Virgin Galactic is preparing to finally perform the third crewed test of its VSS Unity spaceplane into suborbital space on Saturday, 22 May, following an earlier false start in December. Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism company will complete the third flight test of its SpaceShipTwo Unity spaceplane on Saturday, pending weather and final technical checks.
In this cross-posting with The Conversation, space historian Osnat Katz discusses the difficulties of landing objects and aircraft on Mars, and those who have failed in their attempt. China’s rover Zhurong, named after the mythological fire god, successfully touched down on Mars on 14 May – the first time that China has successfully landed a
NASA has confirmed that its groundbreaking Mars helicopter Ingenuity has successfully completed its fifth test flight, and revealed the first audio clip taken of the rotorcraft buzzing through Martian skies. According to NASA, its Perseverance rover on Mars was able to use its SuperCam microphone to record the first ever audio clip of an aircraft
NASA is preparing for its Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, to take its game-changing fifth flight on Friday. According to the space agency, Ingenuity will take again to Martian skies at 3:26pm EDT on Friday, with its flight data expected to hit NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California by 7:31pm EDT that same day. According
Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin is set to perform its first suborbital flight with crew onboard on 20 July this year, and is offering up one spot onboard to the highest bidder. Following 15 consecutive successful non-crewed test flights, the 20 July flight will mark the first test flight with astronauts on board.
NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter has now successfully completed its fourth flight test on Mars, after a false start that occurred last Thursday, and again performed exactly as planned. According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California, data received back from Ingenuity showed it successfully took off as planned on Friday, with the rotorcraft again
