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News Archive: July 2012 - April 2013
Russian craft launched with cosmic cache of critters
Russia launched a space capsule into orbit Friday packed with mice, geckos, gerbils, snails and fish to observe how the animals fare in a one-month, roundtrip voyage into the final frontier.
FULL STORY IMAGES:SOYUZ BLASTS OFF
Cosmonaut is oldest spacewalker in history
Veteran Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov became the oldest man to walk in space Friday during an excursion outside the International Space Station to install a space weather monitor and a navigation aid for visiting European supply ships.
FULL STORY PREVIEW STORY
Umbilical glitch scrubs Antares rocket test launch
The countdown for the first launch of the Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket was halted 12 minutes before liftoff Wednesday after an Ethernet umbilical cable prematurely disconnected from the booster.
FULL STORY IMAGES:ANTARES AT NIGHT IMAGES:FIRST LAUNCH ATTEMPT IMAGES:ANTARES ROCKET ON EVE OF LAUNCH
Kepler finds its smallest habitable zone planets
Slowly but surely closing in on an answer to a fundamental question -- how common are Earth-like planets orbiting sun-like stars? -- NASA's Kepler space telescope has discovered the smallest worlds yet found orbiting in or near the habitable zones of two distant suns, researchers announced Thursday. FULL STORY
Another Atlas 5 launch campaign has commenced
Going for its fifth flight since December in an unprecedented tempo, United Launch Alliance workers have begun stacking an Atlas 5 rocket for blastoff May 15 carrying a vital satellite to replenish the Global Positioning System.
FULL STORY OUR ATLAS ARCHIVE
Antares rocket engines lean on Russian moon legacy
More than four decades ago, working under the orders of the Soviet leadership, technicians toiled in anonymity to build dozens of rocket engines to power Russian moon shots off planet Earth, intending to flaunt the supremacy of communism over capitalism.
FULL STORY
Canadian broadcast satellite launched from Baikonur
Steadily ascending for nine hours and traveling a distance to loop around the planet four times, a Russian-made rocket booster successfully deployed a Canadian telecommunications satellite into the prescribed orbit Monday night.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
Kepler reaction wheel still problematic after mitigation
NASA's Kepler telescope, peering at the sky from a vantage point more than 40 million miles from Earth, is showing troubling signs of wear and tear, and engineers are studying how to keep the planet-hunting observatory running with jittery vision.
FULL STORY
Replica space shuttle boosters rising at the Cape
Towering replicas of the twin solid-fuel booster rockets that provided the vast majority of thrust to propel space shuttles skyward are being stacked outside the new Atlantis exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
FULL STORY PHOTO GALLERY
NASA unveils 2014 budget request, asteroid initiative
The Obama administration is requesting $17.7 billion for NASA in its fiscal 2014 budget proposal, including $105 million to begin laying the groundwork for a proposed mission to robotically capture a small asteroid and move it into high Earth orbit to serve as a target for manned sample return visits in the 2020s.
FULL STORY NASA BUDGET INFO
Canada's first radar observation craft feared lost
Canada's Radarsat 1 satellite stopped communicating with Earth in late March, and officials fear the country's oldest Earth observation satellite may be lost for good, the Canadian Space Agency announced Tuesday.
FULL STORY
Planet-hunter and X-ray sensor selected by NASA
NASA will launch a planet-hunting satellite and mount an X-ray astrophysics experiment on the International Space Station in 2017, the space agency announced last week.
FULL STORY
Antares rocket moved to launch pad for test flight
Rolling out on a crisp morning on Virginia's Eastern Shore, the first Orbital Sciences Antares rocket left its hangar Saturday and was positioned on a seaside launch pad for liftoff on a test flight set for April 17.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER IMAGES:ANTARES ARRIVES AT LAUNCH PAD IMAGES:BOOSTER LIFTED VERTICAL
NASA's proposed asteroid retrieval mission outlined
NASA is working on plans to robotically capture and tow a small asteroid back to Earth's vicinity by the end of the decade, setting the stage for manned visits to learn more about the threat asteroids pose, the resources they represent and to help perfect the technology needed for eventual flights to Mars.
FULL STORY
Japan to build fleet of navigation satellites
The Japanese government has ordered three navigation satellites from Mitsubishi Electric Corp., expanding the country's program to augment GPS navigation signals for users in the Asia-Pacific region.
FULL STORY
Hunt for dark matter heats up with orbiting detector
A $2 billion cosmic ray detector attached to the International Space Station has confirmed a steady flow of antimatter positrons streaming through the solar system from all directions, possibly the tell-tale fingerprints of collisions between particles of as-yet-unseen dark matter, scientists said Wednesday.
FULL STORY
Shenzhou spacecraft arrives at Chinese launch base
The spacecraft that will carry three Chinese astronauts into orbit in June arrived at the country's remote desert launch base Sunday for final testing and flight preparations, state media reported.
FULL STORY
InSight mission to find what lies beneath Martian surface
NASA's next Mars lander will launch in 2016 to take the red planet's pulse and temperature, listening for tremors, measuring underground heat and monitoring the wobble in its rotation to answer fundamental questions about what lies beneath the desert world's rust-colored surface.
FULL STORY
Space station crew launches and docks in rapid time
A veteran Russian commander, a rookie cosmonaut and a Navy SEAL-turned-astronaut rocketed into space Thursday and glided to a smooth docking with the International Space Station less than six hours later, a record-setting rendezvous being tested to reduce the time crew members have to spend cooped up inside the cramped Soyuz ferry craft.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER
Dragon spacecraft back on land after station flight
A day after it returned to Earth from the International Space Station, SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft arrived at the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday night aboard a ship contracted to retrieve the capsule from the Pacific Ocean.
IMAGES:DRAGON IN PORT
Japan prepares for second asteroid sample return
Japanese engineers hurriedly redesigned the rock-collector and science payloads on the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft set to launch on an asteroid-sampling mission in late 2014, hoping to trump a problem which limited the load of asteroid rock fragments brought home by a preceding mission.
FULL STORY
SpaceX brings home Dragon with 2,700 pounds of cargo
A suite of refrigerated biomedical research samples and other equipment traveled from the International Space Station back to Earth on Tuesday, nestled inside a commercial Dragon spaceship completing a 25-day resupply flight to the orbiting scientific laboratory.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER DEPARTURE AND ENTRY TIMELINE RETURN CARGO MANIFEST DRAGON FACT SHEET
Proton/Breeze M blasts off with Mexican satellite
Russia's Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage, a major player in the global commercial launch market, returned to service Tuesday with the successful launch of a Mexican communications satellite designed to bridge the Americas.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER VIDEO:PROTON ROLLOUT
Galleries capture splendid views of Atlas launch
Relive this week's spectacular liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, leaving Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 atop 860,000 pounds of thrust carrying the second Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous satellite, or SBIRS GEO 2, for the U.S. military's network of missile early-warning detection spacecraft.
IMAGES:UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE GALLERY IMAGES:BIONETICS PHOTO SERVICES GALLERY
Planck reveals big bang's fireball in hi-def
The cosmic microwave background - the cooling fireball of the big bang - has been observed in greater detail than ever before by the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft.
FULL STORY
U.S. lab produces first plutonium in 25 years
For the first time in 25 years, the United States is producing plutonium fuel to power spacecraft on missions beyond Earth, replenishing a dwindling stockpile to supply NASA's next Mars rover and other proposed probes.
FULL STORY
GRAIL impact craters spotted by lunar orbiter
Scientists using images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have found scars on the moon's surface left by the planned impact of two gravity-mapping satellites in December.
FULL STORY
NASA conquers Curiosity computer concerns
Sidelined by computer glitches since late February, NASA's Curiosity rover is on track to resume research on Mars after exiting a science-halting safe mode, officials said Tuesday.
FULL STORY
ExoMars agreement signed by ESA and Russia
Ending more than a year of negotiations and formalities, top space officials from Russia and Europe signed an agreement Thursday to partner on a pair of robotic probes to Mars set to launch in 2016 and 2018.
FULL STORY
First launch of Antares rocket set for April
Officials have set April 16 as the earliest possible launch date for the first flight of the privately-developed Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Va. Orbital Sciences Corp. designed the Antares launcher to supply cargo to the International Space Station.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
Soyuz lands with three-man space station crew
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft streaked through the atmosphere, descended through thick fog under a parachute, and landed on the snowy steppes of Central Asia on Friday night, returning a NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts home after 144 days in space.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER
Largest space telescope to lose infrared vision
The infrared eyes of Europe's Herschel observatory are about to go dark, but the space-based telescope will leave a legacy of data to keep astronomers occupied for years to come.
FULL STORY IMAGES:HIGHLIGHTS FROM HERSCHEL
Mars rover finds habitable environment in distant past
Analyzing powdered samples drilled from the interior of a sedimentary rock, the Curiosity Mars rover has detected traces of the chemicals and compounds necessary for a habitable environment in the red planet's distant past, scientists reported Tuesday.
FULL STORY
Special event planned at the Cape for Atlas 5 launch
United Launch Alliance will give members of the public an unprecedented glimpse behind the scenes during one of its Atlas 5 rocket flights in support of national security and a front-row seat to the blastoff next week.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
Grasshopper's latest test reaches 24 stories high
SpaceX's reusable rocket testbed completed another brief hop at a Texas test facility last week, rising 24 stories into the air and landing on its launch pad.
FULL STORY - with video!
Atlas 5 fitted with satellite payload for next launch
An Air Force surveillance satellite and its United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 booster were joined together Thursday as the duo targets a March 19 blastoff from Cape Canaveral.
FULL STORY OUR ATLAS ARCHIVE
Mars predicted to get close call from comet in 2014
A newly-discovered comet is predicted to make a close flyby of Mars in October 2014, perhaps zipping just 31,000 miles from the red planet's surface.
FULL STORY
A window into Europa's ocean right at the surface
If you could lick the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa, you would actually be sampling a bit of the ocean beneath. A new paper details the strongest evidence yet that salty water from the vast liquid ocean beneath Europa's frozen exterior actually makes its way to the surface.
FULL STORY
Crew approved for fast approach to space station
The next three residents launched to the International Space Station will reach their new home six hours after blastoff, flying an express rendezvous with the complex and reducing the crew's time in the cramped confines of the Soyuz capsule.
FULL STORY
More Curiosity computer troubleshooting on tap
Work to carry out what amounts to an electronic brain transplant aboard the Curiosity Mars rover -- a complex sequence of steps to switch operations to a backup flight computer -- is continuing this week amid ongoing analysis to figure out how to resolve memory corruption discovered last week in the rover's active computer.
FULL STORY
Dragon cargo ship reaches destination after shaky start
Running one day late after a propulsion problem thwarted plans for a fast-track rendezvous Saturday, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft and its 2,300 pounds of supplies arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday.
FULL STORY IMAGES:DRAGON ARRIVES AT SPACE STATION
Curiosity rover suffers computer glitch on Mars
Space radiation may be to blame for corrupted memory used by the Curiosity Mars rover's flight computer, resulting in software glitches that interrupted the flow of science data Wednesday and prompted ground controllers to switch over to a redundant computer Thursday, NASA officials said.
FULL STORY
SpaceX, NASA confident in Falcon 9 rocket engines
Exquisite analysis and extensive testing by SpaceX engineers, with support and advice from NASA experts, showed a dramatic engine failure on the company's last launch was caused by a material flaw in the engine's protective jacket, a SpaceX official said Thursday.
