News – Page 581 – Spaceflight Now

April 17, 2026

Breaking News

[ April 16, 2026 ] Blue Origin hot fires its first previously flown booster, prepares for weekend launch Mission Reports
[ April 15, 2026 ] Blue Origin one step closer to launching New Glenn from Vandenberg Space Force Base New Glenn
[ April 15, 2026 ] West Coast SpaceX Falcon 9 mission launches 25 Starlink satellites Falcon 9
[ April 14, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 1,000th Starlink satellite of 2026 on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
[ April 10, 2026 ] NASA confident Artemis 2 heat shield will protect crew during re-entry Artemis

China to debut new rocket and spaceport next month

May 18, 2016 Stephen Clark

China plans to launch its first Long March 7 rocket, a new kerosene-fueled booster capable of carrying supplies to the country’s planned space station, by the end of June on a test flight that will reportedly loft an unpiloted prototype of a future crew capsule.

Shuttle fuel tank comes ashore in California for Endeavour museum exhibit

May 18, 2016 Justin Ray

A five-week, 5,000-mile sea trek of the last space shuttle external fuel tank pulled into port today for a parade through the urban jungle of Southern California on Saturday to its final destination.

Photos: Shuttle tank arrives in California

May 18, 2016 Justin Ray

The museum-bound space shuttle tank is coming ashore this morning in Marina del Rey, California, for offloading from its transport barge.

Japanese orbiter officially begins science mission at Venus

May 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

Five months since a belated arrival at Venus, Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft has officially started a modified scientific survey of the sweltering, shrouded planet’s atmosphere and climate.

Rocketcam video released from Soyuz launch last month

May 16, 2016 Stephen Clark

The Russian space agency has posted an astounding video recorded by cameras fastened aboard a Soyuz rocket that took off from the country’s new Siberian spaceport last month.

Orion capsule put under pressure in Florida

May 15, 2016 Stephen Clark

The skeleton of NASA’s next Orion capsule, set for launch in late 2018 on a test flight to lunar orbit without astronauts, has passed a pressurization test at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Chinese rocket lofts government surveillance satellite

May 15, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Long March 2D booster fired into space Sunday from a remote Chinese spaceport in the Gobi Desert, delivering a military spy satellite to a 400-mile-high perch in polar orbit.

Journey of shuttle fuel tank to California saves four people in Pacific

May 15, 2016 Justin Ray

Making a brief pit shop in San Diego to clear customs today, the museum-bound space shuttle external fuel tank will reach Los Angeles for offloading from the transport barge on Wednesday, just days after a serendipitous rescue of the passengers from a sunken boat in the Pacific.

First astronaut flight on Boeing capsule slips to 2018

May 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

The first piloted test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew capsule has been delayed to early 2018 as designers wrestle with the mass of the spacecraft, aerodynamic loads the vehicle will see during launch, and new software requirements levied by NASA, company officials said.

Upgraded Antares rolls out to launch pad for tests

May 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

An Antares booster emerged from its hangar on Virginia’s Eastern Shore and rolled out to its launch pad Thursday for the first time since a rocket failure grounded Orbital ATK’s cargo launcher in 2014.