Space correspondent

Liora Hale

Space desk

Liora Hale is The Gold Standard's space correspondent. Hale covers astronomy, launch windows and the work of putting hardware into orbit.

Space Desk

Roman left 39A at 7:26

Here's the clock: a SpaceX Falcon Heavy lifted NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from Launch Complex 39A at 7:26 a.m. Eastern on Sunday, 30 August. Three months and about 1.5 million kilometres to a halo orbit around Sun-Earth L2.

Liora Hale · 31 Aug 2026

Space Desk

NASA’s Starling swarm finds its orbit without GPS

NASA’s 17 August FALCON demo on the Starling CubeSat swarm matched star-tracker sightings to a ~20,000-object catalog, fixed its own orbit, and refined more than 200 others in three days. EraDrive’s Era-Core flew the software.

Liora Hale · 30 Aug 2026

Space Desk

Roman is on Falcon Heavy, nine months early

NASA and SpaceX are targeting 7:26 a.m. Eastern Sunday from 39A. The readiness date was May 2027. The fairing already says Roman.

Liora Hale · 30 Aug 2026

ArchiveSpace Desk

A Quiet Golden Age of Amateur Astronomy

Cheap sensors, dark-ish suburbs, and the unfashionable joy of looking up. Sample copy from the Space desk.

Liora Hale · 25 Aug 2026

ArchiveSpace Desk

The Moon Is Back on the Itinerary

A sample exploration essay: public agencies, commercial landers, and a destination that still deserves a headline.

Liora Hale · 24 Aug 2026

ArchiveSpace Desk

Launch Windows, Constellations, and a Sky That Feels Close

Cadence as culture. A sample dispatch on why flying often makes the night less theoretical.

Liora Hale · 23 Aug 2026