FULL STORY
Private Mars mission: Inspiring or foolhardy?
The self-made millionaire who paid for his own trip to the International Space Station a decade ago as the world's first orbital tourist wants to send a two-person crew on a 501-day flyby of Mars in 2018, skimming a mere 100 miles above the red planet's surface before looping back for a high-stakes return to Earth.
FULL STORY
Smartphone satellite calls home from final frontier
Soaring 500 miles above Earth, a tiny British satellite built around a commercial smartphone was calling back to Earth on Tuesday, one day after launching from India.
FULL STORY - with video!
U.S. radar to probe oceans on Jupiter's icy moons
NASA will provide key components for an ice-piercing radar aboard Europe's Jupiter orbiter, helping scientists resolve the thickness and internal structure of ice sheets covering the giant planet's moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
FULL STORY
Seven satellites launch from India, blazing trail of firsts
India's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted seven satellites into orbit Monday, bolstering global ocean research, space surveillance, and taking miniature technology to new heights.
FULL STORY - with video!
Falcon 9 rocket fires engines in preflight test
SpaceX engineers hoisted a Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad, filled the launcher with liquid propellant, and fired the booster's nine main engines Monday, crossing off a big item on the rocket's preflight checklist ahead of its planned launch Friday.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER
Canadian asteroid-hunting satellite to launch Monday
A small satellite built in Canada is stowed for liftoff from India on Monday on a mission to spot asteroids, especially the kind posing a hazard to Earth.
FULL STORY
Commercial crew program threatened by budget cuts
Automatic spending cuts due to go into effect March 1 would likely extend U.S. reliance on Russia for human spaceflight, delay development of badly-needed next-generation weather satellites, and force a reduction in radar scans searching for space debris, according to Obama administration officials.
FULL STORY
Antares rocket engines ignite for 29-second hot fire
Orbital Sciences Corp. conducted a successful engine test of its Antares rocket Friday, demonstrating the booster's dual-engine first stage on a Virginia launch pad and clearing a hurdle before the rocket's first flight in April.
FULL STORY - with video! MISSION STATUS CENTER
Delta 2 rocket gets another launch order from NASA
NASA has boosted its future plans using the venerable Delta 2 rocket, announcing Friday it would buy a fourth vehicle for upcoming Earth science research projects.
FULL STORY
SpaceX launch week begins with static fire Monday
SpaceX engineers will spend the next week testing its next Falcon 9 rocket and packing its privately-built Dragon spaceship with supplies and experiments before the next commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station blasts off March 1.
FULL STORY
Kepler telescope spots smallest exoplanet yet
NASA's Kepler spacecraft, patiently measuring the light of distant suns to find the tell-tale dimming caused by the passage of unseen planets, has discovered a solar system 210 light years from Earth with the smallest planet yet found orbiting another sun-like star, NASA announced Wednesday.
FULL STORY
Curiosity drill delivers first sample in major milestone
The Curiosity rover's powerful impact drill has successfully collected its first subsurface sample, about a tablespoon of powdered rock that will be fed into the spacecraft's on-board laboratory instruments for detailed chemical analysis, project officials said Wednesday.
FULL STORY
Atlas 5 rocket preparing for its third launch of the year
After successfully carrying out two high-profile satellite launches for NASA in the opening weeks of the year, the Atlas 5 rocket program has stacked its third booster of 2013 to deploy a critical missile-warning spacecraft for the Pentagon.
FULL STORY OUR ATLAS ARCHIVE
Russian meteor unleashed biggest blast in a century
A meteoric blast over Russia on Friday was the biggest in more than 100 years, according to scientists, releasing 500 kilotons of energy, shattering windows, and injuring more than 1,000 people.
FULL STORY
Asteroid misses Earth
A 150-foot-wide asteroid buzzed by Earth on Friday, safely flying 17,000 miles away and threading through a cloud of satellites surrounding the planet. The flyby was a near-miss in cosmic terms, and it's the closest-ever buzz by Earth of a known asteroid. Another object, unrelated to the asteroid, streaked over Russia on Friday, leaving light damage and injuries in its wake.
NO THREAT FROM ASTEROID METEOR STREAKS OVER RUSSIA
Proton/Breeze M mishap blamed on warm propellant
Engineers blame the December launch failure of a Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage on bearing damage from overheated propellant ingested into the Breeze M main engine, according to a statement issued Thursday by International Launch Services.
FULL STORY
Sea Launch optimistic despite troubled February
Sea Launch says it is committed to returning to operations despite a rocket failure and a lawsuit filed against the firm's owners and suppliers by Boeing, a minority shareholder and builder of the company's payload fairings.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER
This is the United Launch Alliance highlights film from Monday's Atlas 5 rocket flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base that deployed the next Landsat Earth-resources satellite.
PHOTOS: ULA Atlas 5 rocket puts Landsat into orbit
Looking back to Monday's successful Atlas 5 rocket launch, take a look at the tower rollback event and the liftoff through these photo galleries.
IMAGES:GANTRY ROLLBACK IMAGES:LAUNCH PAD CAMERAS
Orbital expects another hot fire attempt next week
The next hot fire attempt for the Antares rocket's first stage could come within a week, leading to the privately-developed launcher's first test flight in early April, the chief executive of Orbital Sciences said Thursday. An attempt Wednesday was aborted just 1.5 seconds before ignition of the rocket's main engines.
FULL STORY
Reg Turnill, 1915-2013
Reginald Turnill, BBC Aerospace correspondent during the dawn of the space age and the world's oldest working space reporter, has died. He would have been 98 in May.
FULL STORY
Commercial Proton flights cleared to resume in March
An anomaly during a December Proton rocket launch of a Russian communications satellite was likely caused by the failure of a bearing inside the launcher's Breeze M upper stage, ultimately leading the launcher to release its commercial payload in the wrong orbit, International Launch Services announced Tuesday.
FULL STORY
Russians launch space station resupply ship
Dispatching a freighter filled with food, fuel and supplies to the International Space Station, a Russian Soyuz booster launched Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a six-hour trek to the orbiting outpost.
FULL STORY
Curiosity collects powder sample in first drill on Mars
NASA's Curiosity rover used its hammering, rotating drill Friday to extract the first powdery samples from within fine-grained sedimentary bedrock, giving scientists their first chance to analyze material from inside a rock on Mars.
FULL STORY IMAGES:DRILL PHOTOS AND ANIMATION
Study shows Earth-like planets likely commonplace
A new study indicates some 60 percent of the galaxy's most ubiquitous stars likely host planets smaller than Neptune and about 6 percent host Earth-size worlds orbiting in the so-called "Goldilocks" zone where liquid water -- and life as we know it -- are possible, astronomers announced Wednesday.
FULL STORY
Six new Globalstar satellites ride Soyuz rocket to orbit
Launching into a clear dark sky over the deserts of Kazakhstan, a Soyuz booster rocketed into space Wednesday with six satellites for Globalstar's mobile communications network.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER VIDEO:LAUNCH REPLAY VIDEO:SOYUZ ROLLOUT
NASA exercises caution before Curiosity's first drill
Six months after dropping to the surface of Mars suspended under a rocket pack resembling a sci-fi creation, NASA's Curiosity rover is preparing to drill into a slab of rock holding clues of the planet's watery past.
FULL STORY
One Earth-imager deferred in favor of another
As anticipated, a commercial Earth-imaging satellite making its way through final testing for a planned springtime launch atop an Atlas 5 rocket from California instead will enter prolonged storage after a major merger in the industry.
FULL STORY
TDRS K satellite begins maneuvering plan
NASA's newest communications relay satellite, launched from Cape Canaveral last Wednesday, has begun maneuvering itself towards geosynchronous orbit over the Pacific Ocean.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
Remembering Columbia
As some might reckon it, the beginning of the end for NASA's space shuttle program came 10 years ago Friday, at 8:48:39 a.m. EST on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003.
FULL STORY
Sea Launch rocket, Intelsat satellite fall into Pacific
A commercial Zenit 3SL rocket operated by Sea Launch fell into the equatorial Pacific Ocean moments after lifting off from a mobile platform Friday, destroying the Ukrainian booster and an Intelsat communications satellite.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER LAUNCH TIMELINE
This is the United Launch Alliance highlights film from Wednesday's Atlas 5 rocket flight from Cape Canaveral that deployed NASA's TDRS K communications satellite.
Additional coverage for subscribers: VIDEO:
ATLAS 5 ROCKET LAUNCHES TDRS K PLAY | HI-DEF SUBSCRIBE NOW
Lockheed Martin joins Dream Chaser program
Lockheed Martin has joined Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser team, officials announced Wednesday. The aerospace giant will manufacture the Dream Chaser's composite structure and assist with safety certification.
FULL STORY
Kepler resumes data collection after safe mode
NASA's Kepler telescope has resumed its quest for planets around other stars after 10 days off to rest the spacecraft's suspect reaction wheels, officials announced Tuesday.
FULL STORY
South Korea, Russia partner for historic satellite launch
South Korea officials said Wednesday they succeeded in launching a small satellite aboard part-Russian, part-Korean rocket, marking the first time the rising Asian power has launched a spacecraft into orbit from its own soil.
FULL STORY LAUNCH PREVIEW
Launch of Israeli satellite assigned to SpaceX
A Falcon 9 rocket will launch Israel's Amos 6 communications satellite from Cape Canaveral in 2015, SpaceX and Israeli satellite operator Spacecom announced Tuesday.
FULL STORY
Reconnaissance satellites launched by H-2A rocket
Japan launched two spy satellites Sunday to collect sharp imagery for the government's defense and intelligence agencies, continuing a series of clandestine space missions devised to keep track of North Korean military activity.
FULL STORY
Satellite refueling testbed completes demo in orbit
Using a robotic system mounted outside the International Space Station, NASA and Canadian engineers this week completed a first-of-its-kind refueling demonstration that could change the way operators manage fleets of orbiting satellites.
FULL STORY
NASA signs on to European dark energy mission
NASA has agreed to provide infrared detectors for the European Space Agency's Euclid dark energy mission, a contribution worth approximately $50 million which buys U.S. scientists membership in a consortium of researchers steering the project's scientific objectives.
FULL STORY
Atlas rocket and Landsat joined together for launch
Trekking over the hilly landscape of Vandenberg Air Force Base Friday morning, the next satellite in a four-decade line of Landsat observatories monitoring Earth's resources from space was hauled to its launch pad and mounted atop an Atlas 5 rocket.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE GROUND TRACK MAP OUR ATLAS ARCHIVE
Kepler telescope's pointing system under scrutiny
NASA's planet-finding Kepler space telescope has suspended operations this week after a telemetry signature showed rising levels of friction in one of the spinning reaction wheels responsible for pointing the observatory toward its astronomical targets.
FULL STORY
Opportunity rover moves into 10th year of operations
Designed to operate for at least 90 days on the surface of Mars, project engineers had high hopes that one or both of the Mars Exploration Rovers -- Spirit and Opportunity -- would manage to survive a bit longer than that as they creeped across the red planet looking for signs of a watery past. FULL STORY
Workers to add structural braces to Orion spacecraft
Engineers plan to beef up the structure of the first space-bound Orion spacecraft after discovering cracks in testing last year, but officials say the extra work should not delay preparations for the capsule's first orbital test flight in 2014.
