News – Page 435 – Spaceflight Now

July 23, 2026

Breaking News

[ July 21, 2026 ] SpaceX launches novel geosynchronous robotic servicing satellite on decade-long mission Falcon 9
[ July 16, 2026 ] Post-ignition anomaly causes abort of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 Artemis
[ July 4, 2026 ] Semiconductor manufacturing test bed flies alongside Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 launch Falcon 9
[ July 1, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB Falcon 9
[ June 30, 2026 ] Astronauts ‘operate’ on space station’s broken robot arm Mission Reports

Fourth satellite in new Chinese spy fleet successfully launched

March 18, 2018 Stephen Clark

China launched the fourth in a series of high-resolution Earth-imaging satellites Saturday, expanding an orbiting fleet of reconnaissance craft that likely serve the Chinese military.

NASA to decide soon whether flying drone will launch with Mars 2020 rover

March 15, 2018 Stephen Clark

Testing of a lightweight robotic helicopter designed to fly in the alien atmosphere of Mars has produced encouraging results in recent months, and NASA officials expect to decide soon whether the aerial drone will accompany the agency’s next rover to the red planet set for liftoff in 2020.

New Horizons spacecraft’s next distant destination gets a nickname

March 14, 2018 Stephen Clark

The frozen faraway miniature world targeted for a high-speed flyby by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on Jan. 1, 2019, now has a nickname: Ultima Thule.

NASA releases summary of investigation into SpaceX’s 2015 launch failure

March 13, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s independent review team that investigated the destruction of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon supply ship shortly after liftoff in June 2015 concluded a design error led to the loss of more than two tons of provisions and equipment heading for the International Space Station.

Musk: Atmospheric tests of interplanetary spaceship could happen next year

March 13, 2018 Stephen Clark

A team of SpaceX engineers is building a prototype of the spaceship Elon Musk hopes will one day carry people and cargo deep into the solar system, and it could begin low-altitude testing next year, kicking off a multi-step test campaign before eventually going into space, then perhaps the moon or Mars.

Photos: Soyuz rocket soars into space from French Guiana

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Soyuz rocket launched Friday with four commercial satellites to expand broadband Internet coverage in remote parts of the world, climbing into orbit from the Guiana Space Center positioned on the northeastern shore of South America.

New NOAA weather satellite reaches geostationary orbit

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

Less than two weeks after its launch from Cape Canaveral, a new NOAA weather observatory has boosted itself into a circular orbit more than 22,000 miles over the equator, and officials have renamed it GOES-17 ahead of a test series before it enters service later this year.

Robert Lightfoot, NASA’s longest-serving interim administrator, to retire

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot, a rocket propulsion engineer and career civil servant who has led the space agency since the beginning of the Trump administration, said Monday he will retire from the space agency at the end of April.

SpaceX’s most recent launch carried a secret military-funded experiment

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

A previously-undisclosed payload funded by a U.S. military research agency rode into orbit with a Spanish communications satellite on SpaceX’s most recent Falcon 9 rocket launch March 6, officials said Friday.

Four O3b satellites launched to beam Internet to developing world

March 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

Four satellites set to join O3b’s expanding broadband network successfully launched Friday on top of a Russian-built Soyuz booster from French Guiana, joining 12 other craft linking developing nations, far-flung islands, cruise ships and other hard-to-reach locales with the Internet.