NASA offered reporters and press photographers a rare chance to go inside the VAB today to view the progress of the assembly of Artemis II, the next and first crewed launch of the SLS rocket. That mission will carry four astronauts on a circumlunar flight and is currently slated to fly in April 2026.
NASA offered reporters and press photographers a rare chance to go inside the VAB today to view the progress of the assembly of Artemis II, the next and first crewed launch of the SLS rocket. That mission will carry four astronauts on a circumlunar flight and is currently slated to fly in April 2026.
Currently, the Core Stage of Artemis II is in its own work area, across the aisle from where the Mobile Launch Platform with the Solid Rocket Boosters are sitting. Work continues on both parts of the vehicle.
As of now, NASA’s Artemis II mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than April 2026. The mission aims to send four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—on a 10-day journey around the Moon, marking the first crewed mission of the Artemis program and the first human venture beyond low Earth orbit since 1972.
The mission has experienced several delays, primarily due to issues identified during the uncrewed Artemis I mission in November 2022. Post-flight analyses revealed unexpected charring on the Orion capsule’s heat shield, prompting extensive investigations and subsequent design modifications to ensure astronaut safety during re-entry. Seemingly resolved for the time being, the Orion capsule slated for Artemis II is undergoing preparations at Kennedy Space Center.
The Solid Rocket Boosters have completed their stacking operations and engineers will integrate the SLS core stage, currently undergoing processing in the VAB’s High Bay 2, in the coming weeks. No specific timetable for the start and completion of that operation has been given.
In preparation for landing, Firely Aerospace’s Blue Ghost will complete its final lunar orbit maneuver, which is scheduled for today. If that is successful, on March 2nd, Firefly Aerospace will reach its destination and attempt a lunar landing.
The attempt will be the first for the company and if successful, they will be only the second American company (after Intuitive Machines) to safely reach the lunar surface. The lander has been traveling cislunar space since shortly after its January 15th launch from Kennedy Space Center.
Early Monday morning, during the final lunar orbit maneuver, Firefly will execute a 16-second burn to insert Blue Ghost into a near-circular, low lunar orbit with a perilune of about 100 km—the point closest to the Moon’s surface. This maneuver strategically positions Blue Ghost for the planned Descent Orbit Insertion on March 2.
According to NASA, “All 10 NASA instruments on this flight are currently healthy and ready to operate on the lunar surface. The payloads that are able to power on and operate have also collected some noteworthy data during lunar transit.”
Illustrating that point, NASA said
The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) acquired and tracked Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals for the first time in lunar orbit – a new record! This achievement, peaking at 246,000 miles, suggests that Earth-based GNSS constellations can be used for navigation in transit to, around, and potentially on the Moon. It also demonstrates the power of using multiple GNSS constellations together, such as GPS and Galileo, to perform navigation. After lunar landing, LuGRE will operate for 14 days and attempt to break another record – first reception of GNSS signals on the lunar surface.
The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager, or LEXI, telescope was turned on successfully shortly after launch on Jan. 15. The instrument has operated for several hours every day conducting checkouts and initial commissioning, operating for a total of more than 50 hours so far in preparation for collecting images from the lunar surface.
NASA Artemis Blog, February 21, 2025
All other instruments aboard Blue Ghost are also functioning well and are apparently ready for the landing attempt the coming Sunday.
Live coverage of the landing, jointly hosted by NASA and Firefly, will air on NASA+ starting at 2:30 a.m. EST, approximately 75 minutes before Blue Ghost touches down on the Moon’s surface.
Intuitive Machines announced today that its IM-2 mission’s Nova-C class lunar lander, Athena, has successfully completed all integration milestones and is now securely enclosed within SpaceX’s payload fairing, ready for launch. This will be the company’s second attempt to land on the lunar surface.
Blue Origin announced this morning that it has been given certification by NASA for Category 1 missions. A NASA Category 1 mission is a launch with a high risk, such as using a new rocket configuration or one with little flight history, and is an important step in the qualification process for higher categories and higher-risk missions.
With the classification, New Glenn is now certified by NASA to launch the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission, a flight slated for sometime this spring. Neither organization has yet commented on a more specific launch date.
Blue Origin’s CEO, Dave Limp, succinctly replied to the announcement on the X platform by saying, “Thank you, NASA, for the partnership.”
By achieving this qualification, Blue is now rated for Class D: High Risk Tolerance missions.