FULL STORY
Another company envisions mining asteroid resources
Hoping to take the commercialization of space to a higher level, a second company has jumped into what the founders hope will be a lucrative emerging market, prospecting for raw materials among near-Earth asteroids using fleets of low-cost robotic spacecraft, senior executives said Tuesday.
FULL STORY
Mars rover, future astronaut craft in inaugural parade
A pair of high-profile NASA projects -- the nuclear-powered Mars Curiosity rover and Orion deep-space capsule -- were showcased Monday in Washington during the inaugural parade, gaining visibility in the nation's capital.
PHOTO GALLERY
NASA satellite attached to booster rocket for launch
NASA's next-generation communications satellite was mounted atop the Atlas 5 rocket Sunday, kicking off the final week of preparations to send the science-relay spacecraft into orbit.
FULL STORY
ESA module to power Orion deep space capsule
The European Space Agency will supply the service module that will power an initial unmanned test flight of NASA's Orion deep space exploration capsule in 2017 and provide components for a second, manned mission in 2021 under an agreement discussed Wednesday at the Johnson Space Center.
FULL STORY
Bigelow inflatable module bound for space station
An innovative inflatable module developed by a Las Vegas hotel entrepreneur will be attached to the International Space Station in 2015 for a two-year test run to evaluate the technology's performance in the harsh environment of space, NASA and company officials announced Wednesday.
FULL STORY
Rover finds intriguing rocks indicative of watery past
The Curiosity Mars rover has found intriguing veined rocks just below tilted cross-bedded layers indicating water once flowed and "percolated" through fractured terrain near the landing site in Gale Crater, scientists said Tuesday, additional evidence of a watery past on the red planet.
FULL STORY OUR CURIOSITY ARCHIVE
Trio of military satellites launched by Russia
Russia sent three military communications satellites into orbit Tuesday aboard a converted ballistic missile launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, marking the first space launch of 2013.
FULL STORY
NASA picks its reps on new space station crews
NASA has assigned three former space shuttle astronauts and a spaceflight rookie -- Steve Swanson, Barry Wilmore, Terry Virts and Reid Wiseman -- to upcoming tours-of-duty aboard the International Space Station in 2014 and 2015.
FULL STORY
NASA communications satellite readied for launch
The first spacecraft in NASA's third generation of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites has been tested and fueled in preparation for its trek to orbit Jan. 29. Reporters and photographers got to see the craft Friday in the cleanroom facilities at the Astrotech complex in Titusville, Florida.
PHOTO GALLERY
Company test pilots slated for first commercial flights
The first American rockets and spacecraft to fly in the wake of the shuttle's retirement will be crewed by company test pilots -- not NASA astronauts -- in part to give space agency managers better insight into flight readiness and safety, officials said Wednesday.
FULL STORY WEDNESDAY'S BRIEFING CHARTS (.pdf file)
No shortage of work and launches for Eastern Range
While Kennedy Space Center has shipped out the space shuttles to retirement homes and NASA awaits arrival of its heavy-lift rocket later in the decade, launch pads across the river at Cape Canaveral continue to send boosters to Earth orbit and beyond.
FULL STORY
Scientists losing hope of reviving French telescope
Scientists are losing optimism in the recovery of a French planet-hunting space telescope that suddenly stopped producing science data in November.
FULL STORY
Atlas 5 rocket assembled for its Jan. 29 launch
United Launch Alliance over the weekend completed building up the Atlas 5 rocket that will carry NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite K into orbit later this month.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
Vietnamese satellite booked for second Vega launch
Vietnam's first Earth observation satellite will be launched in April on the second flight of Europe's Vega launcher, Arianespace announced Friday.
FULL STORY
Obama signs law easing satellite export controls
President Barack Obama on Thursday signed legislation allowing the White House to remove satellite technology from a list of export-controlled munitions and other military-grade components, clearing a competitive hurdle for U.S. satellite manufacturers in the global marketplace.
FULL STORY
Stacking of Atlas 5 rocket begins for NASA launch
Cape Canaveral's 2013 launch season began taking shape today as technicians started assembling the Atlas 5 rocket for the year's first Space Coast mission -- delivery of a NASA communications satellite into orbit on Jan. 29.
FULL STORY
U.S. space programs get reprieve from budget cuts
NASA and U.S. military space programs, along with all other government agencies, were granted a two-month reprieve from massive budget cuts when Congress passed a bill Tuesday to put off the across-the-board spending reductions and extend current tax rates for most Americans.
FULL STORY
2012: The year that shipped out the space shuttles
The photography highlight throughout 2012 was the delivery of the space shuttle orbiters to their final resting places, and Spaceflight Now's team captured some remarkable shots along the way. Here's our favorite shots from the past year of Discovery going to the Smithsonian, Endeavour heading west to Los Angeles and Atlantis transferring to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
IMAGES:PHOTO GALLERY
SpaceX, Orbcomm renegotiate launch contract
SpaceX and Orbcomm Inc. have agreed to new contract terms for the launch of 18 data communications satellites beginning in mid-2013, according to a filing with a U.S. regulatory agency.
FULL STORY
House passes bill to rename NASA facility for Armstrong
The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday passed a bill that would rename NASA's aeronautics facility at Edwards Air Force Base in California after Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon.
FULL STORY
KSC museum gets makeover ahead of Atlantis opening
Tourists coming to America's spaceport at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex are being greeted by a modernized entrance, a facelift officially unveiled Thursday as part of the park's expansion in the coming years.
FULL STORY IMAGES:PHOTO GALLERY
Scientists seek rock target for Mars rover's drill
At the top of the Curiosity rover's to-do list next year is the first use of its rock-boring drill, allowing scientists to examine samples from inside Martian rocks with the robot's instrument suite.
FULL STORY
Christmas in space
Aboard the International Space Station, the six-man Expedition 34 crew celebrated Christmas through song and downlink messages of cheer for flight controllers. The video is posted here for Spaceflight Now+Plus subscribers.
Additional coverage for subscribers: VIDEO:
CHRISTMAS ABOARD THE SPACE STATION PLAY | HI-DEF SUBSCRIBE NOW
Merry Christmas and season's greetings!
Soyuz capsule docks to the International Space Station
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft glided to a smooth holiday docking with the International Space Station Friday, bringing three fresh crew members to the lab complex after a two-day orbital chase.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER - live coverage! STORE:CREW PATCH (free U.S. shipping!)
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SOYUZ DOCKS TO THE SPACE STATION PLAY SUBSCRIBE NOW
Next Landsat shipped to Vandenberg for launch
Trucking across the southwestern United States, the next civilian remote-sensing spacecraft in a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey arrived Wednesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base for launch in February.
FULL STORY OUR ATLAS ARCHIVE
Ariane 5 completes dual launch for UK, Mexico
An Ariane 5 rocket, launching for the seventh time this year, lifted off from French Guiana on Wednesday with a secure communications satellite for the British armed forces and an all-purpose broadcasting platform for the Mexican government.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER PREVIEW STORY LAUNCH TIMELINE IMAGES:ARIANE 5 ROLLOUT ARIANE ARCHIVE
Soyuz blasts off with crew bound for space station
Braving arctic temperatures and a brutal wind chill, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft roared to life and streaked smoothly into orbit Wednesday, carrying a veteran three-man crew on a two-day flight to the International Space Station.
FULL STORY PREVIEW STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER - live coverage! EARLIER CREW ARRIVAL STORY
Additional coverage for subscribers: VIDEO:
FULL LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY | HI-DEF VIDEO:
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DONNING THE SOKOL SPACESUITS PLAY | HI-DEF VIDEO:
LAUNCH MORNING TRADITIONS PLAY | HI-DEF
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POST-ROLLOUT NASA INTERVIEWS PLAY | HI-DEF VIDEO:
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NASA's TDRS K shipped to the Cape for Jan. 29 launch
The next addition to NASA's constellation of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, landing Tuesday aboard a military transport aircraft after a cross-country ride inside a shipping container from Boeing's factory in Los Angeles.
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Turkish imaging satellite lifted to orbit by China
China launched a Turkish reconnaissance satellite Tuesday to supply optical imagery for civilian users and defense forces, according to media reports.
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Chinese craft encounters asteroid Toutatis
China's Chang'e 2 probe, repurposed for an extended mission after surveying the moon, flew by asteroid Toutatis last week and returned the first up-close photos of the potato-shaped object.
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Twin GRAIL satellites make pinpoint crash into moon
Engineers guided NASA's twin GRAIL lunar gravity probes into a ridge near the moon's north pole Monday, using the mission's final moments for technical experiments and honoring the legacy of late astronaut Sally Ride.
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This is the United Launch Alliance highlights film from Tuesday's Atlas 5 rocket flight from Cape Canaveral that deployed the reusable X-37B spaceplane into orbit.
Thales 'confident' in recovery of Russian satellite
A communications satellite owned by a division of Gazprom, the Russian oil and gas producer, is steadily moving toward its operational orbit after a Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage deployed the craft in an unplanned orbit Saturday, according to industry officials.
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Atlas 5 serves as mini space shuttle's booster rocket
A miniature military space shuttle that circled the world for 224 days on a shakedown cruise in 2010 rocketed back into orbit Tuesday to demonstrate the reusability of the X-37B spaceplane.
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NASA kicks off commercial crew certification process
NASA has awarded contracts to Boeing Co., SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. to begin the process of ensuring commercial crew spacecraft meet the space agency's stringent safety standards for human spaceflight.
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North Korea puts satellite in orbit, prompting outrage
North Korea launched a three-stage rocket Wednesday and appeared to deploy an object in orbit, according to the U.S. military, catapulting the isolated nation into an elite club and raising international concerns over the country's long-range missile strike capabilities.
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Investigation finds Delta 4 rocket engine issue
The Delta 4 rocket's cryogenic upper stage persevered through a fuel leak and the resulting low-thrust condition by autonomously engaging techniques that kept the mission on track to successfully launch a Global Positioning System satellite in October.
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Russian satellite launch fails to reach proper orbit
The Russian space industry suffered another malfunction Saturday when the upper stage of the heavy-lift Proton rocket failed to perform the full duration of its final boost-burn, leaving a domestic telecommunications satellite in a lower-than-planned orbit at the end of a 9-hour flight from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
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Opportunity rover beginning study of Martian clays
NASA's Opportunity mission, laboring halfway around Mars from the headline-stealing Curiosity rover, is giving geologists their first up-close glimpse of Martian clays, leftovers from an ancient watery environment on the red planet.
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Next space station crew to write history for Canada
The next international crew destined to live aboard the space station, including the first Canadian that will command the complex, flew to the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Thursday to begin final preparations for launch.
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Scars from MSL cruise stage and balance weights located
A sharp-eyed camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has located the impact scars left by components jettisoned from the Curiosity rover on its hellish descent to the Martian surface in August.
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SpaceX books first two launches with U.S. military
SpaceX has received its first launch orders from the U.S. military, netting contracts worth $262 million for two Falcon rocket launches in 2014 and 2015, the company announced Wednesday.
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Scott Kelly prepared for yearlong space station flight
When astronaut Scott Kelly told his nine-year-old daughter he was going to spend a full year aboard the International Space Station, she exclaimed "awesome!" When cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko told his wife the same thing, "she started crying."
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NASA unveils new Mars rover mission for 2020
In an ongoing effort to restructure its Mars exploration program in the wake of deep budget cuts announced earlier this year, NASA announced plans Tuesday to send a new $1.5 billion rover to the red planet in 2020 based on the design of the agency's hugely successful Curiosity.
