News – Page 658 – Spaceflight Now

December 17, 2025

Breaking News

[ December 17, 2025 ] Live coverage: SpaceX to fly Starlink mission using Falcon 9 booster flying for a 30th time Falcon 9
[ December 16, 2025 ] Live coverage: SpaceX preps sunrise Starlink launch from Kennedy Space Center Falcon 9
[ December 15, 2025 ] Rocket Lab Electron rocket aborts liftoff at engine ignition Electron
[ December 15, 2025 ] ULA Atlas 5 launch puts Amazon’s 180th broadband satellite in low Earth orbit Atlas 5
[ December 14, 2025 ] Falcon 9 launch of 29 Starlink satellites from the Kennedy Space Center delayed to Wednesday Falcon 9

Rain research satellite ends science mission, heads for re-entry

April 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA has switched off research instruments aboard the long-lived Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, preparing the satellite for a destructive re-entry as soon as June and ending its 17-year run observing tropical cyclones from orbit.

ULA working to reduce five launch pads to two

April 9, 2015 Justin Ray

The nation’s existing Atlas and Delta launch sites are vying for a future when United Launch Alliance completes its modernization with a new rocket system and downsizing to one pad on each coast.

NASA adding to list of CubeSats flying on first SLS mission

April 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

With room for 11 small shoebox-sized CubeSats on the first test flight of NASA’s behemoth Space Launch System, agency officials have turned to scientists, industry and students to fill the slots in time for launch in 2018.

Blue Origin’s sub-orbital ‘New Shepard’ poised for test flights

April 8, 2015 William Harwood

Blue Origin, the historically secretive rocket company owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos, has completed development of a new hydrogen-fueled engine and plans to begin unmanned test flights of its reusable New Shepard sub-orbital spacecraft later this year, company officials said Tuesday.

What to do with the final Delta 2 rocket?

April 8, 2015 Justin Ray

With the payload matching game showing no prospects, the final Delta 2 rocket could be headed to the Smithsonian or another museum instead of space.

Diverse destinations considered for new interplanetary probe

April 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

Science teams from across the United States have submitted 28 proposals for missions to explore the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, touch the asteroid-like satellites orbiting Mars, visit unseen worlds and hunt for objects that could strike Earth one day.

Rosetta probe disoriented by comet dust

April 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

Ground controllers are analyzing a fault aboard Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft after an encounter with comet dust confused the probe’s navigation system, leaving the robot explorer in a temporary safe mode and halting regular science operations.

Launch of BepiColombo mission to Mercury slips to 2017

April 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

The launch of a nearly $2 billion joint mission robotic mission to Mercury by Europe and Japan will be delayed from next year to early 2017 to account for late deliveries of critical components and scientific instrumentation, according to the European Space Agency.

SpaceX, Sierra Nevada get more time to finish flight tests

April 2, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA has extended development agreements with SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. past a March 31 deadline, giving the companies more time to complete delayed tests on commercial spacecraft intended to one day ferry astronauts into space.

Same day rollouts and launches could return to Atlas 5 program

April 1, 2015 Justin Ray

Returning to the days of rollouts and launches in a span of only a few hours, the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 program is looking to resume this whirlwind experience.