News – Page 369 – Spaceflight Now

March 11, 2026

Breaking News

[ March 10, 2026 ] NASA inspector general assesses agency’s management of moon lander risk Artemis
[ March 9, 2026 ] SpaceX launches direct television satellite for EchoStar Falcon 9
[ March 7, 2026 ] NASA contract confirms selection of ULA’s Centaur 5 as new upper stage for the SLS rocket Artemis
[ March 6, 2026 ] SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg SFB Sunday Falcon 9
[ March 5, 2026 ] Spanish launch startup PLD Space raises $209 million to scale its rocket production Miura 5

NASA declares Opportunity rover dead after 15 years on Mars

February 13, 2019 Stephen Clark

Eight months after last hearing from the Opportunity rover, NASA officials announced the end of the craft’s 15-year mission Wednesday, closing out an ambitious chapter of Mars exploration that proved the Red Planet once harbored running water and demonstrated the promise of mobile robotic scouts to survey other worlds.

CubeSat deployed from space station to test sample return technology

February 13, 2019 Stephen Clark

One of five CubeSats deployed from the International Space Station last month is testing a steerable drag brake that could find use in future smallsats to return experiment samples to the ground from low Earth orbit, or on low-cost micro-probes to explore other planets.

Watch a spectacular slow-motion replay of last week’s Ariane 5 launch

February 11, 2019 Stephen Clark

Arianespace and CNES, the French space agency, have released sensational slow-motion video from shielded engineering cameras at the Ariane 5 rocket’s launch pad in French Guiana, showing the launcher’s fiery evening takeoff Feb. 5 with communications satellites for Saudi Arabia and India.

Second Iranian satellite launch attempt in a month fails

February 11, 2019 Stephen Clark

Iran’s second try in less than a month to send a satellite into orbit apparently failed shortly after liftoff from a remote desert launch pad under daily surveillance from a fleet of commercial imaging spacecraft, according to U.S. government officials and independent analysts.

Cygnus supply ship departs space station for extended mission

February 8, 2019 Stephen Clark

A commercial Cygnus supply ship departed the International Space Station on Friday for an extended mission to deploy five nanosatellites and conduct other experiments before re-entering the atmosphere and burning up with more than two tons of trash.

NASA’s first interplanetary CubeSats fall silent beyond Mars

February 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

After a successful mission that pushed the limits of small satellite technology, ground controllers have lost contact with two briefcase-sized CubeSats beyond Mars, NASA said Tuesday.

First unpiloted test flight of SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule reset for March 2

February 6, 2019 William Harwood

As expected, NASA announced Wednesday that the first unpiloted test flight of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and a Crew Dragon astronaut ferry ship has slipped from later this month to March 2. The first unpiloted flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule is now targeted for the April timeframe.

Arianespace opens busy 2019 manifest with dual-satellite Ariane 5 launch

February 5, 2019 Stephen Clark

Two communications satellites owned by Saudi Arabian and Indian operators rocketed into orbit Tuesday on top of a European Ariane 5 rocket, the first of up to 13 launches planned from French Guiana this year.

Live coverage: Ariane 5 launches satellites for Saudi Arabia and India

February 5, 2019 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 rocket launched Tuesday at 2101 GMT (4:01 p.m. EST) from French Guiana with a communications satellite to provide broadband and television services for the government of Saudi Arabia and commercial clients across Europe and the Middle East, and an Indian payload to help bridge the digital divide in South Asia.

Arianespace preps for first of up to 13 launches in French Guiana this year

February 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

A European Ariane 5 rocket is scheduled for blastoff Tuesday from a jungle launch pad in South America with two geostationary telecom payloads — one owned by a Saudi Arabian operator and built in Colorado by Lockheed Martin, and another for India’s space agency.