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California Atlas 5 prepares for its first NASA launch
NASA's first Atlas 5 rocket on the West Coast underwent a practice launch day and fueling exercise Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
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Voyager 1 cruising along magnetic highway
The Voyager 1 spacecraft, sailing through the unexplored frontier of the solar system, has detected a new region of space at the enigmatic boundary between the sun's sphere of influence and the interstellar medium, scientists said Monday.
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Air Force awards up to $900 million in launch contracts
The U.S. Air Force has selected SpaceX, Orbital Sciences Corp., and Lockheed Martin Corp. to launch small military satellites on multiple missions through 2017, the Defense Department announced Monday.
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Curiosity soil analysis not definitive on organics yet
Despite widespread speculation about a potentially significant discovery on Mars, the Curiosity rover's first detailed look at a martian soil sample with an instrument capable of detecting organic compounds has not found any "definitive" signs of materials that play key roles in biological processes on Earth, scientists said Monday.
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Sea Launch flies new Eutelsat satellite to space
Replacing the international communications satellite deployed by the maiden Delta 4 rocket a decade ago, a Sea Launch booster carrying the Eutelsat 70B spacecraft blasted off from its floating pad in the Pacific on Monday.
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NASA procures satellites for new gravity mission
NASA is moving forward with plans to build and launch two new satellites to replace the aging GRACE gravity-mapping mission, and the space agency has commissioned EADS Astrium to build the spacecraft for the joint U.S.-German project. FULL STORY
It's our birthday!
Saturday marked the 13th anniversary of Spaceflight Now's launch onto the Internet. We have covered hundreds of rocket launches, flyout of the space shuttle program and robotic expeditions across the solar system. Thanks to all our readers for visiting the site every day!
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NASA still making the case for commercial crew
NASA's top administrators, baffled by continued congressional resistance to funding the agency's commercial crew program, this week said supporters should revamp how they advocate for privatized human spaceflight. FULL STORY
Shuttle Atlantis lifted, tilted in new museum home
It is a space shuttle orbiter like you've never seen before -- wrapped in a plastic cocoon, perched atop pedestals and tilted at a steep angle -- while construction crews finish building a massive exhibit hall around the spaceship.
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NASA orbiter finds vast ice deposits on Mercury
NASA's Messenger spacecraft has found strong evidence for vast ice deposits in ultra-cold, permanently shadowed craters near the poles of hellish Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet, scientists said Thursday.
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South Korea scraps second attempt to launch rocket
South Korea scrubbed a second attempt Thursday to send a research satellite into orbit when engineers detected a problem in the rocket's steering system shortly before liftoff. FULL STORY
AsiaSat taps Sea Launch as backup for SpaceX missions
AsiaSat and Sea Launch announced an agreement Wednesday to give the Hong Kong-based satellite operator a backup launch opportunity for one of two payloads currently booked to fly on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. FULL STORY
Photos: Soyuz reaches French Guiana launch pad
Russian engineers set up a Soyuz rocket on a South America launch pad this week ahead of a mission Friday to loft a French high-resolution imaging satellite. These photos show the railway rollout of the venerable Russian booster and attachment of its Pleiades 1B satellite payload. IMAGES:SOYUZ MOVED TO LAUNCH PAD IMAGES:PLEIADES 1B INTEGRATED WITH ROCKET PDF DOWNLOAD:MISSION PRESS KIT
NASA downplays rumors of major Mars rover discovery
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has sparked the curiosity of the media and the blogosphere, with widespread speculation as to whether one of its laboratory instruments has made a major discovery in the quest to find out if the red planet ever hosted a habitable environment. FULL STORY
Cassini watches the seasonal impacts on Titan
Climatic processes on Saturn's moon Titan are being explored like never before courtesy of the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around the ringed planet.
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NASA seeks ideas to use Hubble-class spy telescopes
NASA is asking scientists to submit ideas on how to use two optical telescopes originally built for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government's spy satellite agency, in a request for information solicitation released Tuesday. FULL STORY
Europe eyes commercial demo of electric propulsion
The European Space Agency will pursue a public-private partnership to develop and demonstrate all-electric propulsion on a commercial communications satellite, answering a call from operators seeking lower launch costs and longer satellite lifetimes.
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Civil communications satellite launched by China
A Long March rocket placed a Chinese-owned, European-built telecommunications satellite in orbit Tuesday to serve customers in a swath of the Asia-Pacific with television broadcasting, broadband multimedia and data transmission services.
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Crew selected for one-year space station expedition
NASA and Russia have selected Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, two veteran space fliers, for a yearlong mission on the International Space Station beginning in 2015, officials announced Monday.
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Military communications satellites go into service
Two sophisticated U.S. military communications satellites launched earlier this year for distinctly different missions have entered initial service lives in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above Earth.
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Cracks discovered in Orion capsule's pressure shell
Three cracks appeared in NASA's first space-bound Orion crew exploration vehicle during a proof pressure test this month, according to agency officials, but the anomaly and anticipated repairs are not expected to impact the schedule for the capsule's first orbital test flight in late 2014.
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Long March rocket flies with naval surveillance mission
China launched a Long March rocket Sunday and successfully orbited a Yaogan observation satellite believed to be on a naval surveillance mission, according Chinese state media and independent analysts.
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ESA member states fund Orion service module
Buoyed by a surprise investment from Britain, the European Space Agency secured approval from its member states on Wednesday to develop a service module for NASA's Orion deep space exploration vehicle, giving the continent a stake in human missions beyond low Earth orbit.
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European ministers decide to stick with Ariane 5
Reaching a consensus that at times seemed improbable, Germany, France and other European countries on Wednesday agreed to upgrade the Ariane 5 rocket and advance the design of its replacement - a smaller, simpler, and less expensive launcher predicted to be flight-ready by 2021.
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European states accept Russia as ExoMars partner
One year after NASA pulled out of the project, European governments have approved a partnership with Russia on the ExoMars mission, which aims to send the next rover to Mars in 2018, according to European Space Agency officials.
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Photos: The safety cavern under Apollo launch pads
Submerged beneath the concrete of Kennedy Space Center's launching pad that sent humans to the moon resides a fortified bunker and network of tunnels to save the lives of workers and astronauts in a cataclysmic disaster. Spaceflight Now took a look around the Apollo-era Emergency Escape System on Monday and presents a virtual tour.
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ESA lunar lander shelved ahead of budget conference
A European robotic lunar lander has been shelved during a budget-setting meeting of senior government ministers which began Tuesday, according to German space officials who said the project will be set aside in favor of launcher development, Earth observation, space station operations, and the joint ExoMars mission with Russia.
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International Space Station trio comes back to Earth
Three veteran space station fliers strapped into their Soyuz ferry craft, undocked and plunged back to Earth Sunday, making a fiery descent to a frigid pre-dawn landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 127-day stay in space. FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER
Disaster-monitoring satellite launched by China
China launched a Long March 2C rocket Sunday with a radar-equipped environmental satellite to monitor the globe for natural disasters, according to state media reports.
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Falcon 9's commercial promise to be tested in '13
Three international and commercial customers slated to fly satellites on Falcon 9 rockets next year are standing by SpaceX as the company probes a mysterious engine problem and prepares to debut an upgraded launcher.
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GOCE gravity-mapper drops closer to Earth for science
Europe's ion-powered GOCE satellite, devised to skim through the outer reaches of Earth's atmosphere, is lowering its altitude in a precarious attempt to map Earth's gravity field with unmatched precision.
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Shuttle Atlantis wrapped in protective covering
The space shuttle Atlantis has been encased in a protective plastic, a wrap that will keep the spacecraft dust-free while construction crews finish building the exhibit hall to showcase her to the public.
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This time-lapse video captures Atlantis' 9.8-mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for retirement.
Mars rover catches wind of fleeting dust devils
Weather sensors on the Curiosity rover have picked up signs of dust devils brushing by the six-wheeled robot, researchers said Thursday, but the rover's cameras have not yet caught sight of the passing whirlwinds.
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SpaceX, NASA scrutinize anomalies from cargo flight
Engineers are combing through data from SpaceX's October cargo mission to the International Space Station, examining a rocket engine failure, electronics glitches from suspected radiation, and a power loss that could have imperiled precious medical samples returned from the outpost, NASA officials said Wednesday.
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Air Force receives bids for debris-tracking Space Fence
Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have submitted bids to the U.S. Air Force for construction of a network of radars to scan the sky and detect small fragments of space debris with unprecedented precision, the companies announced this week.
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Curiosity's mini-laboratory tastes first Martian soil
For the first time since landing on Mars in August, NASA's Curiosity rover has used its most powerful instrument to analyze soil, sifting for life-supporting chemicals with a labyrinth of ovens and spectrometers, scientists announced Tuesday.
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Soyuz boosts military communications satellite
Russia launched a Soyuz rocket Wednesday with a military communications satellite to link ground forces, ships and aircraft in the Arctic and Siberia.
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Climate change could heighten space junk threat
Manmade greenhouse gas emissions aren't just causing global warming, according to a new research report, but they might aggravate dangers from a growing population of space junk.
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Long-lived Mars orbiter running on backup systems
NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, the longest-working craft ever sent to the red planet, has switched to a backup set of equipment after engineers noticed degradation in the probe's primary navigation unit, the space agency announced Monday.
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UK government pledges more funding for space
The British government on Friday said it would commit an extra $100 million in annual space expenditures to fund technological development of next-generation communications and weather satellites.
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China's next human spaceflight set for June
China's next human space mission will launch in June and dock with the orbiting Tiangong 1 space lab, and construction of the first Chinese lunar rover is on pace for launch in the second half of 2013, according to state media reports.
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DigitalGlobe, GeoEye plan smaller satellite fleet
The merger of DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, the two leading commercial imagery suppliers to the U.S. intelligence community, will save the companies up to $1.5 billion by streamlining operations, shrinking their satellite constellations, and deferring the launch of a new spacecraft, officials said.
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Ariane 5 successfully launches two satellites
Loaded with a dual payload of satellites for Europe and Brazil, the commercial Ariane 5 rocket thundered away from the equatorial jungles of South America on Saturday to deploy the Eutelsat 21B and Star One C3 communications spacecraft.
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NASA's radiation probes named for James Van Allen
NASA has renamed two satellites launched in August for James Van Allen, a pioneering astrophysicist who discovered the radiation belts surrounding Earth.
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MDA, Loral see U.S. fiscal crisis as market opportunity
MDA Corp. of Canada, fresh off the purchase of U.S.-based satellite-builder Space Systems/Loral, is moving to capture a piece of the U.S. government satellite market as tightening budgets drive military operators toward more cost-effective solutions, company leaders said this week.
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NASA selects pollution-monitoring hosted payload
NASA announced Thursday it intends to place a pollution-monitoring sensor on a commercial communications satellite for launch in 2017, marking the first time the space agency has capitalized on the growing hosted payload trend for a scientific mission.
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Atlas pad modifications add astronaut accommodations
Rocket-maker United Launch Alliance is putting in motion efforts to modify its Atlas 5 rocket pad at Cape Canaveral into a human launch site capable of loading astronaut crews in commercial spacecraft of the future.
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Scientists find super-Earth planet 42 light-years away
Astronomers have discovered a super-Earth planet orbiting a star in our own cosmic neighborhood, and it lies in the Goldilocks zone, where conditions are just right to sustain liquid water and an Earth-like climate.
