Science News Roundup: SpaceX's crew rocket set for test flight; SpaceX, Boeing to be reviewed by NASA

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

SpaceX's crew rocket set for January test flight

The first flight of a SpaceX rocket tailored to fly astronauts to the International Space Station is set for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 7, NASA said on Wednesday. The launch test is a crucial milestone in the space agency's Commercial Crew Program, which aims to launch humans to space from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade.

NASA to review workplace safety culture at SpaceX, Boeing

U.S. space agency NASA said on Tuesday it would review the workplace safety culture at SpaceX and Boeing Co, as the two companies gear up to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it would conduct a "cultural assessment study" of the companies, "including the adherence to a drug-free environment," prior to crew test flights scheduled to take place in the coming months.

Radical experimental plane with no moving parts wows scientists

Some 115 years after the first powered flight, scientists have developed a radical new approach toward flying in the form of a small, lightweight and virtually noiseless aeroplane that gets airborne with no moving parts like propellers or turbine blades. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers on Wednesday described successful flight tests at an indoor campus gymnasium of the unmanned aeroplane powered not by engines that burn fossils fuels but by ion wind propulsion, also called electro-aerodynamic thrust.

Arianespace launches Morocco's second earth observation satellite

Arianespace on Wednesday launched a rocket from French Guiana carrying Morocco's second earth observation satellite, the European launch company said. The satellite, named Mohammed VI-B, was developed by Thales Alenia Space and Airbus, Arianespace said in a statement on its website.