Falcon 9
Mission Reports
Mission Reports
Ariane 5 rocket launches new European Meteosat satellite, two Intelsat comsats
A European Ariane 5 rocket fired off a launching stand Tuesday in tropical South America with the vanguard of a modernized series of weather satellites to improve storm forecasts for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and two Intelsat television broadcasting satellites to cover the United States, a heavyweight payload totaling 12 tons.
Ariane 5
Ariane 5
First in new generation of European weather satellites ready for launch
The first in a new generation of European weather satellites is set for launch Tuesday on a mission that promises to improve the timeliness and precision of weather forecasts for Europe and Africa, sharing a ride to space from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket with two Intelsat communications satellites.
Artemis
Artemis 1 back on Earth after near-flawless 25-day moon mission
NASA’s Orion spacecraft parachuted to a gentle splashdown in the Pacific Ocean Sunday west of Baja California, ending an unpiloted test flight to the moon that spanned 25-and-a-half days and 1.4 million miles, proving out a new rocket and capsule to carry astronauts back to Earth’s celestial companion.
Artemis
Live coverage: NASA’s Orion spacecraft splashes down after moon mission
NASA’s unpiloted Orion spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 32 times the speed of sound Sunday, surviving a fiery-hot descent before deploying parachutes and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California at 12:40 p.m. EST (1740 GMT). The Orion capsule successfully completed NASA’s Artemis 1 mission, a precursor to future astronaut missions on the spacecraft.
Falcon 9
Artemis
Falcon 9
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight hitching ride to moon on SpaceX rocket
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight spacecraft, a small briefcase-size CubeSat that could break new ground in the search for water ice on the moon, is hitching a ride to space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket along with the privately-developed Hakuto-R moon lander after missing a launch opportunity on NASA’s Artemis 1 mission.
Artemis
Repairs and upgrades await SLS mobile launcher before crewed lunar mission
The mobile launch platform for NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket rolled back into the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center Friday for inspections and repairs after liftoff of the Artemis 1 moon mission last month, setting the stage for upgrades to the 380-foot-tall structure before the first crewed Artemis moon flight scheduled for 2024.