La Maison-Blanche voudrait économiser sur la Station spatiale internationale (ISS), en retirant plus de 500 millions d'euros de la NASA, dans le budget 2026 consacré à cette mission. Cela pourrait avoir une incidence sur la taille des équipages, leur rotation ainsi que la durée des séjours et les activités à bord.

The new ZEISS Otus ML 50mm f/1.4 lens for Sony E-mount is now in stock at B&H Photo.

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Un groupe d'ingénieurs et d'historiens propose un projet surprenant : récupérer Vanguard 1 et le ramener sur Terre. Il s'agit du plus vieux satellite encore en orbite terrestre. Il avait été lancé dans l'espace en 1958.

The Starliner spacecraft lost four thrusters while approaching the International Space Station last summer. NASA astronaut, Butch Wilmore took manual control, remembers Ars Technica, "But as Starliner's thrusters failed, Wilmore lost the ability to move the spacecraft in the direction he wanted to go..." Starliner had flown to within a stone's throw of the space station, a safe harbor, if only they could reach it. But already, the failure of so many thrusters violated the mission's flight rules. In such an instance, they were supposed to turn around and come back to Earth. Approaching the station was deemed too risky for Wilmore and Williams, aboard Starliner, as well as for the astronauts on the $100 billion space station. But what if it was not safe to come home, either? "I don't know that we can come back to Earth at that point," Wilmore said in an interview. "I don't know if we can. And matter of fact, I'm thinking we probably can't." After a half-hour exclusive interview, Ars Technica's senior space editor Eric Berger says he'd heard "a hell of a story." After Starliner lost four of its 28 reaction control system thrusters, Van Cise and this team in Houston decided the best chance for success was resetting the failed thrusters. This is, effectively, a fancy way of turning off your computer and rebooting it to try to fix the problem. But it meant Wilmore had to go hands-off from Starliner's controls. Imagine that. You're drifting away from the space station, trying to maintain your position. The station is your only real lifeline because if you lose the ability to dock, the chance of coming back in one piece is quite low. And now you're being told to take your hands off the controls... Two of the four thrusters came back online. Wilmore: "...But then we lose a fifth jet. What if we'd have lost that fifth jet while those other four were still down? I have no idea what would've happened. I attribute to the providence of the Lord getting those two jets back before that fifth one failed... Berger: Mission Control decided that it wanted to try to recover the failed thrusters again. After Wilmore took his hands off the controls, this process recovered all but one of them. At that point, the vehicle could be flown autonomously, as it was intended to be. "Wilmore added that he felt pretty confident, in the aftermath of docking to the space station, that Starliner probably would not be their ride home," according to the article. And Williams says it was the right decision. Publicly, NASA and Boeing expressed confidence in Starliner's safe return with crew. But Williams and Wilmore, who had just made that harrowing ride, felt differently.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This week NASA "issued a solicitation for the next two private astronaut missions to the International Space Station," reports Space News. Scheduled after May of 2026 and then mid-2027, "These will be the fifth and sixth such missions to the ISS, part of a broader low Earth orbit commercialization effort by NASA with the ultimate goal of replacing the International Space Station with one or more commercial stations." NASA's Space Station program manager calls the missions "a key part" of helping industry partners "gain the experience needed to train and manage crews, conduct research, and develop future destinations." In short, they see the missions "providing companies with hands-on opportunities to refine their capabilities and build partnerships that will shape the future of low Earth orbit." [NASA's call for proposals] offers an opportunity to have future missions commanded by someone other than a former NASA astronaut. While companies must propose a commander who meets current requirements, it can also propose an alternate commander who is a former astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency or Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency with similar ISS experience requirements... ["Broadening of this requirement is not guaranteed," NASA warns.] That could allow some former astronauts already working with commercial spaceflight companies an opportunity to command private astronaut missions. Axiom Space, for example, announced in July 2024 that former ESA astronaut Tim Peake had joined its astronaut team. That came after Axiom and the U.K. Space Agency signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2023 to study the feasibility of a private astronaut mission crewed exclusively by U.K. astronauts. So far Axiom Space has been awarded all four private astronaut missions, according to the article, "flying one mission each in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Its next mission, Ax-4, is scheduled for no earlier than May." But "While Axiom has little or no competition for previous PAM awards, it will likely face stiffer competition this time. Vast, a company also planning to develop commercial space stations, has previously stated its intent to submit proposals..."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Rentrés en mars 2025, les astronautes de la NASA Sunita Williams et Barry Wilmore ont donné une conférence de presse le 31 mars 2025. Ils ont affirmé qu'ils retourneraient sans hésitation dans le vaisseau spatial Starliner, construit par Boeing, pour rejoindre une nouvelle fois la Station spatiale internationale (ISS).

Les astronautes Sunita Williams et Barry Wilmore sont enfin rentrés sur Terre. Après des mois coincés à bord de l'ISS, les deux astronautes ont pu rentrer grâce à la capsule Crew Dragon de SpaceX. Deux autres astronautes sont également rentrés.

Après des mois coincés dans l'ISS, les astronautes Sunita Williams et Barry Wilmore rentrent sur Terre à bord de la capsule Crew Dragon de SpaceX. L'amerrissage est prévu dans la soirée du 18 mars 2025. L'évènement pourra être suivi en direct.

Les deux astronautes bloqués dans la Station spatiale internationale (ISS) rentrent enfin sur Terre dans la nuit du 17 au 18 mars 2025. Avec 277 jours de retard (9 mois), alors que le séjour ne devait que durer une semaine.

Les deux astronautes bloqués dans la Station spatiale internationale (ISS) rentrent enfin sur Terre dans la nuit du 17 au 18 mars 2025. Avec 277 jours de retard (9 mois), alors que le séjour ne devait que durer une semaine.

Les deux astronautes bloqués dans la Station spatiale internationale (ISS) rentrent enfin sur Terre dans la nuit du 17 au 18 mars 2025. Avec 277 jours de retard (9 mois), alors que le séjour ne devait que durer une semaine.

La mission SpaceX Crew-10 doit partir en principe dans la nuit du 14 au 15 mars, à 00h03, heure de Paris. L'équipage de quatre personnes viendra notamment remplacer les deux astronautes coincés dans la Station spatiale internationale depuis la mi-juin 2024. Le départ pourra être suivi en direct.