Tag: 2025

Wilmore and Williams Welcome Their Replacements to the Space Station

AP News reports, “A SpaceX capsule has arrived at the International Space Station, delivering the replacements for NASA’s two stuck astronauts. The four newcomers — representing the U.S., Japan and Russia — will spend some time learning the station’s ins and outs from Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Then the two will strap into their own SpaceX capsule later this week, one that has been up there since last year, to close out an unexpected extended mission that began last June.”
Full Story (AP News)

Mission to Retrieve Stuck Astronauts Delayed

Reuters reports, “NASA and SpaceX on Wednesday delayed the launch of a replacement crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station that would have set in motion the long-awaited homecoming of U.S. astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. NASA had been set to launch a SpaceX rocket from Florida carrying a replacement crew for the International Space Station in a mission that would set up the return to Earth of Wilmore and Williams – stuck in space for nine months after a trip on Boeing’s faulty Starliner.”
Full Story (Reuters)

SpaceX Launches NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH Missions

The New York Times reports, “Two NASA missions launched from the California coast and soared toward the stars late Tuesday night, overcoming a week of delays to get to orbit. Both aim to unravel mysteries about the universe — one by peering far from Earth, the other by looking closer to home. The rocket’s chief passenger is SPHEREx, a space telescope that will take images of the entire sky in more than a hundred colors that are invisible to the human eye. Accompanying the telescope is a suite of satellites known collectively as PUNCH, which will study the sun’s outer atmosphere and solar wind.”
Full Story (New York Times – Subscription Publication)

 

Video

SpaceX launches NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions (Launch at 58:01 mark)
(NASA; YouTube)

Airbus Debuts New Light Twin-Engined H140 Helicopter

Aerotime reports, “Airbus Helicopters has introduced its H140 rotorcraft which is expected to enter service in 2028 for emergency medical services.  The multi-mission helicopter was unveiled during the vertical lift industry show VERTICON in Dallas, Texas, Airbus announced on March 11, 2025. The company said that the helicopter “raises the bar” in the light twin-engined category, for “performance, cost-effectiveness, and passenger and crew comfort.”
Full Story (Aerotime)

 

 

Video

Airbus Introduces the Light Twin-Engined H140
(Vision Effect TV; YouTube)

Flight Tests Prove Capability of Sikorsky’s ‘Rotor Blown Wing’ Drone

Defense News reports, “Through extensive flight tests earlier this year, Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky has proven the capability of a ‘rotor blown wing’ unmanned aircraft system that can fly like a helicopter or an airplane, the company announced Monday. The drone is a 115-pound, battery-powered twin prop-rotor aircraft that the company said can be scaled larger, ‘requiring hybrid-electric propulsion.’”
Full Story (Defense News)

 

 

 

 

Video

Sikorsky Flies Rotor Blown Wing UAS in Helicopter and Airplane Modes
(Lockheed Martin; YouTube)

X-37B Spaceplane Lands Ending 434-Day Mission

Ars Technica reports, “The US military’s robotic mini-space shuttle dropped out of orbit and glided to a runway in California late Thursday, ending a 434-day mission that pioneered new ways of maneuvering in space. The X-37B spaceplane touched down on Runway 12 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 11:22 pm local time Thursday (2:22 am EST Friday), capping its high-flying mission with an automated reentry and landing on the nearly three-mile-long runway at the West Coast’s spaceport.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)

SpaceX’s Starship Rocket Disrupts Florida Airports With Unsuccessful Test Flight

The New York Times reports, “Starship — the huge spacecraft that Elon Musk says will one day take people to Mars — failed during its latest test flight on Thursday when its upper stage exploded in space, raining debris and disrupting air traffic at airports from Florida to Pennsylvania. It was the second consecutive test flight of the most powerful rocket ever built where the upper-stage spacecraft malfunctioned. It started spinning out of control after several engines went out and then lost contact with mission control.”
Full Story (New York Times – Subscription Publication)

 

 

 

 

Video

SpaceX Starship launches on flight 8, catches booster but loses ship again (Launch at 00:25:35 mark)
(VideoFromSpace; YouTube)

Firefly Alpha Selected to Launch Earth Science SmallSat Mission for NASA

Space News reports, “NASA selected Firefly Aerospace to launch a trio of Earth science smallsats that will study the formation of storms. The agency said March 4 that it awarded a task order through its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract to Firefly to launch the three-satellite Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) mission. NASA did not disclose the value of the task order, a practice it has followed on other VADR awards. The INCUS satellites will launch on a Firefly Alpha rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.”
Full Story (Space News)