The OTTI effort will leverage contributions from a broader set of industry and government partners to ensure interoperability and mission realism.

TALOS simulated adaptive, machine-speed threat behaviors that enabled faster scenario development, larger-scale simulations, and more realistic missions.

The 18-month contract was awarded through a Commercial Solutions Opening aligned with the Secretary of War’s Warfighting Acquisition System transformation directive.

Space Training and Readiness Command used TALOS to collaborate with Slingshot Aerospace in refining scenarios and planning deeper AI integration into future exercises.

On January 17, the integrated Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft were transported from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Artemis II will not perform a lunar landing and will fly on a free-return trajectory between Earth and the Moon.

Artemis II represents the first crewed lunar flyby mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.

After arrival at the launch pad, the SLS will undergo a wet dress rehearsal that includes fueling and countdown procedures.

NASA is progressing major preparations for the crewed lunar flyby mission Artemis II.

The integrated SLS and Orion stack traveled approximately 4 miles (about 6.4 kilometers) from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad.

Artemis II will carry four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency—on a roughly 10-day mission to orbit the Moon.

Artemis II will test life-support systems and communications systems in deep space operational conditions.

Artemis II will demonstrate new spaceflight technologies and serve as a bridge to future lunar landing missions.

Artemis II is scheduled to launch as early as February 6 U.S. time (February 7 Japan time).

A dedicated transporter moved the integrated SLS and Orion stack at just under 1 kilometer per hour and completed the rollout in about 12 hours.

Depending on wet dress rehearsal results, the integrated SLS and Orion stack may be temporarily returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building for additional inspections.

The Apollo in Photographs books include photos of hardware being tested and assembled for Apollo missions.

J.L. Pickering, John Bisney, and Ed Hengeveld published the books Apollo 1 in Photographs, Apollo 7 in Photographs, and Apollo 8 in Photographs.

The authors plan to publish a book for each of the remaining Apollo missions.

The BBC World Service produced the podcast "13 Minutes to the Moon" in 2019 for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.

The reproduction quality of the Apollo in Photographs books is excellent and the paper quality is very good.

Each of the published Apollo in Photographs volumes is hundreds of pages thick and contains two or more photos per page.

The Apollo in Photographs books include photos of the sequence of assembling and placing the Launch Escape System atop Apollo Command Modules.

The Apollo in Photographs books include multiple photos of the Apollo 1 funeral services held at West Point and Arlington National Cemetery.

Each Apollo in Photographs book contains many hundreds of photographs.

The Apollo in Photographs books include photos of construction workers installing water pipes through a Saturn V launch pad and pumping millions of liters through those pipes to suppress rocket noise.

The Apollo in Photographs books include photos of astronauts training for many different phases of their missions.

Dwayne Day can be reached at zirconic1@cox.net.

The Apollo in Photographs books include photos of equipment being moved to Cape Canaveral prior to launch.

The Apollo in Photographs books include multiple photos from the Apollo 8 publicity shoot showing the astronauts in different moods such as smiling, bored, or annoyed.

The Rocket Lab acquisition converted a supplier execution risk for critical optical terminals into an internal integration challenge for Rocket Lab.

Rocket Lab finalized its acquisition of German laser communications manufacturer Mynaric in September 2025 for up to $150 million.

Scaling satellite constellations created bottlenecks in specialized subsystems that were concentrated among a handful of suppliers unable to deliver required volume at competitive prices.

Rocket Lab acquired Mynaric’s technology leadership, a 300-person engineering team in Munich, and manufacturing infrastructure for roughly one-quarter of Mynaric’s previous enterprise valuation, which was estimated around $300 million before financial distress.

Rocket Lab committed $75 million upfront, payable in cash or stock at its discretion, plus a $75 million earnout tied to Mynaric’s revenue performance between 2025 and 2027.

Rocket Lab paid a substantial premium to vertically integrate Mynaric in order to mitigate supplier capacity risk rather than queue for external supply.

Optical inter-satellite links produced by Mynaric are essential for Pentagon missile-tracking networks.

Mynaric emerged from German StaRUG restructuring proceedings that wiped out existing shareholders and eliminated €98 million ($105 million) in debt.

Mynaric supplied CONDOR Mk3 optical terminals for Rocket Lab’s $515 million Space Development Agency Transport Layer contract.

Rocket Lab’s broader Space Development Agency portfolio totaled $1.3 billion and included an $816 million Tracking Layer award announced in December 2025.

Shenzhou-20’s reentry module returned completed science experiments, personal items for the crews, and a Feitian (飞天航天服) spacesuit.

Recovery teams cut Shenzhou-20’s parachutes after touchdown because no taikonauts were onboard to send the parachute-cutting command.

Zhang Hongzhang is the Payload Expert for Shenzhou-21 on his first spaceflight, was born in 1986, is from Binzhou, Shandong province, was selected as part of China’s third taikonaut group in October 2020, previously worked as a researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences focusing on new materials and battery technology, and joined the Communist Party of China in 2004.

China launched the uncrewed Shenzhou-22 spacecraft to carry items to repair Shenzhou-20 for a cargo-carrying return for the Shenzhou-21 taikonauts.

Shenzhou-21 taikonauts installed a window crack repair device inside Shenzhou-20 to improve thermal protection and sealing capabilities during reentry.

The Shenzhou-21 crew of Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang remained aboard the Tiangong Space Station nearly three months into their mission while continuing to support scientific experiments and technology research.

The Feitian spacesuit returned inside Shenzhou-20’s reentry module was partially disassembled and secured to the seats to fit inside the module.

Recovery teams covered the damaged window on Shenzhou-20 after touchdown to prevent objects at the landing site from entering the window cracks ahead of a full analysis.

Wu Fei is the Flight Engineer for Shenzhou-21 on his first spaceflight, was born in 1993, is from Baotou in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was selected as part of China’s third taikonaut group in October 2020, previously worked as an engineer at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and joined the Communist Party of China in 2015.

Deliveries of Shenzhou-23 and Shenzhou-24 spacecraft and their Long March 2F/G launch vehicles were moved up by six months to be available in case of an emergency requiring a new spacecraft.