News – Page 620 – Spaceflight Now

December 7, 2025

Breaking News

[ December 5, 2025 ] International Space Station prepares for new commander, heads into final five years of planned operations Mission Reports
[ December 4, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandengerg SFB Falcon 9
[ December 4, 2025 ] Orion hatch ‘blemish’ delays launch day rehearsal for Artemis 2 astronauts Mission Reports
[ December 3, 2025 ] Jared Isaacman makes second appeal for NASA administrator position News
[ December 2, 2025 ] Sunset SpaceX launch adds 29 more Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit Falcon 9

Secrets behind Pluto’s pastels far from being answered

September 24, 2015 Stephen Clark

Geologists said Thursday they are bewildered by images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft baring unseen landscapes on Pluto with unexpected “snakeskin” textures, colorful chasms routing through ancient landforms, and vivid new views of apparent glacial flows.

Modified missile launches three Russian satellites

September 24, 2015 Stephen Clark

Three Russian military satellites arrived in orbit Wednesday after taking off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome aboard a Rockot launch vehicle, a decommissioned ballistic missile modified for space applications.

Orbital ATK beats out Aerojet in ULA booster selection

September 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance has selected Orbital ATK to provide solid rocket boosters for the company’s next-generation Vulcan launcher, and will switch the workhorse Atlas 5 to the new booster supplier by the end of 2018, officials said Tuesday.

Boeing identifies CST-100 prime landing sites

September 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

The first few flights of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew capsule will likely land on expansive desert plains in New Mexico or Utah, according to a former astronaut charged with developing the spacecraft’s operations scheme.

China aims for landing on moon’s far side by 2020

September 21, 2015 Stephen Clark

A rover and landing platform developed as a backup for China’s Chang’e 3 moon mission will be repurposed to attempt the first touchdown on the lunar far side by the end of the decade, Chinese officials said.

Debut launch of Long March 6 deploys 20 satellites

September 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

China’s Long March 6 rocket, fueled by a mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen, successfully shot into orbit on its first mission Saturday with 20 small satellites, signaling a revolution in Chinese rocketry as the country prepares to test bigger boosters in the coming months.

Planet Labs takes rash of launch failures in stride

September 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

No one had ever lost 26 satellites at once until a launch failure bit Planet Labs last year, temporarily setting back the San Francisco startup’s ambition to map the globe every day.

Launch of European Mars mission delayed two months

September 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

Officials expect to delay next year’s launch of a European Mars orbiter and lander about two months — from January to March — to remove faulty pressure transducers from the landing craft’s braking system, the European Space Agency announced Friday.

The surface of Rosetta’s comet is changing

September 19, 2015 Stephen Clark

Views from Europe’s Rosetta comet orbiter show mysterious markings appearing on the nucleus of Comet 67P in recent months, with new surface features forming within a matter of weeks, and scientists are digging into the complex causes of the cometary erosion.

Boeing rejects bid to buy ULA as engine race heats up

September 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

Boeing said Wednesday it has turned down an offer from Aerojet Rocketdyne to buy United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture that operates the Atlas and Delta rocket fleets.