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Early peek at Atlantis inside retirement home
Although the new $100 million facility to showcase the space shuttle Atlantis won't be finished and opened to the public until next July, tourists can get a "sneak peek" of the retired orbiter this week parked inside the exhibit hall at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
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Japan schedules launch of innovative Epsilon rocket
Japan is scheduled to launch its first Epsilon solid-fueled rocket next year, deploying a planetary telescope in orbit while demonstrating new low-cost rocket assembly and control techniques, the Japanese space agency announced last week.
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Curiosity sniffs Martian air, but finds no methane
Scientists on Friday reported the Curiosity rover's first whiffs of the Martian atmosphere have turned up no sign of methane, an object of fascination for many scientists due to its ramifications on the search for life on Mars.
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Proton launch puts two Russian satellites in space
A Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage lifted off Friday and successfully deployed a Russian broadcasting satellite and a craft to relay voice, video and data communications between the International Space Station and mission control.
FULL STORY IMAGES:PROTON ROLLS TO LAUNCH PAD
Curiosity takes dazzling self-portrait on Mars
Three months into its mission on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover has returned a high-resolution self-portrait as the robot conducts scientific research inside Gale Crater.
IMAGE:CURIOSITY'S SELF-PORTRAIT
Spacewalkers bypass space station cooling system
Two International Space Station astronauts bypassed a radiator on one of the outpost's solar array modules Thursday in an attempt to isolate a leak in a cooling system.
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NASA's Fermi helps measure number of stars
Astronomers have measured the background light from all the stars in the cosmos and inferred the number of stars created since the dawn of the universe, researchers announced Thursday.
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Antares, Wallops escape major damage from Sandy
An Antares rocket first stage on a launch pad in Virginia weathered Hurricane Sandy with no obvious damage, and officials hope to resume testing of the vehicle soon, officials said Wednesday.
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NASA still awaits delivery of Webb camera, spectrograph
Engineers will start cryogenic testing next year of the James Webb Space Telescope's instrument module, the heart of the observatory's unprecedented imaging capabilities, without two of the mission's core sensors as the units contend with delays, according to scientists.
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Museum display of shuttle Endeavour opens to public
Throwing open the doors to schoolchildren and the world Tuesday, the California Science Center's display of the retired space shuttle Endeavour is up and running in Los Angeles.
PHOTO GALLERY ENDEAVOUR'S FINAL MISSION AND FERRYFLIGHT
Space station cargo ship launched on the fast track
The Russian Progress M-17M spacecraft carrying three tons of provisions for the International Space Station intercepted the complex for docking Wednesday at 9:33 a.m. EDT, just six hours after launch.
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Thursday spacewalk to isolate station coolant leak
NASA engineers are putting the finishing touches on plans for a spacewalk Thursday to isolate a small leak in the ammonia cooling system used to carry away heat generated by the electrical gear that stores and distributes power from one of the International Space Station's eight huge solar panels.
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Satellites see superstorm Sandy from space
Hurricane Sandy inundated the U.S. East Coast with surging floods and brought damaging winds over New York City on Monday, and satellites captured astonishing imagery of the cyclone, which stretched 1,000 miles across at the time of landfall.
IMAGES:SATELLITE VIEWS OF SANDY INSTAGRAM:SHUTTLE ENTERPRISE DAMAGED
Dragon back in port
After steaming back to the mainland from Sunday's landing zone off Baja California, the recovery vessel carrying SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft arrived at the Port of Los Angeles early Tuesday to deliver the time-sensitive science specimens returned to Earth from the International Space Station.
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SpaceX has released this footage showing its Dragon capsule landing in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.
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Scientists could aim derelict telescope for moon impact
The European Space Agency's Herschel space telescope, due to end its mission observing the infrared universe in March, may be sent on a crashing course toward the moon next summer to search for water embedded beneath the lunar surface, according to scientists.
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Antares rocket tests halted by Hurricane Sandy
Threats of high winds and flooding from Hurricane Sandy are forcing Orbital Sciences Corp. to suspend tests of its Antares rocket and secure facilities at a coastal launch site in Virginia, a spokesperson said Friday.
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South Korea's space shot scrubbed by fuel leak
South Korea on Friday delayed the flight of a small satellite launch vehicle after detecting a leak in the fueling system for the rocket's Russian first stage, according to media reports.
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Blood, urine among 'priceless' cargo in Dragon
Space station managers on Wednesday approved plans for Sunday's scheduled departure of SpaceX's Dragon commercial cargo spacecraft filled with nearly one ton of failed parts, experiments, and precious blood and urine samples for return to Earth.
FULL STORY DRAGON RETURN CARGO LIST
Soyuz and crew reach International Space Station
The Soyuz spacecraft carrying three new residents for the International Space Station reached the complex Thursday, docking with the outpost's Poisk module before opening hatches and joining three other crewmates inside.
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China's Beidou navigation system gets new satellite
China deployed its 16th satellite Thursday for the growing Beidou navigation system, moving the network closer to the inauguration of full service in the Asia-Pacific region, according to state media.
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Rocket explosion raises worries over space debris
A Russian Breeze M rocket stage, left with loaded fuel tanks after an August launch failure, exploded in orbit Oct. 16, raising concerns of the U.S. military, NASA and global satellite operators on the lookout for collision threats from hundreds of new space debris fragments.
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Future of European lunar lander to be decided soon
European space ministers are slated to decide next month whether to develop a German-led robotic lunar lander, a mission which could be launched in 2018 at a cost of $650 million, according to a study released Tuesday.
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Three-man crew launches toward space station
Two rookie cosmonauts and a NASA shuttle veteran rocketed into orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz ferry craft Tuesday and set off after the International Space Station. Joining them were 32 medaka fish, bound for a zero-gravity research aquarium aboard the lab complex.
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Start-up space firm tests pusher escape system
Blue Origin completed a launch pad abort demonstration of its pusher escape system last week, notching the final milestone in a cost-sharing development agreement with NASA's commercial crew program, the company announced Monday.
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ESA picks exoplanet telescope for launch in 2017
The European Space Agency has selected a small telescope for launch in 2017 to study the structure of planets beyond our solar system, officials announced Friday.
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Curiosity rover begins martian soil analysis
After using two soil samples to scour away any earthly contaminants from inside the Curiosity rover's sample acquisition system, a third scoop of fine-grained martian soil was dumped into an on-board laboratory instrument Wednesday for the mission's first detailed "hands-on" mineralogical analysis, the project scientist said Thursday.
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Orbital making progress in Antares launch preparations
Orbital Sciences Corp. is in a "final push" to launch its first Antares rocket by the end of this year, assuming the successful completion of a series of fueling and engine tests due to begin next week, the company's chief executive said Thursday.
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GOES 13 weather satellite returned to service
NOAA restored the GOES 13 weather satellite to full operations Thursday after correcting an anomaly in the craft's sounding instrument, which knocked the critical observatory out of service in September.
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Final space shuttle ready for shipment to retirement site
The final moment resembling normalcy in the space shuttle era at the Kennedy Space Center occurred Wednesday morning as Atlantis rolled from her hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building, a trek performed 35 times for real in the ship's flying days and now one last time for storage to await transfer to the spaceport's museum Nov. 2.
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New Horizons may face hazardous debris at Pluto
NASA's New Horizons mission may encounter tumultuous clouds of ice and rock when it flies by Pluto in 2015, and engineers are prepared move the spacecraft on an alternate course by the dwarf planet to spare the probe from fatal debris strikes, officials said Tuesday.
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Earth-sized planet found around star next door to sun
Our sun's neighbor harbors a blistering world about the size of Earth, astronomers announced Wednesday, raising hopes a life-supporting planet could be found close to home.
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Photo gallery: Endeavour takes to the LA streets
Spaceflight Now captured space shuttle Endeavour's once-in-a-lifetime journey through an American city from start to finish, from the ground and even in the air. This 8-page photo gallery relives the remarkable event that will never be forgotten for the million spectators who lined the sidewalks of Los Angeles.
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Kepler's exoplanet survey jeopardized by two issues
NASA's Kepler space telescope, a sleuth with electronic eyes, needs an extra four years to meet its goal of finding an Earth-sized planet in habitable zones around other stars, but a critical hardware failure aboard the probe this summer has managers worried the mission could end at any time.
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Experts endorse design of private space telescope
The design and objectives of the B612 Foundation's privately-funded asteroid-hunting space telescope are technically sound, according to an independent panel of industry and NASA experts commissioned to advise the project.
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Shuttle reaches retirement roost in sunny SoCal
Shimmying, zig-zagging and pivoting to dodge trees and poles in the final stretch, the space shuttle Endeavour pulled into her new residence for retirement Sunday, capping an arduous two-and-a-half-day trek through Los Angeles to reach the California Science Center at Exposition Park.
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Intelsat 23 rides Proton rocket to geostationary orbit
A commercial Proton rocket, topped with a Breeze M upper stage, lifted off from Kazakhstan Sunday and delivered an Intelsat communications satellite to orbit 23,000 miles from Earth.
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Chinese demo satellites shot into space by Long March
China successfully launched a Long March 2C rocket Sunday, orbiting a pair of engineering research satellites to test new technologies in space, according to state-run media reports.
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Crowds cheer as Endeavour rolls through Los Angeles
One day down, one more to go in space shuttle Endeavour's surreal trek through Los Angeles, a scene attracting thousands of spectators young and old along city sidewalks and erupting chants of "USA! USA! USA!"
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Galileo gets big boost from successful Soyuz launch
A Soyuz rocket boosted two validation platforms from French Guiana into orbit Friday for Europe's Galileo navigation network, setting the stage for further launches every six months over the next few years to build a constellation of satellites beaming global positioning services to airplanes, automobiles and millions of users.
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SpaceX, NASA convene investigation board
SpaceX and NASA have formed a joint investigation board to look into the cause of an engine failure during Sunday's launch of a Falcon 9 rocket on the first operational commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station, SpaceX announced Friday.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
Journey of Endeavour through Los Angeles begins
After flying in space 25 times and logging 123 million miles, the final journey of the shuttle Endeavour that promises to be a grand spectacle got underway today as the retired spaceplane began a 12-mile procession through the city streets of Los Angeles.
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Orbcomm craft re-enters, company claims total loss
The prototype Orbcomm data communications satellite launched into an incorrect orbit by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket Sunday has re-entered and burned up in Earth's atmosphere, and although its owners say the mission achieved several objectives, Orbcomm is claiming the mission a total loss.
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Endeavour to go parading through LA streets
A journey like no other for the shuttle Endeavour -- a two-day, round-the-clock trek through the city streets of Los Angeles -- begins late Thursday night and continues along 12 miles of urban jungle through Saturday evening to the retired spaceship's new home at the California Science Center.
FULL STORY
Soprano Sarah Brightman books Soyuz tourist flight
Sarah Brightman, famous soprano and a successful crossover artist, announced Wednesday she will soon begin training for a 10-day tourist trip to the International Space Station.
FULL STORY
Falcon 9 rocket reached orbit despite engine mishap
One of the Falcon 9 rocket's nine Merlin first stage engines suddenly lost pressure and shut down during Sunday's launch of a commercial resupply craft to the International Space Station, but the engine did not explode and the launcher successfully placed its Dragon payload in the correct orbit, SpaceX said in a statement Monday.
FULL STORY FALCON ARCHIVE
Orbcomm satellite in wrong orbit after Falcon 9 launch
Orbcomm Inc., owner of a data communications satellite launched by SpaceX on Sunday, is evaluating whether it can recover the spacecraft after it was deployed in a lower-than-planned orbit by a Falcon 9 rocket.
