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China Landspace Zhuque-3 Y2 Reusable Rocket: Payload Capacity Upgrades The Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket has undergone multiple technological upgrades, ranging from its nozzle to the landing legs, to boost its payload capacity, said Dai Zheng, engineering chief for the Zhuque-3. The rocket blasted off at 7:35am Beijing Time Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot…
SpaceX Starship Single Engine Static Fire Pre-flight Test#14 Ahead of SpaceX's Flight Test#14 on Thursday, August 20, 2026, "Starship completed a single engine static fire demonstrating a deorbit burn for upcoming orbital missions." Starship Flight Test#13 Summary: On Friday, July 24, 2026, at 5:51 p.m. CT, Starship lifted off from Starbase, Texas on its thirteenth flight test. This was the second…
Wide-field view: Flocculent Spiral NGC 2841 in Ursa Major | Digitized Sky Survey 2 This image shows the area around flocculent spiral galaxy NGC 2841. It is produced from Digitized Sky Survey 2 images. The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a ground-based imaging survey of the entire sky in several colors of light produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute through its Guide Star Survey group.…
Journey to Flocculent Spiral NGC 2841 in Ursa Major | Hubble Space Telescope Star formation is one of the most important processes shaping the Universe. It plays a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies and it is also in the earliest stages of star formation that planetary systems first appear. Yet there is still much that astronomers do not understand, such as how do the properties of stellar…
Close-up: Flocculent Spiral NGC 2841 in Ursa Major | Hubble Space Telescope Star formation is one of the most important processes shaping the Universe. It plays a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies and it is also in the earliest stages of star formation that planetary systems first appear. Yet there is still much that astronomers do not understand, such as how do the properties of stellar…
Flocculent Spiral NGC 2841 in Ursa Major | Hubble Space Telescope Star formation is one of the most important processes shaping the Universe. It plays a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies and it is also in the earliest stages of star formation that planetary systems first appear. Yet there is still much that astronomers do not understand, such as how do the properties of stellar nurseries…
Private Chinese firm lands Zhuque-3 reusable rocket on its legs for first time China successfully achieved its first-ever land-based recovery of a commercial first-stage booster after it launched the Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket into orbit on Wednesday morning, Aug. 19, 2026. Landing a rocket upright on its legs is incredibly difficult, a move previously mastered by only a few groups like Elon Musk's…
The California Nebula: NGC 1499 in Perseus | Kitt Peak National Observatory This "stately" nebula resides about a thousand light years away towards the outer (Orion) arm of our galaxy. The glowing portion of the nebula is around 100 light years in extent. However, this entire region is filled with galactic gas and it is a place where many massive and luminous stars have formed. This family of…
Does the Milky Way's central black hole rotate? This star could tell us | ESO Astronomers have discovered the fastest known star in our galaxy, the Milky Way, orbiting Sagittarius A*, the black hole at its center. The star, named S301, was detected with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) and it reaches speeds of more than 8% the speed of light. It comes…
China Landspace Reusable Rocket Mission Recap: Launch & First Stage Landing 🚀China achieved its first recovery of a rocket's first stage on land after launching and recovering part of the Zhuque-3 reusable rocket on Wednesday morning, Aug. 19, 2026. The Landspace Zhuque-3 (ZQ-3) Y2 rocket blasted off at 07:35 (Beijing Time) from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone in northwest…