Class D: High risk tolerance missions, normally representing a lower priority mission with a medium to low complexity. Class D payloads may be launched on Risk Category 1 rockets or rockets that NASA has not certified. Other high-risk payload launch service options may be pursued through the NASA Flight Planning Board.
NASA Risk Classification Fact Sheet
Examples of past NASA Class D missions include CYGNSS (Pegasus XL,2016), NICER (Falcon 9, 2017), TROPICS (Electron, 2017), and MarCO (Atlas V-401, 2018).
Obviously, this is a first-step for Blue Origin, and it will obviously seek to attain certification to carry higher risk payloads in the future when New Glenn has a longer track record.
iSpace announced yesterday that their RESILIENCE lunar lander successfully completed a flyby of the Moon on February 15, 2025. RESILIENCE was launched aboard a Falcon 9 on January 15 from Kennedy Space Center, and has been traveling cislunar space since that time.
According to iSpace yesterday, “RESILIENCE is now on a trajectory out to deep space before completing orbital maneuvers that will bring it back towards the Moon in advance of lunar orbit insertion, expected around early May.”
RESLIENCE reached its closest point to the lunar surface thus far at 5:43 PM EST (2243 UTC) on Valenitine’s Day, coming within roughly 8,400 kilometers surface on its flyby, a historic first of its type for a Japanese private, commercial lunar lander. It now heads past the moon towards apoapsis and a return to cislunar space and lunar orbit. After that point, preparations for landing can begin.
The flyby was the fifth of ten major milestones for the spacecraft as it prepares to touch down on the lunar surface sometime in May or June of this year. The lengthy time between launch and landing is due to mission designers planning for a longer, energy-efficient trajectory to reach the lunar surface, one that reduced spacecraft complexity by eliminating the need to carry a much larger propulsive unit.
This will be the second landing attempt for iSpace. In April 2023, the first Hakuto lander successfully traveled from Earth and made a landing attempt, however, it crash-landed after its propellant was exhausted due to the spacecraft’s software misjudging the actual altitude of the spacecraft. After improvements and remediations, iSpace is hopeful for a successful landing in late Spring of this year.
iSpace’s mission with RESILIENCE in mainly one for technology performance and validation, demonstration commercial viability, and international collaboration and coordination. Undoubtedly, the iSpace team will learn a great deal more about real-world operation of their lander in Mission 2, and that in turn will inform future missions to come.
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One of the primary goals — if not the major goal — of the RESILIENCE mission is to demonstrate lunar landing capabilities. Secondly, iSpace hope to demonstrate landing with a high level of precision. The company has refined its autonomous landing system with lessons-learned from Mission 1. Their system leverages AI and real-time terrain recognition as part of a safe touchdown on the surface. Perfecting this technology is crucial for future robotic and crewed missions.
RESILIENCE plans to deploy small rovers and payloads to test surface mobility and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies. By analyzing the Moon’s regolith and extracting potential resources such as water ice, iSpace hopes to contribute to future lunar sustainability. ISRU is a key aspect of NASA’s Artemis program and other international lunar initiatives, as it could enable long-term human presence on the Moon.
By gathering environmental and geological data, the RESILIENCE probe will help improve scientific understanding of the Moon’s surface conditions. The mission will assess factors such as temperature variations, radiation levels, and dust behavior—all critical information for designing next-generation lunar habitats and infrastructure.
iSpace is focused on building a lunar economy, and RESILIENCE will serve as a proof-of-concept for future commercial deliveries to the Moon.
iSpace also plans to become a key player in the emerging lunar industry through collaborations with global space agencies and companies. The company is hopeful that the success of RESILIENCE could pave the way for future joint ventures and technological exchanges in lunar exploration.
NASA and SpaceX have moved up the launch of Crew 10 to the International Space Station to no earlier than March 12, 2025. The date is dependent on crew and spacecraft’s mission readiness and completion of the agency’s certification of flight readiness process. Following several days of handoff, Crew 9 astronauts will depart ISS and return to Earth.
NASA has announced an earlier launch opportunity for the Crew-10 mission following a decision to modify its original plan. Instead of using a new Dragon spacecraft—which requires additional processing time—the mission will now fly with Endurance, a previously flown Dragon capsule.
Teams are currently conducting thorough assessments of Endurance’s hardware to ensure it meets NASA’s Commercial Crew Program safety and certification requirements. Preparations are underway to refurbish the spacecraft, including installing its trunk, loading propellant, and transporting it to SpaceX’s hangar at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There, it will be integrated with the Falcon 9 rocket ahead of launch.