FULL STORY
Space station crew to make yearlong stay in 2015-16
An American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut will spend a full year aboard the International Space Station in 2015-16, twice as long as current crews, to collect medical data on long-duration spaceflight that will help pave the way for eventual flights to deep space destinations. FULL STORY
Delta 4 rocket overcomes engine issue during launch
Generating less than its normal 25,000 pounds of thrust because of a still unknown problem, the upper stage engine on the Delta 4 rocket had to fire for longer periods of time Thursday morning before ultimately delivering the GPS payload into the right orbit, overcoming the adversity to achieve success.
FULL STORY LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY
New Canadarm could be vital for future exploration
A next-generation robotic arm with finer dexterity and made of lighter materials will be required for planned exploration missions to deep space, asteroids and Mars, according to Canadian officials who unveiled new robotics concepts last week.
FULL STORY
SpaceX poised for first operational flight
On its first operational resupply flight to the International Space Station, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will launch Sunday with 882 pounds of crew supplies, experiments and spare parts. The capsule will return to Earth in late October with approximately 1,673 pounds of equipment from the space station.
DRAGON LAUNCH CARGO LIST DRAGON RETURN CARGO LIST IMAGES:DRAGON ATTACHED TO FALCON 9 IMAGES:LAUNCH DAY DRESS REHEARSAL
European cargo carrier falls back into atmosphere
Europe's automated space station resupply ship fell back into Earth's atmosphere overnight Tuesday, disposing of nearly 3,000 pounds waste from the orbiting outpost over the Pacific Ocean.
FULL STORY
Antares rocket rolls to pad for fueling tests, hotfire
Orbital Sciences Corp. rolled the first stage of its Antares rocket to a Virginia launch pad Monday as the company prepares for a hold-down test of the vehicle's Russian-built engines ahead of the first Antares launch.
FULL STORY
NOAA moves spare satellite in position over Atlantic
NOAA on Monday began moving a backup weather satellite into position to replace an observatory knocked out of service in September by an unexplained problem with its atmospheric imaging and sounding instruments.
FULL STORY
Falcon 9 static fire completed ahead of launch
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket fired nine main engines on a Florida launch pad Saturday, completing a major test before lifting off on an International Space Station resupply flight Oct. 7.
FULL STORY
Remote sensing satellite launched for Venezuela
China launched Venezuela's second satellite on Saturday, delivering the spacecraft into a 400-mile-high orbit to monitor the country's territory, survey crops and natural resources, and aid Venezuela's security services.
FULL STORY
Sample return remains focus of Mars program
Confined by budget pressures which forced NASA to pull out of Europe's ambitious ExoMars program, officials will decide by February how and when to kick off a multi-mission project to return Martian soil samples to Earth.
FULL STORY
Ariane lifts communications satellites for Europe, India
A European television satellite and an Indian-made telecommunications spacecraft shared a ride into orbit Friday atop the commercial Ariane 5 rocket on a heavy-duty mission carrying over 20,000 pounds of payload.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
ATV leaves space station en route to incinerating end
Capping a six-month resupply and reboost mission, Europe's third Automated Transfer Vehicle left the International Space Station on Friday, setting course for a fiery final act to collect research data and dispose of the orbiting lab's garbage.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER
Curiosity finds evidence of ancient water flow on Mars
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, slowly nearing its initial science destination where multiple types of terrain come together, has found outcrops of conglomerate rocks made up of eroded gravels that scientists believe were transported across the floor of Gale Crater by a "vigorous" flow of ankle-to-hip-deep water in the distant past.
FULL STORY
Report: JPSS weather satellites need narrow focus
NOAA should consider scaling back advanced instrumentation on the next U.S. polar-orbiting weather satellite to ensure the platform is ready to take over when the Suomi NPP spacecraft ends its mission, according to a report from an independent review team.
FULL STORY
Hubble captures deepest view of universe yet
A stunning new composite photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope, made up of more than 2,000 images shot by multiple cameras over the past 10 years and combined in what amounts to a 23-day time exposure, shows some 5,500 galaxies in tiny field of view, including some dating back to just 450 million years after the big bang birth of the universe, astronomers said Tuesday.
FULL STORY
Engineers looking into weather satellite anomaly
A critical weather satellite assigned to monitor the East Coast of the United States and active hurricane zones in the Atlantic Ocean is out of commission, and NOAA officials are not sure when the spacecraft could be returned to service.
FULL STORY
SpaceX's reusable rocket testbed takes first hop
SpaceX's Grasshopper testbed, a slender white rocket fitted with insect-like landing legs, took off for a brief hop at the company's Texas test site Friday.
FULL STORY - with video!
Photo feature: Coast-to-coast with Endeavour
Endeavour's ferryflight across the country last week traveled from the Cape to the City of Angels, and Spaceflight Now was on the move to capture the departure, the final visit to Edwards Air Force Base that had played a key role throughout the space shuttle program and the stirring flyover of Los Angeles where the spaceship now resides for retirement. See our four-page photo spread on the trip. SPECIAL PHOTO GALLERY
Final shuttle ferryflight to be completed Friday
An aviation marvel since 1977 and a spectacle seen on 107 treks, the modified Boeing 747 jumbojet is hauling the the decommissioned orbiter Endeavour across the country this week on space shuttle era's final ferryflight.
FULL STORY
October launch date set for next SpaceX mission
Managers from NASA and SpaceX on Thursday set Oct. 7 as the target launch date for the first operational commercial cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.
MISSION STATUS CENTER FALCON 9 BACKGROUND DRAGON BACKGROUND FALCON ARCHIVE
Kennedy Space Center bids final farewell to Endeavour
Bound for Southern California where America's space shuttle fleet was born, the retired spaceship Endeavour left her homeport Wednesday morning atop a modified 747 carrier jet to become a tool of inspiration at a children's science museum in Los Angeles.
FULL STORY
Avionics box to blame for delay in next crew's launch
The replacement of a balky avionics box on a Russian Soyuz capsule will push back the October launch of the International Space Station's next three-man crew by about one week, Russian and NASA officials said.
FULL STORY
Endeavour heads westward on trek into retirement
The space shuttle Endeavour began her hopscotching trek across the southern United States on a ferryflight into retirement Wednesday, departing Kennedy Space Center at sunrise on a four-leg trek to reach the busy Los Angeles International Airport at noon Friday.
FULL STORY
Another Atlas 5 readied to launch mini space shuttle
United Launch Alliance's Atlas-Centaur rocket has been put together for deploying the Air Force's third Orbital Test Vehicle flight, a mission that will demonstrate the reusability of the X-37B spaceplane when it blasts off Oct. 25.
FULL STORY
Long March orbits Chinese navigation satellites
Two satellites for China's Beidou navigation system lifted off on top of a Long March rocket Tuesday, adding new spacecraft to the growing network to provide more accurate positioning services to military and civil users.
FULL STORY
MetOp weather satellite launched on Soyuz rocket
A Soyuz rocket lifted off from Kazakhstan on Monday and delivered Europe's newest weather satellite into polar orbit, reinforcing the meteorological toolkit of forecasters around the world.
FULL STORY VIDEO:LAUNCH REPLAY PHOTOS:SOYUZ ROLLOUT PREVIEW STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER
Three-launch SES deal extends Falcon 9 backlog
An agreement between SpaceX and SES for three communications satellite launches on Falcon boosters adds to a growing backlog of commercial flights for the launch firm, which is still developing rocket upgrades to handle the missions.
FULL STORY
Three-man space crew back from 125 days in orbit
Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA flight engineer bid their three space station crewmates farewell Sunday, strapped into their Soyuz ferry craft, undocked from the lab complex and fell back to Earth, making a pinpoint landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 125-day voyage.
FULL STORY
Sequestration would come at 'great cost' to NASA
NASA stands to lose nearly $1.5 billion in 2013 unless Congress acts to reduce budget deficits by the end of the year, and the outlook is even worse for U.S. military space programs, according to a report released on Friday by the White House. FULL STORY
Signs point to interstellar space for Voyager 1 probe
More than 35 years after launching from Earth and now at the frontier of the solar system, NASA's Voyager 1 probe may be tasting interstellar space for the first time, according to scientists analyzing fresh data from the distant explorer.
FULL STORY
PHOTOS: Launch gallery from Thursday's Atlas 5
Relive Thursday's successful Atlas 5 rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base through the camera lenses of United Launch Alliance's photographer, Pat Corkery!
LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY
Endeavour and carrier jet joined as one for ferryflight
Taking the reverse course she followed when returning from spaceflights, the retired shuttle Endeavour moved Friday to Kennedy Space Center's runway complex and was mounted atop the modified Boeing 747 carrier jet for next week's ferryflight departure to California.
FULL STORY GALLERY:ROLLOUT AND MATING TO 747
Japanese resupply ship ends mission with re-entry
Japanese engineers remotely guided a space station cargo craft back into the atmosphere Friday, destroying the garbage-filled spaceship as planned after a nearly two-month mission. FULL STORY LAUNCH AND DOCKING COVERAGE
California Atlas 5 finally flies with flock of satellites
Hoisting a clandestine prime payload -- likely a pair of formation-flying ocean surveillance satellites -- and a menagerie of micro missions hitchhiking into space, the Atlas 5 rocket reeled off another successful performance Thursday in a rare mid-day launch from California.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates! UPDATED PREVIEW STORY IMAGES:AUG. 2 TOWER ROLLBACK IMAGES:HOISTING PAYLOAD ATOP ROCKET OUR ATLAS ARCHIVE
October return-to-flight set for Russian Proton rocket
Russia expects to resume launching Proton rockets in October after an Aug. 6 upper stage failure stranded two communications satellites in useless orbits, according to International Launch Services, the Proton's commercial operator.
FULL STORY
Japanese resupply craft on track for re-entry
Japan's third HTV cargo freighter is on track to plunge back into Earth's atmosphere as scheduled Friday after an unknown problem on Wednesday triggered an expedited departure from the International Space Station, according to a NASA spokesperson. FULL STORY LAUNCH AND DOCKING COVERAGE
Endeavour's ride to the West Coast arrives
The modified Boeing 747 jumbojet that will haul the space shuttle Endeavour piggyback-style to Los Angeles next week flew across the country to Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday to pick up the spaceplane passenger.
FULL STORY
NASA's commercial trio: Winning strengths outlined
NASA cited SpaceX's flight experience with the Dragon spacecraft and Boeing's methodical approach to designing a crew capsule in its decision to award the companies $900 million to develop a human-rated commercial spaceship, according to a document released last week.
FULL STORY
PSLV orbits commercial remote sensing satellite
An Indian launcher lifted off Sunday and placed France's Spot 6 commercial Earth imaging satellite and a Japanese secondary payload into orbit 400 miles high.
FULL STORY
ATK 'moving on' after Liberty proposal loss
ATK's Liberty rocket and crew capsule scored lower than competitors on technical and business grounds in NASA's commercial crew competition, in which Boeing Co., SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada Corp. netted $1.1 billion in government funding, according to a selection statement posted on NASA's website.
FULL STORY
Mars rover Curiosity pauses for robot arm checkout
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has driven some 357 feet from its landing site on the floor of Gale Crater -- 269 feet as a martian crow might fly -- on its way to an intriguing area about five times farther away where three different types of rock come together. Project officials said Thursday the rover continues to chalk up near perfect scores during extended checkout operations, with detailed robot arm tests on tap over the next week or so.
