SlashGear reports that the James Webb Space Telescope “has hit three new significant milestones, as NASA prepares to launch the powerful instrument later this year.” The tower assembly on the telescope “was recently deployed to its full, 10 meter (33 feet) length, before being stowed” in the telescope. The “‘lens cap’ of the telescope – officially

Reuters reports that on Thursday, The FAA “issued a directive to operators of all Boeing Co 737 series airplanes to conduct inspections to address possible failures of cabin altitude pressure switches.” The order, which “covers 2,502 U.S.-registered airplanes and 9,315 airplanes worldwide,” requires operators “to conduct repetitive tests of the switches and replace them if needed.”

The Drive reports that a “total of 46 F-35 stealth fighters are currently without functioning engines due to an ongoing problem with the heat-protective coating on their turbine rotor blades becoming worn out faster than was expected.” During Tuesday’s hearing before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, “Air Force Lieutenant General

ExecutiveGov reports that NASA “will send its small spacecraft with solar sail propulsion to space as part of the Artemis I human exploration mission.” Artemis I mission principal technology investigator Les Johnson “said in a statement published Wednesday the flight of the Near-Earth Asteroid Scout payload is partly meant to demonstrate the use of solar sailing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 14, 2021 – Reston, Va. – Today, AIAA Foundation was selected to receive a $1 million grant from Blue Origin’s Club for the Future. This generous grant will allow the AIAA Foundation to fuel the next generation of space professionals who will create our off-world future. The AIAA Foundation will engage students and educators with new,

Space News reports that NASA has selected three companies for one-year $5 million contracts “to perform concept studies of nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) reactors while making plans to fund similar studies for nuclear surface power systems.” NASA contracted BWX Technologies, which will work with Lockheed Martin; General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, which will work with X-energy

Air Force Times reported that the US Air Force “has approved the Boeing KC-46 tanker to move into limited operations with its centerline drogue system, allowing the aircraft to be tasked for everyday refueling missions that meet certain criteria.” Air Mobility Command Commander Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost said, “The last six months of operational use

Defense News reports that the US Army “has launched its future long-range assault aircraft competition, quietly releasing a request for proposals limited to two industry teams.” The Army also has “homed in on a schedule to deliver FLRAA prototypes after debating two different options to stay on schedule.” The service “will choose a winner – after

Reuters reports that the FAA announced Monday that it is approving Blue Origin’s application to carry humans into space on the New Shepard launch system. The license “is valid through August and is approved to conduct these missions from its Launch Site One facility in Texas.” Fox Business reports that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos “is scheduled to

The Drive reports that on Friday, NASA said that its “experimental X-56B unmanned aircraft suffered what it described as an ‘anomaly.’” The incident occurred at “around 7:30 AM local time at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, which is collocated with the U.S. Air Force’s Edwards Air Force Base in California. The drone had just taken off

ExecutiveGov reported that Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to lift off atop an Antares rocket August 10 for a mission to the International Space Station. The spacecraft will “deliver another batch of NASA’s science investigations, supplies and equipment to” the ISS. The mission “will support research on 3D printing in space, the behavior of slime

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 11, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) congratulates our corporate member Virgin Galactic on its successful flight test of SpaceShipTwo Unity today. AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement: “On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we are

SPACE reports that at 10:40 a.m. EDT Thursday, SpaceX’s CRS-22 Cargo Dragon spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station’s Harmony module. NASA officials said that the spacecraft is expected to land off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday at 11:30 p.m. EDT. Experiments from the cargo spacecraft “will be sent back to NASA’s Space Station

Bloomberg reports that “Chinese aviation officials” are considering conducting a “validation flight” for the Boeing 737 MAX, “a step toward lifting the plane’s grounding in that nation after more than two years, according to people familiar with the matter.” The Boeing Company “is preparing to send a delegation of around 35 pilots and engineers to

Reuters reports that International Air Transport Association Director General Willie Walsh said he is “optimistic that we will see a relaxation in relation to transatlantic flying during the coming weeks.” British and American airlines have been pushing the US and UK to “re-open travel between the two countries” amid rising vaccination rates. Reopening transatlantic air travel

ExecutiveGov reports that NASA “is seeking proposals from industry, academia and research institutions to test and demonstrate technology and research payloads on commercial suborbital vehicles as part of the Flight Opportunities program.” The agency “said Wednesday awardees can get up to $650,000 each in the form of a grant or cooperative agreement under the program

The Hill reports that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “says the private rocket company’s Starship rocket system could be used to collect space junk orbiting the Earth.” Musk tweeted Saturday that the Starship could fly “around space & chomp up debris with the moving fairing door.” According to SpaceX, “the Starship’s fairing door opens when it reaches

