With maiden flight, ULA’s Vulcan joins 2024’s stampede to space

ULA's Vulcan launch vehicle blasts skyward for its maiden flight early Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Credit: ULA

United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan launch vehicle successfully roared aloft Monday on its maiden flight from Florida, carrying lunar payloads and keeping up a blistering pace of spaceflight that could drive 2024 past annual records for payloads sent to space and launches set in 2023. The first eight days of 2024 have seen four launches from the United States, including three by SpaceX, along with missions to orbit from India and China.

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Policy bill offers Space Force $29 billion for 2024, more flexible personnel rules

The Space Force would get $29 billion under compromise plan for 2024 included in the National Defense Authorization Act. Credit: Space Force

The Space Force would get new, more flexible personnel rules under a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets the Pentagon budget at $841 billion nest year, which was approved by lawmakers from the U.S. House and Senate. The $29 billion Space Force budget was trimmed by just over $1 billion from an earlier Pentagon request, but is boosted by $3 billion when compared to the service’s 2023 budget.

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OSIRIS-REx delivers asteroid sample after seven years in space

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned a sample from the asteroid Bennu, which could help scientists better understand the formation of the solar system. After more than a decade of planning and seven years of space flight traversing more than 1 billion miles, a sample from the asteroid Bennu safely landed on Earth.

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Spain signs up as 25th nation in Artemis pact

Officials from NASA and the U.S. State Department gathered in Madrid Tuesday as Science and Innovation Minister Diana Morant signed off for Spanish agreement to the Artemis Accords, marking the 25th nation to join the U.S.-led treaty to govern conduct in orbit and beyond.

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