Docking and berthing of spacecraft

Nikon is making a camera you can take to space. In partnership with NASA, the company is developing a handheld camera for astronauts to use on the surface of the Moon for the upcoming Artemis missions.Moon Knight Gives Us HopeNASA and Nikon recently signed an agreement to design a camera that can withstand the harsh temperatures of the lunar environment and capture astronauts’ time on the Moon for research purposes (and maybe a few cool selfies too). The camera is scheduled to be ready for use for the Artemis 3 mission,…

Astroscale’s satellite stalking a defunct satellite in orbit to throw it towards Earth’s atmosphere. Screenshot: AstroscaleLow Earth orbit is littered with defunct satellites floating without purpose. A Japanese company is developing a satellite able to stalk those dead satellites, capture and release them towards a fiery reentry through Earth’s atmosphere, thereby putting an end to their misery.Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewTokyo-based Astroscale released a video detailing…

Like any satellite in Earth orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope is sinking, and it’s been doing so for the past 33 years. A proposed solution from two space startups offers an intriguing strategy for safely boosting Hubble’s orbit, allowing NASA to extend the lifespan of its storied observatory. Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewHubble is currently healthy, but atmospheric drag will eventually cause it to re-enter our planet’s atmosphere at some pointduring the mid-to-late 2030s.…

The Expedition 68 crew members welcoming Crew-6 members on board the space station.Photo: NASA TVFour astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on Friday, finally crossing through the space station’s hatch after ground teams troubleshooted a faulty sensor on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.SpaceX’s sixth operational crewed mission for NASA, aptly named Crew-6, blasted off on Thursday at 12:34 a.m. on board a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew was carried by SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavor, which was scheduled to dock to the ISS at…

An illustration of the Tiangong Space Station.Illustration: Adrian Mann (AP)Construction of the Tiangong Space Station was only completed late last year, but China already has big plans to expand on its low Earth orbit project.During an exhibition at the National Museum of China, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) revealed plans to launch a new module to add to the Tiangong Space Station, Chinese state media reported on Tuesday. The expansion module will attach to the three modules already in low Earth…

A photo of the Hubble Space Telescope captured by an astronaut aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in 2009.Photo: NASANASA has signed an agreement with SpaceX to test the feasibility of using a commercial crew to raise the orbit of Hubble and extend its lifespan. The Hubble Space Telescope launched on April 24, 1990, and it has been delivering groundbreaking views of the cosmos ever since. Thenewly launched Webb telescope is cool and everything, but Hubble is the OG of space telescopes. Unfortunately, the aging telescope…

NASA concept art depicting the Apollo 13 mission (which never actually made it to the lunar surface). Illustration: NASAI’ve always been a huge fan of NASA’s concept art—sometimes you need to see what the future might be like to get sufficiently hyped. Missions to space often involve cameras that document these journeys, and it’s always fun to compare what we thought something would look like to how it actually appears. But in cases where cameras aren’t involved, or when probes can’t capture selfies, concept art is all…