FULL STORY
Solid rocket booster design test-fired for Delta 4
There was a powerful roar in Utah on Thursday as rocket testers fired one of the boosters used by Delta 4 vehicles for added thrust during launches of military communications satellites, reconnaissance spacecraft and the Global Positioning System.
FULL STORY - includes video!
Atlantis hall 2 months away from receiving showpiece
The massive new building that has sprouted up on the Kennedy Space Center landscape to display the space shuttle Atlantis as a national treasure will receive the spacecraft Nov. 2, officials said Wednesday during a "topping off" ceremony.
FULL STORY IMAGES:WEDNESDAYS TOPPING OFF CEREMONY IMAGES:AIRLOCK REPLICA INSTALLED ATLANTIS' FINAL MISSION
Dawn departs one asteroid bound for another
Gently driven by ionized xenon gas from its electric propulsion system, NASA's Dawn spacecraft departed the giant asteroid Vesta on Wednesday after a year of science observations which unmasked the world's tortured, cratered surface.
FULL STORY
This is the United Launch Alliance highlights film from last week's Atlas 5 rocket flight from Cape Canaveral that deployed NASA's twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes.
Juno given precautionary delay to course adjustment
The Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft was supposed to have completed the second of two critical engine firings Tuesday to aim for a gravity sling shot past Earth next year, but managers put off the burn to analyze pressure readings aboard the probe.
FULL STORY OUR LAUNCH JOURNAL HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO
Gallery: SpaceX rocket put through countdown sim
SpaceX engineers transported the Falcon 9 rocket to the Complex 40 launch pad, erected the booster and fill it with propellant last Friday in a countdown dress rehearsal for the October cargo-delivery flight to the International Space Station.
PHOTO GALLERY
Space Prints
Space photographs now available in our store!
Today we are launching in a new product line in the Spaceflight Now Store -- Space Prints! Choose from a selection of spectacular photos that will be printed on high-quality metallic paper and shipped direct to you. The imagery from the final days of the Space Shuttle era and this summer's Delta 4-Heavy rocket can adorn the wall of your home or office!
PHOTO COLLECTION
News Headlines
Saturn and moon Titan star in new Cassini imagery
Stunning new images from the Cassini spacecraft touring Saturn and the planet's moons show the ringed world and Titan in spectacular detail.
PHOTO GALLERY
Spacewalkers to try power repair again Wednesday
Astronauts Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hoshide will venture back outside the International Space Station Wednesday for another attempt to install a replacement power switching unit that could not be plugged into the lab's electrical grid during a spacewalk last Thursday.
FULL STORY
Falcon 9 undergoes pad testing for October launch
In a critical prelaunch test before SpaceX's first operational cargo delivery to the International Space Station, engineers filled a Falcon 9 rocket with propellant Friday, rehearsing countdown procedures ahead of the mission's scheduled liftoff in October.
FULL STORY
Hurricane forecasters eager for new tool in space
Two satellites orbiting 22,300 miles above Earth kept Hurricane Isaac in their sights as it churned toward Louisiana, giving meteorologists clues on the storm's wandering course and intensity.
FULL STORY
Spacewalkers hit major snag replacing power unit
The failure to install a replacement electrical distribution box during a marathon spacewalk Thursday has temporarily left the International Space Station unable to take in power from two of its eight solar array wings. But mission managers said jumpers installed before the excursion will allow near-normal operations while engineers study possible spacewalk repair options.
FULL STORY
Atlas launches mission 50 years in the making
A mission to answer questions as old as the space age launched from Cape Canaveral Thursday morning as two armored satellites were sent into hellish orbits that submerge the craft in Earth's punishing radiation belts.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates! PREVIEW STORY
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NASA asking for ideas about asteroid detectors
NASA is studying the placement of an instrument on a commercial or U.S. government communications satellite to detect and track asteroids near Earth for potential human visits.
FULL STORY
Nuclear-powered craft not picked in latest competition
NASA officials last week passed up a chance to test an advanced nuclear generator in space, likely delaying the first flight demonstration of the plutonium power source until after 2020.
FULL STORY
Curiosity sends stunning views of Mount Sharp
NASA's Curiosity rover, giving earthlings a glimpse of its ultimate target, has beamed back spectacular high-resolution photos of the rugged foothills of Mount Sharp, showing a khaki-colored landscape marked by towering hills, gaping canyons and sand dunes reminiscent of the American southwest, scientists said Monday.
FULL STORY
Mars craft bring weather stations to the red planet
Amid its rock-zapping duties and choreographed test drives, the Curiosity rover's weather station is logging sharp temperature swings, wind gusts and pressure changes to create an enduring record of Martian climate.
FULL STORY
NEIL ARMSTRONG HAS DIED
Neil Armstrong, one of the most famous men of the 20th century and the first human to walk on the Moon, has died at the age 82. Born August 5, 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Armstrong was a naval aviator in the Korean War, flew the X-15, served as command pilot for Gemini 8 in 1966 and led Apollo 11 to the Sea of Tranquility in 1969.
FULL STORY
NASA ready for operational cargo flights by SpaceX
SpaceX has completed all milestones under a development and demonstration partnership with NASA, clearing the way for the firm to begin regular operational cargo deliveries to the International Space Station in October, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced Thursday.
FULL STORY
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Mars rover takes its first spin on the red planet
In a major milestone, the six-wheel Curiosity Mars rover took its first baby steps Wednesday, rolling about 15 feet forward, performing a slow 120-degree pirouette and then backing up eight feet to prove the $2.5 billion science lab is, in fact, mobile and ready to rove.
FULL STORY
Curiosity rover completes 'wheel wiggle' steering test
With a broken wind sensor the only problem of any note aboard the Curiosity Mars rover, engineers planned to uplink commands overnight for an initial test drive, a short 10-foot move and a turning reverse maneuver to check out the robotic science lab's ability to roam its Gale Crater landing site.
FULL STORY
Atlas 5 rocket @ 10 years: A decade since 1st launch
Rocketing away on its maiden mission, an inaugural ascent loaded with a paying passenger, the Atlas 5 debuted 10 years ago Tuesday in a flight packed with compelling suspense.
FULL STORY ATLAS 5 MAIDEN COVERAGE
NASA starts new robotic mission to drill into Mars
Two weeks after the Curiosity rover descended to a rocket-assisted touchdown on Mars, NASA announced on Monday its next robot lander will launch in 2016 with a French seismometer and German drill to find out what is going beneath the red planet's dusty surface.
FULL STORY
Russian cosmonauts take spacewalk outside station
Space station cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Yuri Malenchenko floated outside Monday and had no problems completing the primary objective of a five-hour 51-minute spacewalk, moving a telescoping space crane to a different module in preparation for arrival of a Russian laboratory late next year.
FULL STORY
Zap! Mars rover uses rock for laser-shooting practice
The Curiosity rover successfully test fired a powerful laser at a nearby rock Sunday, blasting it with rapid-fire million-watt pulses that vaporized the outer layers for spectroscopic analysis.
FULL STORY
Delta 4 rocket rolls out to bolster GPS constellation
The Delta 4 rocket that will launch in October for the direct benefit of the world's population using the Global Positioning System was stacked on its Cape Canaveral pad last week. FULL STORY
PHOTOS: Endeavour ready to set sail one final time
Now peacefully parked in the Vehicle Assembly Building, shuttle Endeavour is counting down the days until she bids farewell to the Kennedy Space Center and rides piggyback atop the 747 carrier aircraft to Los Angeles. Spaceflight Now photographer Walter Scriptunas II took the chance this week to shoot a gallery that captures the beauty of the spacecraft.
SPECIAL PHOTO GALLERY
Sea Launch deploys TV satellite for Latin America
A telecommunications satellite for broadcasting cable and direct-to-home TV programming across Latin America and the Caribbean was blasted into orbit Sunday atop a 20-story-tall booster rocket launched from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean. FULL STORY
Priorities list issued to direct heliophysics research
NASA should shift its heliophysics research strategy to include more nimble, less expensive satellite missions in light of a tight budget already devoted to several costly projects this decade, top scientists reported this week. FULL STORY
Tentative travel plans for Mars rover unveiled
The Curiosity rover likely will spend the rest of the year monitoring the martian weather, collecting radiation data and analyzing rock and soil samples near its landing site in Gale Crater before it heads for its ultimate target, the rugged foothills of Mount Sharp just four-and-a-half miles, but many months, away, the project scientist said Friday.
FULL STORY
Endeavour and Atlantis do the final shuttle shuffle
The space shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis swapped locations at Kennedy Space Center Thursday morning, as Endeavour departed her hangar for the final time to take up storage in the Vehicle Assembly Building and Atlantis left storage to resume museum display preparations, briefly appearing nose-to-nose on the road.
NOSE-TO-NOSE PHOTO GALLERY MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates! IMAGES:ENDEAVOUR HATCH CLOSED IMAGES:FINAL STATE OF CREW MODULE IMAGES:FERRYFLIGHT TAIL CONE INSTALLED
External payloads delivered to station by Japanese HTV
The International Space Station's robotics systems, under manual and remote control by astronauts and ground controllers, have transferred a cache of experiments from a Japanese resupply craft to external platforms aboard the orbiting outpost. FULL STORY LAUNCH AND DOCKING COVERAGE
Rover updates software, plans mobility tests
Engineers successfully updated the Curiosity rover's computer software over the weekend and plan initial tests of the mobile science lab's ability to drive across the martian terrain within the next week or so, project officials said Tuesday.
FULL STORY
Asteroid probe loses another pointing system
Engineers working on NASA's Dawn asteroid probe are assessing the status of a reaction wheel – part of a system that helps the spacecraft point precisely – after onboard software powered it off.
FULL STORY
President Obama calls to congratulate Mars team
In a phone call to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, President Obama congratulated the Mars Science Laboratory team Monday for the successful landing of NASA's Curiosity rover, joking that engineers should let him know ASAP if the spacecraft spots any martians.
FULL STORY
Curiosity rover's computer built for the rigors of Mars
The electronic brain controlling NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has far less horsepower than the microchips typically found in a modern smart phone.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER - live coverage!
PHOTOS: Aboard shuttle Endeavour one final time
Gaining one last glimpse inside the crew module of space shuttle Endeavour where astronauts lived and worked on 25 missions, Spaceflight Now's Justin Ray climbed aboard the spacecraft this week.
SPECIAL PHOTO GALLERY
Celebrations will welcome Endeavour to Los Angeles
The space shuttle Endeavour, retired from service after 25 missions that spanned 123 million miles, will star in a remarkable 12-mile parade through the streets of Los Angeles on October 12-13, traveling from the city's international airport to the California Science Center for display at the children's learning complex.
FULL STORY IMAGES:WEDNESDAY PHOTO GALLERY ENDEAVOUR'S FINAL MISSION
Small test vehicle veers out of control, crashes at KSC
A small vertical-takeoff-and-landing rocket being used to test advanced technologies veered off course an instant after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center Thursday, crashed and exploded in a spectacular burst of fire and smoke. There were no injuries or other property damage, officials said.
