NASA in Silicon Valley Live – Air Taxis and the Future of Flight

Derrol Nail: The spotlights came on in the predawn hours of April 12th 1981, illuminating a spacecraft like no other, the space shuttle. Just before liftoff, Columbia’s crew climbed inside for the very first test flight into space. Today, we recall the amazing story of that first mission and listen to rarely-heard details from Columbia pilot Bob Crippen, next on the Rocket Ranch. Launch Countdown Sequence: EGS Program Chief Engineer, verify no constraints to launch. Three, two, one, and lift off. Welcome to space. Derrol Nail: Bob Crippen, was a rookie astronaut in 1978, when NASA assigned him and…

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, to correct that the signed contract is an unfunded Space Act Agreement, rather than a reimbursable Space Act Agreement. NASA is continuing the Astrobee mission through a collaboration with Arkisys, Inc., of Los Alamitos, California, who was awarded an unfunded Space Act Agreement to sustain and maintain the robotic platform aboard the International Space Station. As the agency returns astronauts to the Moon, robotic helpers like Astrobee could one day take over routine maintenance tasks and support future spacecraft at the Moon and Mars without relying on humans for…

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft took off for its historic first flight on Oct. 28, 2025, at 11:14 a.m. EDT from Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The one-of-a-kind aircraft flew for 67 minutes before landing and taxiing to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. NASA test pilot Nils Larson flew the X-59 up to an altitude of about 12,000 feet and an approximate top speed of 230 mph, precisely as planned. The plane’s landing gear remained down during the entire flight, a common practice for experimental aircraft flying for the first time. Now that…