NASA's Quieter Supersonic X-59 Approved for Final Assembly

The future of supersonic flight across land will be tested with NASA X-59. (LMA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An experimental NASA aircraft designed to perform supersonic commercial travel while reducing the sound generated by sonic booms was approved for final assembly on Thursday.

The X-59, also known as the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD), is NASA’s first experimental aircraft in three decades. Aircraft construction is taking place today at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Skunk Works plant in Palmdale, California.

A $250-million contract awarded to Lockheed Martin in 2018 will see the aircraft built and tested during 2020. The X-59 is expected to make its inaugural flight from Edwards AFB, Calif. in 2021 to deem it is safe to fly.

Following a series of test flights, NASA will receive the aircraft in late-2021 to close out Phase one. Phase two will have a NASA test pilot first fly the X-59 to Mach 1 over the Edwards test range in 2022.

NASA research test pilot Jim Less is one of two pilots waiting in the wings to perform those first supersonic flight tests. “A supersonic manned X-plane,” Less said during a NASA interview. “This is probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. We’re all pretty excited.”

SpaceX Launches Dragon Resupply Craft to Space Station

SpaceX Falcon 9's CRS-19 mission launches on Dec. 5, 2019 (Atkeison)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. --  A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off into the blue skies over America's Space Coast Thursday successfully placing a resupply craft on a course toward the International Space Station.

The Dragon supply craft is making its third voyage to the space station, having flown in 2014 and 2017. Loaded with 5700 pounds of science experiments, the Dragon will spend one month docked to the station.

As the countdown reached zero, the Falcon's nine engines roared to life lifting the commerical rocket off it's seaside pad at 12:29:24 p.m. EST. The white rocket thundered into the deep blue sky riding a golden flame toward space.

Air Force's X-37B Space Shuttle Returns from Record Breaking Flight

The X-37B returns home to Cape Canaveral with a predawn landing. (USAF)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A secret military winged spacecraft glided out of Earth orbit on Sunday touching down at the Kennedy Space Center at the conclusion of a record breaking mission.

The uncrewed Air Force X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle spent 780 days in space performing detailed experiments for the military. The winged spacecraft glided on automatic from low Earth orbit to a pin-point landing at 3:51 a.m. EDT.

This flight was scheduled to deploy several small satellites and perform classified "on-orbit testing of emerging space technologies," according to the Air Force. The space plane is operated from a control room while on-orbit with an open payload bay facing Earth.

Four-Time Shuttle Astronaut Inspiring Today's Youth at SpaceCamp

Dr. Don Thomas stands near space shuttle Pathfinder in Huntsville. (Atkeison)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The early days of America's space program inspired a future four-time space shuttle astronaut who now works to inspire the youth of today to reach for their goals -- including a voyage to Mars.

Dr. Donald Thomas ventured into space during four flights on the space shuttle. Each flight was a personal hallmark of achievement and a passion he shares with children and teens around the globe.

On Friday, Thomas will visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center -- home to the popular SpaceCamp and Aviation Challenge STEM-related camps. He hopes to inspire future engineers, pilots, and astronauts on the day they graduate from SpaceCamp.

"I was inspired to become an astronaut when I was just six years-old as I watched the launch of Alan Shepard," Dr. Thomas said as he stood near a large scale mock-up of the space shuttle. "That forever changed my life and career direction and motivated me to become an astronaut."

NASA's X-57 Maxwell to Demonstrate the Benefits of Electric Propulsion

NASA's experimental aircraft will use electricity and zero gas to fly. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA is engineering an all-electric aircraft capable of flying people and cargo great distances as a futuristic, clean-energy concept becomes a reality during the coming decade.

NASA’s first piloted X-plane in two decades, the X-57 Maxwell will push the boundaries of aeronautics by creating a clean-air, low noise aircraft. Using a modified Italian Tecnam P2006T high-winged aircraft, NASA has removed its propellers and will install an experimental wing with a reduced surface area.

When testing is completed in 2020, the nearly 3,000-pound X-57 may be able to fly at a maximum altitude of 14,000-feet. Its fastest air speed is expected at about 172 m.p.h. during a cruising altitude of 8,000-feet.

Test pilots and engineers are now preparing for those first flights this autumn by working with an X-57 simulator. Pilots are learning how the unflown aircraft may react in flight and understanding possible failure modes.

Two Americans, One Russian Lift-off to the Space Station

A Soyuz FG lifts-off from Kazakhstan with a new space station crew. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Two Americans and their Russian spacecraft commander launched a top a Soyuz rocket on Thursday to begin a four-orbit voyage to catch-up with and dock to the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch, and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin will spend six-months living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory 255 miles up. Once the crew docks on Thursday evening, the station will return to a full compliment of six crew members.

A Russian Soyuz FG rocket lifted-off on March 14 -- Pi Day -- at 3:14:08 p.m. EDT (12:14 a.m. on Friday, local time) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crew's Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft is scheduled to dock at 9:06 p.m. to the space station's Rassvet module. (NASA-TV will air these events live.)

SpaceX launches Uncrewed Craft Designed to Ferry Astronauts to Space Station

A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts-off with the first crew-rated Dragon on Mar. 2 (SpaceX)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A giant leap in launching astronauts from the United States began on Saturday as a commercial rocket lifted off from America's Space Coast with a space capsule designed to fly crews to and from Earth orbit.

As NASA paves the way for humanities voyages to the moon and Mars in the coming decade, the SpaceX Crew Dragon will be used as a space taxi to ferry NASA crews to and from the International Space Station. A successful docking and return with a splashdown in the Pacific this week will set up for the first crewed mission this summer.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched into a clear midnight sky from the Kennedy Space Center's historic launch pad 39-A at 2:49 a.m. EST (March 2). Following a flawless launch, the Crew Dragon separated from the Falcon's upper stage 11-minutes later to begin a 27-hour voyage to the orbiting laboratory.