FlightGlobal reports that the US Air Force has released an “artist rendering graphic” of the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber. This third rendering that has been released by the service “differs from the second rendering, released in early 2020, in that the B-21’s cockpit windows are shown to be divided into multiple pieces: a triangle-shaped

The Washington Post reported that on Sunday, Chinese astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hangbo “made the first spacewalk outside China’s new orbital station to set up cameras and other equipment using a 15-meter-long (50-foot-long) robotic arm.” Liu and Tang “spent nearly seven hours outside the station, the Chinese space agency said.” Space News reported that a “second

Insider reports that the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said in a statement last week that Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 has become the first USMC F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter squadron to achieve full operational capability, “meaning it is now fully prepared to wage war from Navy aircraft carriers.” The 3rd Marine Aircraft

MEDIA ALERT July 1, 2021 – Reston, Va. – Registration is open for journalists around the world to gain access to the 2021 AIAA AVIATION Forum (2–6 August) and the 2021 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum (9–11 August). Register for one forum and receive access to both! Request press credentials here These two distinctive events

SPACE reports that at 3:11 p.m. EDT Wednesday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as part of the Transporter-2 mission. Atop the rocket “was a stack of 88 small satellites – 85 for commercial and government customers and three of SpaceX’s own Starlink internet satellites.” Full Story (SPACE)

Defense News reports that on June 24, the US Air Force “conducted a second flight test of the robot pilot known as Skyborg, which autonomously flew a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger drone.” The MQ-20 Avenger “flight took place during the Orange Flag exercise at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., over a period of about two

Space News reports that on Tuesday, the launch of SpaceX’s Transporter-2 mission atop a Falcon 9 rocket was delayed “in the final seconds of its countdown when an aircraft violated restricted airspace.” The mission, which will carry 88 satellites for several customers, was scheduled to launch at 2:56 p.m. EDT. However, “the countdown was stopped

FlightGlobal reports that Airbus Defence & Space “has test-flown a new armed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) version of its C295 transport carrying a mix of precision-guided weapons.” Airbus said that its “C295 Armed ISR [testbed] recently conducted its maiden flight equipped with eight laser-guided missiles and two laser-guided bomb dummies, located on four underwing

CNET News reports that earlier this year, NASA’s Mars InSight lander halted its science mission in order to conserve energy, as its solar panels were covered in dust. Now, “a clever solution to the dust problem means InSight will continue studying the red planet.” On Friday, the InSight team tweeted, “Because of the hard work

Seapower Magazine reports that BAE Systems said in a Monday press release that it is “providing Lockheed Martin with additional electronic warfare (EW) systems, retrofit kits, and spares for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.” This contract builds on the company’s “on-time delivery of more than 800 state-of-the-art AN/ASQ-239 electronic warfare/countermeasure systems to date, providing F-35 jets

AIAA is seeking an outstanding candidate with an international reputation to assume the responsibilities of Editor-in-Chief…

Bloomberg reports that the FAA sent a letter to The Boeing Company on May 13 expressing concerns about the company’s newest version of the 777 “because of what U.S. regulators called a test-flight incident and multiple other issues with software and inadequate data.” The FAA wrote that the agency “anticipates a significant impact to the

Space News reported that SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell “says the company is ‘shooting for July’ for the first orbital launch of the company’s Starship vehicle despite lacking the regulatory approvals needed for such a launch.” At the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference on Friday, Shotwell said that the company was “hoping” to conduct the

CBS News reports that French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough are scheduled to conduct a spacewalk from the International Space Station on Friday. The goal of the spacewalk, scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. EDT, is to install the second ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs). NASA “plans to install iROSA panels on six

Defense News reports that on Thursday, Bell announced that its “future vertical lift technology demonstrator, the V-280 Valor tiltrotor, has finished its flying career.” Bell “will continue into the second phase of the risk-reduction effort ‘to provide initial preliminary designs for major subsystems and the conceptual weapons system, based on data-proven performance that ensures transformational

Space News reports that in October, the US Space Force “will begin to take over the operation of 11 Navy narrowband communications satellites. It also will absorb Army units that currently operate military communications payloads, a Space Force official said June 23.” The transition “will create a more integrated U.S. military satcom enterprise which for decades

Reuters reports that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency has “called for more rigorous checks when pulling some Airbus jets out of pandemic storage, following flawed cockpit readings that can suggest blocked sensors.” EASA “said in a safety directive covering the Airbus A320 family that ‘an increasing number of operational disruptions have been reported due to

