Video: Falcon 9 launch replays

U.S. military officials and United Launch Alliance have dedicated the planned launch Saturday of an Atlas 5 rocket with the military’s winged mini-space shuttle to coronavirus first responders, front-line workers and all who have been affected by the pandemic.

Russian investigators have traced the cause of a dramatic Oct. 11 Soyuz launch abort to a “deformed” sensor in a system that controlled the separation of a strap-on first-stage booster from the rocket’s central core stage, triggering a dramatic emergency escape for the Russian mission commander and his NASA co-pilot, senior managers said Thursday.

Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that NASA should land astronauts near the south pole of the moon within five years “by any means necessary,” calling for “new urgency” in the U.S. space program and sounding a warning for entrenched aerospace contractors to better meet schedule and cost commitments, or else lose work to other companies.