From the tragedy of the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 to the now-routine return of commercial spacecraft, heat shields—formally called thermal protection systems—are critical for protecting ...

Commercial spaceflight could be on the cusp of a boom on the eastern shores of Virginia as a company known as Rocket Lab is ramping up its operations in the state. Amid the California-based Rocket Lab ...

Rocket Lab says the fairing passed structural load tests, pressure trials, and repeated open-and-close cycles under ...