Ars Technica
• Eric Berger
NASA intends to order additional Boeing Starliner missions and help certify a new rocket, signaling continued agency support for the crew capsule despite its troubled development. The approach would preserve Starliner as part of NASA’s human-spaceflight and transportation architecture while requiring further certification work.
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NASA intends to order additional Boeing Starliner missions and help certify a new rocket, signaling continued agency support for the crew capsule despite its troubled development. The approach would preserve Starliner as part of NASA’s human-spaceflight and transportation architecture while requiring further certification work.
Icarus Robotics completed a four-flight parabolic campaign testing its free-flying robot, advancing preparations for a planned first mission to the International Space Station in 2027. The tests mark a key step in validating the system for microgravity operations ahead of the orbital demonstration.
Pharmaceutical companies are preparing to move drug research and manufacturing into commercial low Earth orbit platforms as the International Space Station approaches the end of its operational life. The industry is also working with regulators to establish rules for producing medicines in space.
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Roscosmos’ uncrewed Progress MS-35 cargo spacecraft launched aboard a Soyuz 2.1b rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sept. 16 and entered orbit successfully. The vehicle is scheduled to dock with the ISS’s Poisk module on Sept. 19, carrying supplies and equipment for the Teledroid program.
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Russia’s Progress MS-35 cargo spacecraft is expected to launch from Kazakhstan on Sept. 16, shortly after Progress MS-33 departs the International Space Station. The mission will sustain the station’s logistics pipeline, delivering cargo and supplies to the orbiting complex.
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The first day of World Space Business Week 2026 highlighted a widening gap between abundant investment and maturing commercial models. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher is taking a crew-transport decision to Rome, while China accounts for 19 of the 40 operational launchers worldwide.
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Elon Musk and SpaceX face a strategic choice between deploying cash-generating satellites and funding human missions to deep space. The tension highlights the scale of resources required for Mars ambitions—and the uncertainty surrounding their commercial and strategic payoff.
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The European Space Agency has signed an agreement with U.S. commercial space company Vast to implement an astronaut mission to the International Space Station for Greece. The agreement advances European participation in commercial human spaceflight as France calls for greater strategic autonomy in space.
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