News – Page 639 – Spaceflight Now

October 30, 2025

Breaking News

[ October 30, 2025 ] Former NASA Administrators urge space agency to rethink plans for Artemis Moon lander News
[ October 28, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
[ October 28, 2025 ] Blue Origin details lunar exploration progress amid Artemis 3 contract shakeup Mission Reports
[ October 28, 2025 ] Astrobotic delays Griffin-1 Moon mission to NET July 2026 Mission Reports
[ October 26, 2025 ] SpaceX breaks its California pad turnaround record with sunset Starlink launch Falcon 9

LightSail hailed as precursor for low-cost planetary missions

June 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

Managers in charge of the privately-funded LightSail solar sail in Earth orbit said Wednesday the success of the experiment is a step toward opening up the solar system to scores of modest science probes that could explore space at a fraction of the cost of traditional government-backed missions.

NASA confident in finding fix for test parachute failure

June 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

One day after a supersonic parachute crafted to land robots on Mars failed on a test flight high above Hawaii, NASA officials said Tuesday a jackpot of high-resolution video recordings and other data from the otherwise successful experiment should lead to design improvements.

Russia updates launch schedule for ISS crews, cargo

June 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

The next three-person crew will launch to the International Space Station sometime between July 23 and July 25 after a two-month delay triggered by the failure of an unmanned Progress resupply mission in April, Russian officials said Tuesday.

DSCOVR space weather sentinel reaches finish line

June 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

A new space weather observatory launched in February has completed a four-month journey to an operating post a million miles from Earth, NOAA announced Monday.

Huge parachute shredded during Mars entry experiment

June 8, 2015 William Harwood

Flying more than twice the speed of sound 34 miles above Hawaii, a flying saucer-shaped test vehicle successfully inflated a doughnut-like airbrake, technology needed to slow heavy payloads down during descent to Mars, but a parachute ripped apart in the $230 million program’s second straight failure.

Mars entry testbed to fly Monday after weather delays

June 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA is gearing up to fly a balloon-launched, rocket-powered test vehicle from Hawaii on Monday to wring out the design of a new supersonic parachute and entry probe scientists hope to use on Mars one day.

Satellite comes back to life, deploys solar sail on second try

June 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

Mission managers say the shoebox-sized LightSail satellite powered up its tiny deployment motor Sunday, and data from the diminutive spacecraft indicate its experimental solar sail unfurled in orbit hundreds of miles above Earth.

Video: Falcon 9 nose shroud falls back to Earth

June 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX has released another jaw-dropping video from a camera fastened to a piece of a Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing, showing the nose cone spinning through space after its separation on a recent launch.

Dawn enters new orbit closer to Ceres

June 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Dawn asteroid explorer has arrived at its new perch 2,700 miles from the dwarf planet Ceres, a vantage point scientists say will yield better views as the probe continues to step closer to the surface.

Ground team battling on-and-off communications with LightSail

June 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

After an up-and-down week of intermittent contact with the LightSail satellite, the tiny spacecraft radioed home Saturday, giving engineers hope to deploy the experiment’s solar sail as soon as Sunday.