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Over 50 years after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) landed the first humans on the Moon, the beleaguered agency can’t even pull off basic landings at the International Space Station (ISS) in Earth’s orbit. On Dec.20, 2019, the agency debuted the delayed, over-budget Starliner capsule for a test-run to and from ISS before being deemed ready for ferrying astronauts. But the Boeing-built aircraft couldn’t even dock in the space station due to a system error, instead pointlessly orbiting Earth before landing in New Mexico on Dec. 22. Taxpayers deserve better than billions of dollars of their hard-earned money...

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — A secretive unmanned space plane is staying in orbit a little longer. The experimental Air Force craft has been circling Earth for about nine months. The X-37B orbital test vehicle was due to land in California this week, but the Air Force said Tuesday that the mission will be extended. A landing date has not been set...

FLIGHT TEST: Dassault Rafale - Rampant Rafale By Peter Collins Most advanced Allied air forces now have operational fleets of fourth-generation fighters (defined by attributes such as being fly-by-wire, highly unstable, highly agile, net-centric, multi-weapon and multi-role assets). These Western types include the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen NG. The Boeing F-15E and Lockheed Martin F-16 have an older heritage, but their latest upgrades give them similar multi-role mission capabilities. Of the above group, only the Super Hornet and Rafale M are capable of aircraft-carrier operations. As these fourth-generation fighters' weapons, sensor systems and...

/begin my translation China: Prototype Attack Helicopter Crashes During its Test Flight Yonhap News 2007.07.16 09:58 ZW-10, a prototype attack helicopter Chinese military has been developing, crashed during its test flight, according to Jul. 16 report of Hong Kong's Apple Daily. According to the paper, the helicopter crashed on a farm field at Jingdezhen, Jiangsu Province, on Jul. 11. It was badly damaged and five were seriously injured. Jiangnan Dushibao, a local paper (in the area,) also ran an article that a helicopter crash-landed at 11:30 pm, Jul. 11, due to (mechanical) malfunction, but the article was promptly deleted. According...

Test flight of X-43A makes Guinness World Records Near 7,000 mph run new speed mark for jet-powered craft By Jim Skeen, Staff Writer EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE -- NASA's unmanned X-43A aircraft will get a new listing in Guinness World Records for its test flight that hit nearly 7,000 mph, a world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft. The 2006 records book due out in September will recognize the 12-foot-long, computer-guided craft for the Nov. 16 flight in which it hit Mach 9.6 over the Pacific Ocean. Carried to 109,000 feet by a Pegasus rocket launched from beneath a B-52...

CHINA LAKE, Calif. (NNS) -- The highest standard in warfare technology was demonstrated recently in the second contractor flight test of the Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile at the Naval Air System Command (NAVAIR) western test range complex in Southern California. This flight marked the successful completion of the Tactical Tomahawk contractor flight-testing phase and paves the way for entry into formal government technical evaluation. The missile was launched vertically from a fixed underwater launcher, demonstrating its operational submerged launch capability. The missile broached the ocean's surface and successfully demonstrated shroud separation, rocket motor firing/separation and deployment of fins, inlet duct...

Scramjet Engine Makes First Test Flight over Australian Outback Tue Jul 30,10:01 PM ET By SPACE.com Staff, SPACE.com The world's first flight test of a scramjet engine, conducted over the Australian outback, appears to have gone well, University of Queensland officials report. "So far it has all gone to plan. The launch was a success, and we received data for the duration of the flight," said Allan Paull, team leader of the program dubbed HyShot. A Terrier Orion Mk70 rocket boosted the scramjet engine toward the upper atmosphere at 10:05 p.m. EDT Monday (0205 GMT Tuesday), flying its mission over...