The four-year-old U.S. Space Force is trying out a new organizational concept that leaders purport will provide greater readiness in the face of growing competition in the space domain.

WASHINGTON — NASA is making progress on a multibillion-dollar series of Earth science missions amid uncertainty about their funding for the next year.

WASHINGTON — Over the last six months, there has been no mistaking a louder and louder drumbeat in favor of growing the Space Force — from its mission set to its budget to its end strength. So, perhaps the key the question for the service as it enters its fourth year will be: how much growth?

In the aftermath of the space shuttle Columbia accident, NASA embarked on a grand experiment to turn over low-Earth-orbit transportation services to private companies.

As if last year’s fabulous Dual Asteroid Redirection Test firing a satellite bullet into an asteroid wasn’t enough, now researchers are doing detailed simulation of the nuclear deflection scenario envisioned in 1998 space disaster film “Armageddon.”

Another jam-packed year is in store for NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the momentum of a busy 2023 is carried forward into the new year. On the horizon are missions to the Moon, more crew and cargo flights to the International Space Station, and several upgrade projects across the spaceport