Mission Reports – Page 354

August 17, 2026

Breaking News

[ August 15, 2026 ] SpaceX launches record-breaking back-to-back Falcon 9 rockets for Globalstar, U.S. Space Force Falcon 9
[ August 14, 2026 ] NASA Administrator ‘extremely confident’ in Artemis 3 mission in 2027 Artemis
[ August 12, 2026 ] Mike Fincke, a 30-year astronaut with experience across four spacecraft, retires from NASA News
[ August 11, 2026 ] Firefly Aerospace pushes debut of Alpha Block 2 rocket to the fourth quarter of 2026 Alpha
[ August 11, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB Falcon 9

Hotfire test keeps SpaceX on schedule for weekend launch

September 5, 2018 Stephen Clark

A brief test-firing of a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday morning kept SpaceX on track for a launch Saturday night from Cape Canaveral with a communications satellite to be jointly used by Telesat and APT Satellite of Hong Kong.

Russians investigate cause of Soyuz leak, focus on human error

September 4, 2018 William Harwood

Ruling out a strike by space debris or a micrometeoroid, Russian engineers say a small now-plugged leak in a Soyuz crew ferry ship docked to the International Space Station was the result of a hole drilled into the wall of the spacecraft’s upper compartment, an apparent case of human error.

Photos: SLS mobile launch platform rolls to pad 39B

September 1, 2018 Stephen Clark

The towering structure to be used for liftoffs of NASA’s Space Launch System rolled from a construction site to launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week, arriving at the seaside complex Friday for a week of fit checks.

Station crew faces busy schedule as commercial crew schedule ramps up

August 31, 2018 William Harwood

An impromptu repair job Thursday appears to have stopped a leak in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked to the International Space Station, and the crew was back on its normal schedule Friday carrying out research and making preparations for the arrival of a Japanese cargo ship next month.

Virgin Orbit nears first test flights with air-launched rocket

August 31, 2018 Stephen Clark

The attachment of a mounting bracket for Virgin Orbit’s smallsat launcher under the wing of a modified passenger jetliner portends the start of a series of captive carry tests with a full-scale model of the rocket, culminating in a drop of the vehicle before the first orbital launch attempt.

Cosmonauts plug small air leak on the International Space Station

August 30, 2018 Stephen Clark

Two cosmonauts living aboard the International Space Station plugged a small hole in the hull of a Soyuz ferry craft with a wipe and sealant Thursday, stabilizing the air pressure inside the orbiting research outpost after engineers detected a minor leak.

Live coverage: Space station crew investigating slow pressure leak

August 30, 2018 Stephen Clark

Crew members aboard the International Space Station are investigating a tiny pressure leak on the Russian side of the orbiting outpost. The crew traced the leak to a small hole on the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, which ferried a three-person crew to the station in June. Mission control is examining options to repair the damage, and NASA says the crew is not in danger.

Two NASA probes catch first glimpses of primordial targets

August 29, 2018 Stephen Clark

Two NASA spacecraft — the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission and the New Horizons probe at the edge of the solar system — have captured their first looks at their targets as they approach a pair of primordial relics for the first time.

Installation of ice-measuring satellite caps assembly of last Delta 2 rocket

August 28, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s ICESat 2 satellite has been bolted atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as ground teams prepare for the final liftoff of the workhorse launcher Sept. 15.

SLS mobile launch platform to go on the move this week

August 27, 2018 Stephen Clark

The mobile platform intended to carry NASA’s Space Launch System will trek to the mega-rocket’s launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as Thursday, before heading inside the spaceport’s huge Vehicle Assembly Building for the first time next month.