News – Page 521 – Spaceflight Now

August 16, 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

Environmental sentinel launched from French Guiana

March 7, 2017 Stephen Clark

A European environmental satellite rode a solid-fueled Vega launcher from a tropical spaceport at the edge of the Amazon jungle into polar orbit Monday night, adding a new eye in the sky to check on the health of crops and forests from space.

Sierra Nevada to resume Dream Chaser flight tests

March 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

An atmospheric test model of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser space plane is being readied for tow and landing tests at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California this spring.

Live coverage: European environmental satellite launched by Vega rocket

March 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Vega rocket launched from French Guiana at 0149:24 GMT Tuesday (8:49:24 p.m. EST Monday) with Europe’s fifth Sentinel environmental satellite. The Sentinel 2B observatory will take the pulse of Earth’s vegetation, monitoring crops, forests, urban sprawl, and pollution from polar orbit.

Launch timeline for Vega rocket’s flight with Sentinel 2B

March 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Europe’s fifth Sentinel Earth observation satellite will ride a four-stage Vega rocket into polar orbit 488 miles above Earth to begin tracking changes in agriculture and forestry patterns and monitoring natural disasters.

Live coverage: SpaceX readies next Falcon 9 for liftoff

March 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is preparing for the next launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, set for blastoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with the EchoStar 23 television broadcast satellite destined to cover Brazil. The rocket’s static fire test, a major milestone in any SpaceX launch campaign, was performed Thursday.

NASA spacecraft steers clear of Martian moon Phobos

March 4, 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft in orbit around Mars maneuvered out of the path of Phobos earlier this week after navigators predicted the spacecraft could run into the Martian moon in the near future, highlighting the challenge of tracking an international fleet of Mars probes set to double in size by 2021.

Small experimental satellite launched by new Chinese rocket

March 3, 2017 Stephen Clark

China debuted a new solid-fueled booster Thursday in an unannounced flight that put a small satellite into polar orbit, adding another rocket to the country’s growing fleet of lightweight launchers.

Photos: News media images of Atlas 5 launch

March 2, 2017 Justin Ray

Vandenberg Air Force Base in California played host to the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket that sent the NROL-79 payload into orbit today.

Photos: Atlas 5 delivers success on 70th Launch

March 2, 2017 Justin Ray

For its 70th launch in 14 years, the Atlas 5 rocket carried the NROL-79 payload into space for the National Reconnaissance Office.

NASA buys up to five more seats on future Soyuz missions

March 1, 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA has purchased two seats on Russian Soyuz capsules launching later this year and in early 2018 to expand the crew on the U.S. segment of the International Space Station from three to four, and reserved options to fly astronauts on Soyuz spacecraft in 2019 if commercial rides are not available in time.