Space News reports that five satellites from the US Space Development Agency (SDA) will launch as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-2 rideshare mission Friday. Transporter-2 “is expected to carry as many as 88 small satellites from commercial and government customers to a sun synchronous polar orbit. SDA’s five payloads include two pairs of satellites to demonstrate

Aviation Today reports that Volocopter “flew its Volocopter 2X in public for the first time in France at the Paris Air Forum, the company announced in a June 21 press release.” The flight “took place at Le Bourget Airfield and lasted three minutes, according to the release.” The eVTOL “flew in a 500 m route at

Reuters reports that SpaceX expects that Starlink will “be able to provide continuous global coverage by around September but will then need to seek regulatory approvals, its president Gwynne [Shotwell] said on Tuesday.” She said, “We’ve successfully deployed 1,800 or so satellites and once all those satellites reach their operational orbit, we will have continuous global

According to Reuters, Swiss broadcaster SRF reported Monday, citing three unidentified sources, that Lockheed Martin’s “F35-A Lightning II performed the best in a Swiss evaluation of what fighter jet to buy next, although the final political decision was still open.” SRF’s investigative program Rundschau said in a summary of a report to air Wednesday that “according

Aviation International News reported that Bombardier’s Global 7500 “has entered the Indonesian market with the first delivery of one of the company’s flagship business jets to an undisclosed customer based in Jakarta.” Bombardier “has been growing its customer-service footprint in” the Asia-Pacific region “with a new customer-service center expected to open in 2022 at Essendon

The AP reports that during a nearly seven-hour spacewalk Wednesday from the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough “encountered a pair of spacesuit issues,” which forced “him to temporarily retreat back into the airlock to reset his equipment.” Mission Control “stressed that Kimbrough was safe the entire time, despite problems with his suit’s display control panel

Space News reports that NASA and The Boeing Company “announced June 16 that they had closed all the actions from an independent review in early 2020 to address problems with the first Orbital Flight Test (OFT) mission of the spacecraft in December 2019. That review made 80 recommendations involving testing, software development, communications and other

Reuters reports that The Boeing Company “was readying the largest member of its 737 MAX family for its maiden flight on Friday, a person familiar with the matter said.” The maiden flight of the 737 MAX 10, “expected around 10 a.m. local time from the Seattle area, the person said, heralds months of testing and

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 18, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) congratulates Pam Melroy on being confirmed as NASA Deputy Administrator. AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement upon Melroy’s confirmation: “On behalf of the Institute’s nearly 30,000 professional members, I would like to congratulate Pam

The AP reports that during a nearly seven-hour spacewalk Wednesday from the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough “encountered a pair of spacesuit issues,” which forced “him to temporarily retreat back into the airlock to reset his equipment.” Mission Control “stressed that Kimbrough was safe the entire time, despite problems with his suit’s display control panel

Reuters reports that the US Air Force “said on Wednesday it is surveying the aircraft industry to learn if another manufacturer has the capacity or interest to make the next tranche of midair refueling tankers similar to the recently purchased KC-46.” The sources sought document “is the first step in the process of buying the

Space News reports that on Thursday, SpaceX is scheduled to launch a GPS 3 satellite atop its Falcon 9 rocket. The launch will mark the “first national security space mission to use a refurbished Falcon 9 booster.” The US Space Force “initially ordered an expendable rocket but agreed to the switch with a caveat: the reused

Reuters reports that a “shortage of newer-model business jets is driving up prices of second-hand aircraft, a trend that is expected to deliver a windfall for luxury planemakers as new affluent buyers enter the market.” The increased demand for second-hand aircraft “is expected to push up demand for new jets from planemakers like General Dynamics

Reuters reports that Hyundai Motor Co. and General Motors Co. “said on Monday they are pushing ahead with developing flying cars, with the South Korean company expressing optimism it could have an air-taxi service in operation as soon as 2025.” Hyundai COO José Munoz “previously said urban air taxis would be in operation at major

The Daily Mail (UK)  reports that NASA “has finished assembling its massive $18.6 billion (£13.18 billion) Space Launch System (SLS) ‘megarocket’ that will fly astronauts back to the moon over the coming decade.” On Friday, engineers at Kennedy Space Center “finished lowering the 212ft tall core stage between two smaller” boosters. This is “the first time

Space News reports that at 4:11 a.m. EDT Sunday, Northrop Grumman launched the US Space Force Tactically Responsive Launch-2 (TacRL-2) mission atop a Pegasus XL rocket. The payload “was successfully deployed its intended orbit, a Space Force spokesman confirmed on Sunday.” TacRL-2 “is a technology demonstration satellite to be used for space surveillance.” The Space and