The "status" of something is its present condition. You can also think of it as "what's happening now". Here are some examples:

What's the status of my flight?

This question means, "Is my flight delayed? Is it on time? Or is it cancelled?"

I'll shoot Fran an e-mail and ask her what the current status of the redesign is.

This means "Is someone working on the redesign? Is it almost finished?"

The word "status" often appears along with "update".