This marks Endurance’s fourth mission to the International Space Station, having previously supported Crew-3, Crew-5, and Crew-7.
Once Crew-10 arrives at the ISS, they will undergo a handover period with the Crew-9 team, who will guide them through ongoing scientific research and station maintenance tasks. This transition ensures a smooth exchange of responsibilities and enhances safety aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Following the completion of the handover, NASA and SpaceX will begin preparations for the return of Crew-9 to Earth. NASA astronaut Nick Hague, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will depart the ISS aboard Crew Dragon.
They will be joined by the former Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. The pair joined Expedition 71/72 after NASA decided to return the Starliner capsule uncrewed after several problems with that spacecraft.
SpaceX has been awarded the launch contract for Pandora, NASA’s small satellite that will study exoplanets — planets beyond our solar system — and the activity of their host stars. The launch is scheduled for NET Autumn 2025, implying a Q3 or Q4 launch.
Selected in 2021 as part of NASA’s Pioneer mission program, Pandora is designed for long-duration, multiwavelength observations to improve scientists’ understanding of distant worlds.
The mission is a collaborative effort involving NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, NASA’s Ames Research Center, and several other institutions. Pandora will focus on exoplanets previously discovered by other missions, using the transit method—a technique that detects planets as they pass in front of their stars, causing slight dips in starlight. By analyzing these transits, researchers can gather data on planetary atmospheres, helping to determine their composition and characteristics.
At this time, it is unknown what rocket SpaceX will use for the mission: Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy or even Starship. Most likely, given the size of Pandora (it is a small satellite) the flight will be aboard Falcon 9.
For more information on the Pandora mission, visit their website here.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams completed a 6.5 hour EVA outside the International Space Station today. During the event, Suni Williams became the record-holder for the most accumulated time by a woman for spacewalks. Williams now has 62 hours, 6 minutes of total spacewalk time. She is fourth on NASA’s all-time list as well.
The two astronauts are, of course, part of the current political kerfuffle surrounding their stay on ISS, when they were assigned to ISS Expedition 71/72 after it was decided to return their Starliner capsule home uncrewed thanks to technical concerns about the Boeing spacecraft.
During their pair’s EVA, Williams surpassed former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson’s total spacewalking time of 60 hours and 21 minutes.
The former record holder posted her congratulations today on X.com:
While outside ISS, the Williams and Wilmore performed work to remove an antenna assembly from the station’s truss, collected samples of surface material for analysis from the Destiny laboratory and the Quest airlock to see whether microorganisms exist on the exterior of ISS, and they also prepared a spare elbow joint for the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
The pair are set to return to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon in late March or early April. Currently, Crew 10 is slated to launch on March 24th, and after a handoff period Crew 9 will return to Earth with Williams and Wilmore aboard a Crew Dragon.
After they joined Expedition’s 71/72 crew, the plan was to bring them home in February, but delays in SpaceX’s completing and qualifying a new Dragon capsule that will be used for the mission forced NASA to further extend the length of their unexpected stay in space.
Sierra Space announced today it has successfully completed and passed a critical integrated testing milestone in collaboration with NASA on the Dream Chaser spaceplane orbiter Tenacity.
Among the tests that were completed were Dream Chaser’s ability to power-on, air-cool, and exchange data with multiple powered payloads inside its pressurized cabin. The tests were conducted at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“Tests like these are critical demonstrations of the capabilities of the Dream Chaser spaceplane and confirms our ability to handle specialized payloads such as vital scientific research that will be integral to our mission to the ISS,” said Pablo Gonzalez, Vice President of Crew & Cargo Transportation Systems at Sierra Space.
He added that, “This milestone highlights Dream Chaser’s flexibility, reliability, and capability to meet the diverse needs of our payload customers – including NASA and commercial partners – and it brings us another step closer to launch.”
During the testing, three payloads were evaluated, all of which are intended for the Dream Chaser’s first official mission, dubbed DCC-1.
Passing the tests demonstrates Dream Chaser’s capability to carry various payloads, meet those payloads environmental requirements and to provide power within specified limits. The tests also demonstrated Dream Chaser’s ability to communicate with the Sierra Space control room in Colorado as well as the payload support center at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama.
At this time, it appears that Dream Chaser is on track for a launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket later this year.
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