The Falcon 9 rocket stands on launch complex 40 on 16 April as SpaceX prepares to launch NASA’s TESS spacecraft on a mission to seek out new planets beyond our Solar System.
Video: Steven Young/Spaceflight Now.
Mission Reports
Hubble’s premier camera resumes observations
The most-used instrument on the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope is back in business after engineers on the ground determined a fault that halted the camera’s science observations earlier this month was caused by erroneous telemetry data, and was not a symptom of a hardware failure as initially suspected.
Mission Reports
Starliner test flight to use special Atlas 5 configuration, unusual launch trajectory
The 81st flight of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, set for liftoff Friday from Cape Canaveral, will come with its share of firsts when it sends Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule toward the International Space Station on an unpiloted test flight. The launcher will fly without a payload shroud, which typically envelopes satellites during liftoff, and it will debut an uprated dual-engine Centaur upper stage that will power the Starliner on a unique suborbital trajectory optimized for astronaut comfort.
News
With an eye on growing cost, NASA aims for 2025 launch of next ‘great observatory’
NASA managers say the WFIRST mission, the next in the agency’s line of powerful observatories after the Hubble and James Webb telescopes, could cost around $3.2 billion after budgeting for a novel first-of-its-kind instrument to probe the make-up of planets around nearby stars and a bigger-than-expected launch vehicle.