’s where the comparison ends though: property of the U.S. Air Force, the secretive, unmanned X-37B is built to spend months in orbit, carrying out classified missions on behalf of America’s military space program.

Stunning new images snapped in orbit show LightSail 2’s solar sail outstretched and ready to take on the next phase of its mission. The Planetary Society announced that the 18-foot-wide Mylar sail had successfully deployed earlier this week, following a late-June launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It’s just one five-thousandth of an inch thick, or about the width of a human hair. The milestone could pave the way for lower-cost spacecraft propulsion, allowing small craft to be driven by sunlight.

SpaceX launched and landed its Starhopper rocket in its first flight, a short test that saw the company take a giant leap forward in its development of a next-generation rocket that it hopes will take people to the moon and Mars. The rocket is the prototype for SpaceX’s vehicle called Starship. The company is building the enormous rocket to achieve its goal of transporting up to 100 people in the space flights. “Starhopper flight successful,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet. Musk posted a video SpaceX took of Thursday’s flight test from a flying drone nearby. The flight...

Seconds after the engine fired up, SpaceX stopped its first attempt to fly its prototype “Starship” rocket more than a few feet off the ground at the company’s facility in Boca Chica Beach, Texas on Wednesday. The prototype rocket did not lift off from the ground, as SpaceX engineer Kate Tice noted while hosting a surprise livestream of the test. The rocket’s engine started but the prototype did not move and an enduring flame shot skywards near the top of the rocket. SpaceX was intending to “hop” the vehicle in a short flight of about 65 feet in the air....

Tesla (TSLA) posted disappointing results on the top and bottom lines in the second quarter, even after the company reported record deliveries during the same period. Here were the main numbers from the Palo Alto, California–based company’s report: •Revenue: $6.35 billion vs. $6.44 billion expected •Adj. loss: $1.12 vs. 31 cents per share expected Shares of Tesla fell 10.17% to $237.95 each during extended trading.

On July 3, 1969, just 17 days before Neil Armstrong and Ed Aldrin walked on the lunar surface, the USSR made its second attempt to test-fire its own moon rocket, known as N1. No official announcement about the secret mission had ever been made, but in subsequent passes over the Soviet test range in Tyuratam, Kazakhstan, U.S. spy satellites glimpsed utter devastation at one of the two launch pads known to host the moon rocket. The Soviet Union didn't know it at the time, but its hopes for reaching the moon also ended on that charred launch pad in 1969.

The country's latest lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, which means "moon vehicle" in Sanskrit, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh state at 2:43 p.m., Monday local time (5:13 am ET). The launch was originally scheduled for July 15, but was abruptly called off just 56 minutes before lift-off due to a "technical snag." India is now on the way to becoming the fourth country -- in addition to United States, China and the former Soviet Union -- to make a soft-landing on the lunar surface. The Chandrayaan-2, which weighs 3.8 tons and carries 13 payloads,...

Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr.(Voice of Apollo) has just passed. Confidence is high on this. Should be breaking soon.

Pope Francis is hoping that the 50th anniversary of the first moon walk inspires efforts to help our “common home” on Earth. […] He expressed hope that the memory of “that great step for humanity” would spark the desire for progress on other fronts: “more dignity for the weak, more justice among people, more future for our common home.” …

China launched the space station in September 2016, and quickly sent up a pair of taikonauts, Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, to conduct a variety of experiments on a 30 day mission. China launched a second, uncrewed mission in April 2017 to refuel the station to test out a new spacecraft and conduct some “robotic demonstrations.” That was the last mission to the station, which was never intended as a permanent habitat in orbit. Along with the Tiangong-1, the two stations provided the Chinese space program with valuable experience in orbit. They demonstrated not only that they could launch and...

A Russian space capsule with three astronauts aboard has docked with the International Space Station after a fast-track trip to the orbiting laboratory. The Soyuz capsule docked at 22:48 GMT Saturday, just six hours and 20 minutes after blasting off from Russia’s launch complex in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch took place on the 50th anniversary of the day U.S. astronauts landed on the moon. The capsule is carrying Andrew Morgan of the United States on his first spaceflight, Russian Alexander Skvortsov on his third mission to the space station and Italian Luca Parmitano.

