January 5, 2017
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News Headlines

  • Shuttle engine delivered to Orion service module assembly site

    January 2, 2017

    A former space shuttle orbital maneuvering system engine has been delivered to Germany for attachment to the European-built service module destined to steer NASA’s next Orion spacecraft on a course around the moon on an uncrewed test flight in late 2018.

  • Space station battery work starts New Year’s Eve

    January 1, 2017

    Working over the New Year holiday weekend, robot arm operators at the Johnson Space Center will begin a complex procedure to replace 12 aging batteries in the International Space Station’s solar power system with six state-of-the-art lithium-ion power packs, a multi-step process over the next two weeks that will require two spacewalks to complete.

  • Iridium satellites closed up for launch on Falcon 9 rocket

    December 30, 2016

    The first 10 satellites for Iridium’s next-generation mobile voice and data relay network have been fueled, joined with their deployment module and encapsulated inside the clamshell-like nose cone of a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster for launch as soon as next week from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

  • Internal debris may be causing problem with Mars rover’s drill

    December 29, 2016

    Engineers suspect a piece of foreign object debris may be intermittently stalling a motor needed to place the Curiosity Mars rover’s drill bit onto rocks, and the robot’s ground team is assessing the source of the potential contamination.

  • Chinese Earth observation satellites launched into lower-than-planned orbit

    December 28, 2016

    Two commercial Earth-imaging satellites launched by a Chinese Long March 2D booster Wednesday are flying in lower-than-planned orbits after an apparent rocket mishap, according to tracking data published by the U.S. military.

  • Orbital ATK has no plans to phase out seldom-used Pegasus rocket

    December 27, 2016

    The build-up of Orbital ATK’s next air-launched Pegasus XL rocket will start in the coming weeks at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and while its flight in mid-2017 is the last Pegasus launcher on the manifest with a confirmed payload, company officials are confident the unique vehicle has a future beyond next year.

  • Proton rocket’s next flight moved back to next year

    December 26, 2016

    The first launch of a Russian Proton rocket since June has been delayed until at least January to conduct additional checks on the three-stage booster and its Breeze M upper stage, Russian space officials said.

  • Piers Sellers, shuttle astronaut and renowned climate researcher, dies at 61

    December 26, 2016

    Former astronaut Piers Sellers, a British-born climate scientist who flew on three space shuttle missions to help construct the International Space Station, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61.

  • Spending Christmas in space

    December 24, 2016

    A Christmas Eve reading from the book of Genesis by the Apollo 8 astronauts — commander Frank Borman, lunar module pilot Bill Anders and command module pilot Jim Lovell — from lunar orbit in 1968.

  • Photos: Arianespace caps 2016 campaign with successful Ariane 5 flight

    December 23, 2016

    The Ariane 5 rocket’s 90th launch Wednesday carried two communications satellites to orbit to join the fleets of Embratel Star One and SKY Perfect JSAT, regional space-based telecom providers in Brazil and Japan.

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