Author: FlyMarshall Newsroom

Listen to this audio excerpt from Elkin Norena, resident management officer, NASA’s Space Launch System Program: Your browser does not support the audio element. NASA’s Elkin Norena has helped the agency launch more than a dozen space shuttle missions – that’s more than a dozen crews to low Earth orbit and more than a dozen historic missions. They were missions that helped build the International Space Station, that provided a final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, and that performed critical science experiments that improved life right here on Earth. Today, he continues that work as the manager of…

The TWZ Newsletter Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. Tests of Ukraine’s new FP-7.X missile could pave the way to a cheaper and more plentiful, albeit far less capable, alternative to the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system effectors. A recent uptick in Russian missile and drone attacks against Ukraine, combined with a critical shortage of Patriot interceptors, underscores the need for more robust air defenses, especially with anti-ballistic missile capabilities. The development parallels a similar program in the United States, which seeks a drastically lower-cost interceptor for the Patriot system. A video…

The United States on Tuesday launched strikes against Iran after President Donald Trump said Tehran had shot down a U.S. Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz, deepening doubts about prospects for peace between the two countries. “The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” U.S. Central Command said on X. Trump earlier said the two U.S. pilots involved in the incident were uninjured but that the United States would respond to the attack. The Apache was brought down by a one-way Iranian attack drone, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Iran’s Foreign…

While political tensions have led to steep declines in U.S.-Canada travel, Canadian carriers say they still see growth opportunities in the U.S. CEOs at WestJet and Porter Airlines described the U.S. as a lucrative market during interviews at the sidelines of the IATA AGM in Rio de Janeiro.  WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech told Skift that the carrier had to reduce capacity in the U.S. by 25%, but the margins for the market are solid. “It’s healthy, it’s a good margin source

SpaceX is developing Starship launch infrastructure at Pad 37 and Pad 39A, also used by the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket. SpaceX launches Falcon 9s from Pad 40. United Launch Alliance flies Vulcan and Atlas V rockets from Pad 41, and Blue Origin has based its New Glenn rocket at Pad 36. Stoke and Relativity are building pads between Pad 36 and Pad 37. Credit: NASA (labels by Ars Technica) SpaceX is developing Starship launch infrastructure at Pad 37 and Pad 39A, also used by the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket. SpaceX launches Falcon 9s from Pad 40. United Launch Alliance flies…

A new type of gamma-ray sensor developed by NASA, called AstroPix, will take part in a robotic arm demonstration on the agency’s upcoming Fly Foundational Robots mission, set to launch in late 2027. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light. Scientists observe them coming from events like lightning in Earth’s atmosphere, powerful solar flares from our Sun, and cosmic collisions in distant galaxies. The sensors on the AstroPix technology demonstration are designed to measure gamma rays between 20,000 and 700,000 electron volts. For comparison, visible light’s energy falls between 2 and 3 electron volts. Current NASA missions, including the…

The TWZ Newsletter Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. A thermal image purportedly shows a previously unseen aircraft design, said to have been captured when it was flying at night over the secretive Groom Lake facility, better known as Area 51. While the quality of the image is poor due to the sensor type that was supposedly used, from what we can see, the shape seems to be a relatively close match for what we know so far about the F-47 sixth-generation stealth fighter for the U.S. Air Force. This would point…

COLOGNE, Germany — German defense leaders will go back to the drawing board in their quest for a next-generation fighter jet following the end of the once-ambitious French-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System.As the dust was still settling in Berlin from Monday’s bombshell news, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius outlined three options on Tuesday, plus a mysterious fourth path that he alluded to but left unexplained.One option consists of buying additional stealthy F-35 jets from the United States on top of the 35 already ordered, he said on the sidelines of a meeting with his Czech counterpart, Jaromír Zůna, in Berlin.German news…

Log-in here if you’re already a subscriber In 2024, Germany’s flagship electric vertical take-off and landing developers, Lilium and Volocopter, both ran out of money after failing in last-ditch attempts to secure government funding. In the midst of his campaign for federal and state loan guarantees, Lilium’s then-CEO, Klaus Roewe, argued passionately for government support. “There has never been a successful aircraft program in the world that has not been supported by the state,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post that was widely reported on at the time but since deleted. “Does Germany want to buy electric aircraft in the…

The World Cup is here. The booking surge many hotels were expecting isn’t — at least not yet. At the start of 2026, hotels hiked prices and set minimum-stay requirements in anticipation of the World Cup, according to Evan Saunders, senior vice president of travel at Azira, a consumer insights platform that works with tourism boards and hotels. By the time March rolled around, properties faced a “reality check associated with the lack of demand.”   The hope from operators is that bookings within the 16 host cities in the United States, Mexico, and Canada will spike once soccer fans know…