The US Clinton Administration is willing to cancel planned non-International Space Station (ISS) shuttle flights to absorb cost overruns on the ISS, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget. Only one non-ISS Shuttle flight, to deploy the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility, is scheduled for 1999, when a total of up to six ISS flights are planned.
Source: Flight International
Orbital launch pioneer SpaceX is being contracted by the American space agency NASA to develop a so-called “US Deorbit Vehicle” that can safely return the International Space Station to Earth via controlled re-entry.
BAE Systems has completed its acquisition of Ball Aerospace, with the move further strengthening its US business presence.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has retired its Mars helicopter Ingenuity after the craft suffered damage upon landing.