The Tesla and SpaceX founder announced a goal of implanting chips into human brains as early as next year to create direct human connections to computers.Elon Musk, the futurist billionaire behind SpaceX and Tesla, outlined his plans to connect humans' brains directly to computers on Tuesday night, describing a campaign to create "symbiosis with artificial intelligence." He said the first prototype could be implanted in a person by the end of next year.Arriving at that goal "will take a long time," Musk said in a presentation at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, noting that securing federal approval...

1863: At 7:45 p.m., Union soldiers led by Brig. Gen. Truman Seymore launch a second attack against Battery Wagner, in Charleston (S.C.) Harbor. Spearheading the attack is Col. Robert G. Shaw's all-black 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (portrayed in the 1989 film GLORY). Shaw's regiment reaches the fortification walls, fighting hand-to-hand until they are driven back by devastating fire. The Confederates inflict 1,500 casualties on the attackers, killing several of the top Union officers, including Shaw. During the battle, Sgt. William H. Carney (featured image) becomes the first African-American soldier awarded the Medal of Honor. 1918: When Marine Corps Sgt. Matej...

I came across an old photo while digging into the history of the Apollo 11 astronauts, which oddly enough dates back to 1916. Lt. James Lawton Collins served as an aide to Gen. John J. Pershing during the Philippine-American War and the Punitive Expedition into Mexico just before World War I. Lt. Collins would go on to serve in both World Wars, ultimately becoming a major general. Collins served in the 8th Cavalry Regiment, and this was back when troopers still rode into battle on horses. Apart from when they began carrying firearms in the 18th Century, cavalry hasn’t changed...

... Crew Dragon’s explosion was unrelated to the spacecraft’s propellant tanks, Draco maneuvering thrusters, or SuperDraco abort engines. Rather, the cause lies in a more exotic and unanticipated chemical/material interaction between a plumbing valve, liquid oxidizer, and a helium-based pressurization system. According to Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX is approximately 80% of the way through what is known as the fault tree, ….SpaceX executive was fairly confident that the results presented on July 15th would be representative of the final conclusion. The ultimate (likely) cause of Crew Dragon’s extremely energetic and destructive explosion centers around the spacecraft’s extensive SuperDraco/Draco plumbing and its...

A strange thing happened when Jeffrey Epstein came back to New York City after being branded a sex offender: His reputation appeared to rise. In 2010, the year after he got out of a Florida prison, Katie Couric and George Stephanopoulos dined at his Manhattan mansion with a British royal. The next year, Mr. Epstein was photographed at a “billionaire’s dinner” attended by tech titans like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. A page popped up on Harvard University’s website lauding his accomplishments, and superlative-filled news releases described his lofty ambitions as he dedicated $10 million to charitable causes.

The Thirty Meter Telescope is being built atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii's tallest mountain Illustration showing the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island.Thirty Meter Telescope / via AP file HONOLULU -- Construction on a giant telescope will start again next week after lengthy court battles and passionate protests from those who say building it on Hawaii's tallest mountain will desecrate land sacred to some Native Hawaiians. State officials announced Wednesday that the road to the top of Mauna Kea mountain on the Big Island will be closed starting Monday as equipment is delivered. Scientists revere the...

Chandrayaan 2 is India’s first lunar landing mission, and the country’s second robotic mission to the moon following the launch of the Chandrayaan 1 orbiter in October 2008. The launch Sunday will come two days before the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11. If the landing is successful, India will become the fourth nation to accomplish a controlled soft landing on the moon, after the former Soviet Union, the United States and China. The Israeli non-profit SpaceIL attempted a landing on the moon in April with the Beresheet mission, but the privately-funded probe crashed on final descent. Located...

Scientists were faced with the unique challenges of creating a technique that would still work in zero gravity. So, the team invented a method of 3D printing that would work while upside down. They thickened human blood plasma, which is used to bioprint skin cells, with plant material so it could work in altered gravity. To 3D print bones, they added calcium phosphate bone cement to printed human stem cells. The calcium phosphate works as a structure-supporting material, and is absorbed by the body as the bone grows. The samples are just the first steps in a long journey to...

NASA is in final preparation stages for its Artemis 1 moon mission, which will be the first in its Artemis series of missions which intend to return an American man to the Moon, and bring an American woman to the surface of Earth’s natural satellite for the first time. The 335-ft tall mobile launch tower that will send Artemis 1’s Orion capsule to lunar orbit atop a Space Launch System rocket is now on the pad for its last round fo testing before the real thing. NASA’s Artemis 1 mission will fly the Orion crew capsule to space, where it’ll...