The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket was rolled out to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 on Wednesday morning, emerging from the Vertical Integration Facility assembly hangar where the two-stage rocket was put together.
SpaceX performed a dramatic high-altitude test flight Sunday of the company’s Crew Dragon capsule over Florida’s Space Coast, testing the human-rated ship’s ability to escape a rocket failure and save its crew before two NASA astronauts strap in for a flight to the International Space Station as soon as this spring.
Sensors delivered to Mars by NASA’s InSight lander have detected the first signals suggesting seismic activity on the red planet, a major discovery that extends the field of seismology to a new world beyond the Earth and the moon.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexandr Gorbunov walked through a launch day simulation as NASA and SpaceX prepared to conduct a static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket. Ignition happened at 10:05 p.m. EDT (0205 UTC).