60 years on, why Yuri Gagarin remains an orbital hero
Sixty years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth from space – and one of the 20th century’s most famous figures. This is an edited version of Flight’s 20 April 1961 report on the event.
NASA to fly Ingenuity helicopter on Mars within three weeks
NASA is planning for Ingenuity, its Mars helicopter, to fly within the next three weeks, engineers say on 23 March.
SpaceX Starship lands upright, then explodes
SpaceX’s Starship Serial Number 10 (SN10) prototype rocket landed safely under its own power after a test flight that took it to an altitude of 33,000ft. Eight minutes later, it blew up.
NASA’s Mars helicopter ‘Ingenuity’ arrives on the red planet
NASA is preparing to fly the first unmanned robotic rotorcraft on another planet after its latest rover successfully landed on the planet’s surface on 18 February.
SpaceX Starship rocket crashes during test flight
A SpaceX prototype rocket crashed on landing after conducting a test flight.
Virgin Orbit successfully launches rocket from 747-400
Virgin Orbit has successfully lofted its LauncherOne rocket into space after launching it from a Boeing 747-400.
Italy’s space sector seeks new frontiers despite Vega blow
An early cosmic pioneer, Italy is determined to continue playing a central role in emerging fields such as reusable space transportation.
FAA finalises new commercial spaceflight rules
The US Federal Aviation Administration has finalised new rules it says streamline oversight of commercial spaceflight, enabling continued expansion of the commercial space industry.
Arianespace powers on with launches amid challenging 2020
Arianespace has had a challenging 2020 owing to the coronavirus pandemic, but has managed to keep launches going, as it looks toward 2021 and the long-awaited first flights of the Ariane 6 and Vega C rockets.
Pentagon, SpaceX may demo rocket delivery of cargo in 2021
The US Transportation Command has partnered with Space Exploration Technologies Corporation to study delivering tens of thousands of kilograms worth of cargo to anywhere on Earth within about an hour using the aerospace company’s vertical landing rockets.