ANN Has Withheld This ID Until Scaled Notified Families

The Scald Composites organization has officially released the names of the crew that flew SpaceShipTwo, N339SS, on its final flight. An official statement released late Saturday states, "The Scaled Composites family lost a respected and devoted colleague yesterday, Michael Alsbury, who was the co-pilot for the test flight of SpaceShipTwo. Peter Siebold, the Director of Flight Operations at Scaled Composites, was piloting SpaceShipTwo. He is alert and talking with his family and doctors. We remain focused on supporting the families of the two pilots and all of our employees, as well as the agencies investigating the accident. We ask at this time that everyone please respect the privacy of the families."

ICPS To Fly On First Orion Mission

Some elements of a rocket can be familiar, like the boosters and engines. But there are several important parts on NASA's new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), that may be less widely known. Case in point? The interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS).

Would Use Spacecraft Based On Gemini Capsule From The 1960s

A 'grassroots' company is looking for investors to help it get a nascent commercial space program off the ground.

Developing Stronger, Lighter Antenna Components For Use Off-Planet

Raug Space, with the support of Altair ProductDesign in Troy, MI has built a redesigned, optimized antenna support for an Earth observation satellite, to be produced using industrial additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. The objective was to create an aluminum component that would be significantly stiffer while at the same time lighter, taking full advantage of the design freedom afforded by 3D printing.