Copernical Team
Hera asteroid mission’s Mars flyby
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On Wednesday 12 March 2025 ESA’s Hera spacecraft for planetary defence performs a flyby of Mars. The gravity of the red planet shifts the spacecraft’s trajectory towards its final destination of the Didymos binary asteroid system, shortening its trip by months and saving substantial fuel.
Watch the livestream release of images from Hera’s flyby by the mission’s science team on Thursday 13 March, starting at 11:50 CET!
Hera comes to around 5000 km from the surface of Mars during its flyby. It will also image Deimos, the smaller of Mars’s two moons, from a minimum 1000 km away (while
NASA rolls out Artemis II Orion spacecraft, twin rocket boosters for moon mission
NASA on Friday rolled out the new Artemis II Orion spacecraft and twin Space Launch System solid rocket boosters that will carry astronauts in the first crewed Artemis mission around the moon.
That lunar flyby mission carrying four astronauts is set for launch in April 2026. It's a flight test mission that will pave the way for landing the first woman and the next man on the moon. Oops, we tipped it again: Mission over for sideways US lander
Intuitive Machines' second Moon mission ended in disappointment on Friday after the US company confirmed that its spacecraft had tipped over and was unable to recharge its solar-powered batteries - mirroring its first attempt last year.
It marked a premature conclusion to a mission that had sparked excitement in the space community, thanks to its cutting-edge payloads, including a futuristi The ART of training – part two
ESA’s second group of Astronaut Reserve members has successfully completed the first block of their intensive Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) programme. Starting in January 2025, four members of the European Astronaut Reserve—Meganne Christian from the UK, Anthea Comellini from Italy, John McFall from the UK and Carmen Possnig from Austria— tarted their two months training programme at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, honing essential skills required for future space exploration and scientific research.
Women powering up space
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Europe’s human spaceflight ambitions are reaching new heights, and ESA’s Astronaut Reserve is a key part of this journey. Selected in 2022, these talented individuals are undergoing Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) to ensure they are ready for future missions.
Among these remarkable women from across Europe are Meganne Christian, a materials scientist from the UK, Anthea Comellini, an aerospace engineer from Italy, and Carmen Possnig, a medical doctor from Austria, who recently completed their first ART training block at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.
Their diverse scientific backgrounds reflect the wide-ranging expertise needed for human spaceflight, whether as part of ESA’s
Close-up of Proba-3’s Coronagraph, ready to dance
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Close-up of Proba-3’s Coronagraph, ready to dance Custom Trailers: How to Save Money and Get What You Need in 2025
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In 2025, with rising material costs and evolvi Deja vu on the Moon: Private US spaceship again lands awkwardly
Second time unlucky: A US company's lunar lander appears to have touched down at a wonky angle on Thursday, an embarrassing repeat of its previous mission's less-than-perfect landing last year.
Houston-based Intuitive Machines made history in February 2024 as the first private firm to place a spaceship on Earth's nearest neighbor, though the moment was marred by Odysseus toppling over upon t European rocket successfully carries out first commercial mission
Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket successfully carried out its first commercial mission on Thursday, placing a French military satellite into orbit to give the continent a new independent access to space.
After delays including a last-minute postponement on Monday, the heavy-lift rocket blasted off into rainy skies from the Kourou space base in French Guiana.
Around an hour after the launch Musk's SpaceX faces new setback after Starship explosion
Elon Musk's SpaceX on Thursday once again lost the upper stage of its massive Starship rocket in a fiery explosion, even as the booster was successfully caught in its orbital test - a near replay of the previous attempt.
Minutes after liftoff and booster separation, a live video feed showed the upper stage tumbling uncontrollably before the signal abruptly cut.
Dramatic footage circulat