Mission Reports
Russia blames Progress leak on ‘external influences’ as new Soyuz preps for launch
Russia’s space agency said Tuesday that preliminary data suggest a coolant leak on a Progress cargo freighter docked at the International Space Station earlier this month was caused by “external influences” — possibly something that occurred during its launch last year, according to a senior NASA space station manager.
SpaceX completes Friday doubleheader with launch for Inmarsat
SpaceX completed a launch doubleheader Friday night with the liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral carrying a dual-band, six-ton mobile communications relay station for London-based Inmarsat, hours after launching another Falcon 9 from California with a batch of Starlink internet satellites.
Mars rover completes first sample storage depot
NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars has cooly notched up another significant first by creating the first ever storage depot on another world for Martian soil samples. But if the rover’s mission goes to plan and it continues to operate as scheduled, the cached samples could be left on the Martian surface forever.