Every Cosmic Herald story on Thales Alenia Space — missions, launches, discoveries, and the business of space, newest first.
ESA's Space Rider test model fell to the ground over Sardinia on Oct. 6 when its main parafoil came loose during deployment, and an independent investigation is now looking at the reusable spaceplane-like vehicle's landing system ahead of a planned 2028 debut.
Read the story →Germany's OHB landed a nearly €1 billion SES contract to build all 18 IRIS² medium-Earth-orbit satellites, the first hardware award since the EU's sovereign connectivity program signed its implementation agreement in early August.
Facing scrutiny over Gateway's ballooning costs, NASA and Northrop Grumman are redirecting HALO module technology into three South Pole demo missions meant to prove out Moon Base hardware years before Gateway itself flies.
SAT 33 and SAT 34 — the final pair of first-generation Galileo satellites — have officially entered service, with SAT 34 cleared on July 23, 2026, as Europe's aging satnav fleet heads toward a heavier, electric-propulsion successor.
The Exploration Company opened a Houston lab with a full-scale Nyx Crew mockup and formed TEC Federal to chase U.S. government contracts, backed by ESA's LEO Cargo Return funding.
Axiom Space is attaching a commercial module to the International Space Station — and it's designed to eventually detach and operate as an independent station after the ISS is decommissioned. The module going up now is the foundation for the first fully private orbital outpost.
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