NASA
Every Cosmic Herald story on NASA — missions, launches, discoveries, and the business of space, newest first.
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NASA & Agencies
Former SpaceX Flight Surgeon Anil Menon Set for First Launch — on a Russian Soyuz
NASA confirms astronaut Anil Menon, a former SpaceX flight surgeon and Space Force colonel, will make his first spaceflight July 14 aboard Soyuz MS-29, pending a critical spacewalk to fix the ISS robotic arm.
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Commercial
A German Space Capsule Startup Just Planted Its Flag Next to NASA Johnson — With a Full-Scale Nyx Crew Mockup
The Exploration Company opened a Houston lab with a full-scale Nyx Crew mockup and formed TEC Federal to chase U.S. government contracts, backed by ESA's LEO Cargo Return funding.
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Missions
Roman Space Telescope Stands Up at Kennedy as August 30 Launch Nears
Technicians rotated the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to vertical at Kennedy Space Center on June 25, clearing the way for final testing ahead of an August 30 Falcon Heavy launch nine months early.
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Commercial
Transporter-17: How Two Student-Built CubeSats Hitched a Ride Among 81 Satellites
SpaceX's Transporter-17 rideshare launched 81 satellites from Vandenberg on July 7, including two NASA-linked CubeSats — GRITSS and MAVERIC — built to sharpen ground-station geodesy and test magnetic navigation.
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Science & Discovery
Webb Telescope Marks Fourth Anniversary by Revealing the Hidden Heart of Centaurus A
NASA's new Webb image of Centaurus A cuts through dust to resolve individual stars in a galaxy still reeling from a 2-billion-year-old collision, marking four years of the telescope's public images.
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Commercial
ispace Buys a Ride on Starship, Betting on SpaceX to Cut the Cost of Reaching the Moon
Japan's ispace has purchased 500 kg of Starship cargo capacity for $50 million, launching a new shared-ride lunar delivery service alongside its own Ultra lander program.
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Commercial
The World's First Commercial Nuclear-Powered Satellite Just Reached Orbit
Miami-based City Labs flew its tritium-powered BOHR CubeSat on SpaceX's Transporter-17, becoming the first commercial mission to clear the FAA's NSPM-20 nuclear-launch pathway with Sandia's safety sign-off.
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Missions
Firefly Wins $13 Million NASA Contract to Build the Heat Shield for a Helicopter Swarm Bound for Mars
Firefly Aerospace will build the aeroshell for NASA's SkyFall mission, which plans to release three Ingenuity-derived helicopters mid-air over Mars in 2028 without ever landing a platform.
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Astronomy
Euclid Space Telescope Uncovers 31 Ancient Quasars, Two From the Universe's First 5 Percent
ESA's Euclid telescope has spotted 31 quasars from the early universe, including two dating to just 670 million years after the Big Bang, deepening a puzzle over how supermassive black holes grew so fast.
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Missions
CAPSTONE, the Microwave-Sized Pathfinder, Signs Off After Four Years at the Moon
NASA's CAPSTONE, the first U.S. commercial lunar mission, has wrapped its NASA-sponsored work after nearly four years, having proven a spacecraft can navigate itself near the Moon using nothing but a camera image of the Moon and Earth.
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Stargazing
July Skies: Earth's Aphelion, a Saturn-Moon Pairing, and Comet Tempel 2 Brightening
Earth swings out to its farthest point from the Sun this week even as July's night sky delivers a Moon-Saturn close pass, a four-body dawn alignment, and a comet edging toward binocular visibility.
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NASA & Agencies
Mystery Metal Spheres Wash Up on Queensland Beach — Australian Space Agency Says They're Rocket Debris
Six silver spheres that washed ashore near Townsville over the weekend are pressure vessels from a foreign rocket body, the Australian Space Agency says, warning residents not to touch any similar debris.