FULL STORY
California Atlas 5 launch delayed a few more weeks
The lineup of Atlas 5 rocket launches this month -- a national security satellite deployment from California and a NASA space weather research project from Florida -- will flip-flop in order to give the Air Force more time to sort out Range instrumentation troubles that stalled the West Coast blastoff originally planned Aug. 2.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates! PREVIEW STORY IMAGES:HOISTING PAYLOAD ATOP ROCKET OUR ATLAS ARCHIVE
Curiosity's camera mast erected; checkout continues
The Curiosity Mars rover, stepping through a complex post-landing checklist in near flawless fashion, successfully raised its main camera mast and beamed down razor-sharp navigation camera views of its surroundings in Gale Crater that provide a hint of the spectacular vistas to come when the craft's high-resolution cameras swing into operation, engineers said Wednesday. FULL STORY OUR LAUNCH JOURNAL HDTV VIDEO ARCHIVE
Curiosity rover's descent photographed by orbiter
The nuclear-powered Curiosity Mars rover survived its nail-biting plunge to a pinpoint landing on the floor of Gale Crater in remarkably good shape, engineers said Monday, setting down on a flat, wind-swept plain littered with uniform gravel-like rocks and firm soil.
FULL STORY
Russian Proton launch suffers upper stage failure
An upper stage mishap on Monday stranded Russian and Indonesian communications satellites in the wrong orbit after liftoff from Kazakhstan aboard a Proton rocket.
FULL STORY
Curiosity lands on Mars!
After an eight-month voyage across 352 million miles of interplanetary space, the Mars Science Laboratory plunged through the Red Planet's atmosphere and landed Monday, enduring "seven minutes of terror" in an action-packed descent that culminated with a rocket-powered "sky crane" to lower the one-ton nuclear-powered rover to the surface.
FULL STORY IMAGES:PRE-LANDING PHOTO GALLERY PREVIEW STORY
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Winners announced in NASA crew taxi competition
After an intense competition, NASA announced contracts Friday totaling up to $900 million to be divvied up between three companies -- SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada -- to continue development of commercial manned spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
FULL STORY READ NASA'S ANNOUNCEMENT SPACEX'S STATEMENT BOEING'S STATEMENT SIERRA NEVADA'S STATEMENT NASA BRIEFING CHARTS (.pdf download)
Heavy-lifting Ariane 5 hits 50th success in a row
Raising the bar on the amount of cargo it can carry to geosynchronous transfer orbit, Europe's commercial Ariane 5 rocket launch a pair of telecommunications satellites weighing over 20,000 pounds. Thursday's liftoff occurred on-time at 4:54 p.m. EDT (2054 GMT).
MISSION STATUS CENTER OUR ARIANE ARCHIVE
Cargo craft takes 6-hour trek to space station
The Russian Progress M-16M resupply ship carrying three tons of provisions for the International Space Station launched Wednesday at 3:35 p.m. EDT on a 4-orbit "rapid rendezvous" demonstration that culminated with a smooth docking with the orbiting complex at 9:18 p.m. EDT.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live coverage! STORE:EXPEDITION 32 PATCH
Mars Science Lab poised for trail-blazing mission
In a $2.5 billion gamble, a nuclear-powered Mars rover the size of a small car will attempt a pinpoint landing near the base of a 3-mile-high mountain overnight Sunday to search for the building blocks of life and evidence of past or present habitability.
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER - live coverage! OUR LAUNCH JOURNAL HDTV VIDEO ARCHIVE
Curiosity relies on untried 'sky crane' for Mars descent
The question is straight forward: how to get a car-size rover safely to the surface of Mars? And not just anywhere, but to a very precisely defined bullseye on the floor of a broad crater and within roving distance of a three-mile-high mountain.
FULL STORY
Relay sats provide ringside seat for Mars rover landing
To help scientists and engineers follow the action 154 million miles away, the trajectory of the Mars Science Laboratory was set up to make sure the rover's descent to the surface of the red planet occurs within view of three orbiting satellites. FULL STORY
Mars Science Lab fine-tunes path for rover landing
Firing its thrusters for a mere six seconds early Sunday, NASA's Mars-bound Curiosity rover added more precision to its flight path for a high-stakes entry, descent and landing next Monday morning.
FULL STORY
Russian autopilot docking test successfully carried out
The next-generation autopilot system being developed to guide future Russian Soyuz manned capsules and Progress resupply ships to the International Space Station successfully docked a cargo freighter to the outpost in a demonstration test Saturday night.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live coverage! STORE:EXPEDITION 32 PATCH
Japanese freighter plucked from orbit by station arm
After traveling six-and-a-half days from the launch pad to the International Space Station, the Japanese HTV 3 cargo ship completed a successful rendezvous with the orbiting complex Friday morning to deliver about 7,000 pounds of internal supplies and 1,000 pounds of external payloads.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
Atlas 5 rocket assembled for NASA's RBSP launch
Preparing for the next rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, crews have completed building up the Atlas 5 rocket that will carry a pair of NASA science satellites into space August 23.
PHOTO GALLERY
Odyssey repositioned to hear Curiosity's landing
After fears of losing the ability to hear in real-time whether the Curiosity rover lands successfully on the Red Planet next weekend, NASA Tuesday maneuvered its decade-old Mars Odyssey orbiter into position to relay the touchdown news as it happens.
FULL STORY LAUNCH COVERAGE HDTV VIDEO ARCHIVE
Sally Ride has died
Sally Ride, who became America's first female astronaut, has died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 61. "Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model," said President Barack Obama. Ride flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger in June 1983 and made her second space flight in 1984. "The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers," said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. FULL STORY
Business dealings made by engine, satellite firms
Monday was a day of acquisition and merger in the space industry as the U.S. rocket propulsion and commercial Earth-imaging sectors saw major consolidation efforts take shape.
FULL STORY
Japan successfully launches its freighter to space station
Japan launched its powerful H-2B rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center on Friday night on a cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff occurred into rainy skies at 10:06 p.m. EDT (0206 GMT).
FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER - live coverage! LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE GROUND TRACK MAP
Toasty planet discovered in Earth's cosmic backyard
The infrared element of NASA's Great Observatory series, the Spitzer Space Telescope, has discovered a new planet just 33 light-years away that is the nearest world beyond our solar system, found thus far, that is smaller than our own.
FULL STORY
Cassini spots 100-mile-wide lightning flashes on Saturn
For the first time in history, scientists have observed visible flashes of extraordinarily powerful lightning on the daytime side of Saturn. The achievement, announced Wednesday, came from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. FULL STORY
Orion's parachute system tested in Arizona desert
Ejected from a C-17 plane 25,000 feet above the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in southwestern Arizona today, engineers successfully tested the parachutes on a full-sized Orion spacecraft.
FULL STORY - includes video replay!
Covert payload from last Atlas 5 unmasks in orbit
Shot into space under a cloak of secrecy last month, a bright new object spotted in space this week has confirmed that the most recent Atlas 5 rocket successfully dispatched a data-relay satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.
FULL STORY LAUNCH COVERAGE
SpaceX has produced this highlights film from its recent Dragon spacecraft mission that launched supplies to the International Space Station and splashed down into the Pacific for recovery.
NASA gives the Delta 2 rocket a new lease on life
One of the world's most reliable space boosters ever built, suspended in a state of uncertainty for the past several months, won a rebirth Monday when NASA purchased three more Delta 2 rockets for future launches.
FULL STORY
Engineers study options for data during Mars landing
Unexpected problems with a NASA science satellite in orbit around Mars could delay receipt of telemetry from the agency's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory rover during the spacecraft's dramatic seven-minute descent to the surface Aug. 6, officials said Monday. FULL STORY
Soyuz makes overnight docking to the space station
The Soyuz spacecraft carrying three new residents for the International Space Station proceeded smoothly on its course to intercept the orbiting complex for docking at 12:51 a.m. EDT after a two-day chase from the launch pad.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live coverage! STORE:EXPEDITION 32 PATCH
Soyuz TMA-05M launches crew for the space station
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian commander, a NASA flight engineer and a Japanese astronaut -- all veteran space travelers -- blasted off and streaked into orbit late Saturday, the first leg of a two-day flight to the International Space Station.
FULL STORY PREVIEW STORY
Atlas 5 rocket being stacked for NASA science mission
The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket that will hurl two NASA satellites into orbit next month to probe the harsh environment of Earth's radiation belts and understand the extremes of space weather began taking shape Friday at Cape Canaveral.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
Virgin Galactic takes on satellite launch market
Virgin Galactic announced Wednesday it is offering commercial launch services for small satellites with an air-launched rocket named LauncherOne, and four companies have placed deposits as future customers.
FULL STORY
NASA to lend technical advisors to ExoMars mission
After pulling out of a leadership role in the next rover mission to launch to the red planet, NASA plans to offer engineering expertise and technical advisors to Europe and Russia's ExoMars project, according to U.S. and European space officials.
FULL STORY
Two more space shuttle-era astronauts leave NASA
NASA has announced the departure of two veteran space shuttle astronauts with seven combined missions to their credit as Mark Polansky and Steve Robinson have left the agency.
FULL STORY
Fifth moon discovered orbiting around Pluto
In the ongoing observations of distant Pluto by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, yet another moon has been discovered orbiting the icy dwarf planet, scientists announced Wednesday. FULL STORY
Reusable rocket prototype almost ready for first liftoff
SpaceX's Grasshopper testbed for a reusable rocket booster could fly soon from the company's Texas test facility on a short hop designed to demonstrate its ability to take off and land under thrust on a launch pad.
FULL STORY IMAGES:GRASSHOPPER ON THE PAD
Proton rocket blasts off
A technologically advanced spacecraft to perform multiple missions for international communications and European navigation was successfully launched Monday by Russia's commercial Proton heavy-lifting rocket.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
NASA shows off first Orion capsule with KSC ceremony
NASA officials, project management and dignitaries welcomed the first space-bound Orion capsule to the Kennedy Space Center in a ceremony at the Operations & Checkout Building where final assembly and testing on the craft will be performed. This Orion will be sent into orbit unmanned in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket for a shakedown cruise.
PHOTO GALLERY
The majesty of a spaceship: Up-close with Atlantis
In the quiet, peaceful setting of a storage bay in the northwest corner of NASA's cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday afternoon, Spaceflight Now photographer Walter Scriptunas II used the tranquil opportunity to shoot this gallery that captures the space shuttle Atlantis in exquisite detail.
SPECIAL PHOTO GALLERY
ATK adds cargo service to commercial crew proposal
ATK announced Tuesday its Liberty space transportation system will comprise crew and cargo modules to haul seven astronauts and up to 5,000 pounds of supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station on the same flight.
FULL STORY
This is the United Launch Alliance highlights film from last week's spectacular Delta 4-Heavy rocket flight from Cape Canaveral that carried a national security payload.
NASA shows off first Orion capsule with KSC ceremony
The first space-bound Orion capsule, the centerpiece of NASA's post-shuttle push to break out of low-Earth orbit for eventual manned flights to a variety of deep space targets, was officially unveiled at NASA's Florida spaceport Monday. The spacecraft will be outfitted for an unmanned test flight in 2014.
FULL STORY
Former astronaut Alan Poindexter dies in accident
Former NASA astronaut Alan Poindexter died Sunday from injuries sustained in a jet ski crash in Florida. He was 50 years old.
FULL STORY
New Intelsat satellite will only receive partial power
Officials expect the Intelsat 19 communications satellite will suffer permanent performance degradation from a damaged solar array which finally popped loose in June after early attempts to deploy the panel failed.
FULL STORY
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ATLAS 5 ROCKET LAUNCHES TDRS K 
