News – Page 685 – Spaceflight Now

April 22, 2025

Breaking News

[ April 21, 2025 ] SpaceX’s rideshare Bandwagon-3 mission marks the 300th orbital flight from Cape Canaveral’s pad 40 Falcon 9
[ April 20, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 32nd resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station Falcon 9
[ April 19, 2025 ] SpaceX launches third NRO mission in eight days Falcon 9
[ April 16, 2025 ] Northrop Grumman launches first Minotaur 4 rocket from Vandenberg in 14 years Minotaur 4
[ April 13, 2025 ] SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket booster on record-setting 27th time on midnight Starlink flight Falcon 9

Mars spacecraft safe after fortuitous comet encounter

October 20, 2014 Stephen Clark

A fleet of robotic spacecraft orbiting Mars got a front row seat to space history and lived to tell about it, giving scientists their first close-up look at a comet fresh from a cloud of primordial mini-worlds at the outer reaches of the solar system.

China puts government surveillance satellite in orbit

October 20, 2014 Stephen Clark

China sent a reconnaissance satellite into orbit from the Taiyuan space center, expanding the country’s network of intelligence-gathering spacecraft.

Orbital selects future Antares engine, but withholds details

October 19, 2014 Stephen Clark

Orbital Sciences Corp. has selected a new first stage propulsion system for its Antares rocket that will offer improved performance for launches beginning in 2017, the company’s chief executive said.

Last-ditch search finds fresh targets for New Horizons

October 19, 2014 Stephen Clark

Scientists using the powerful Hubble Space Telescopes have identified three tiny objects at the frontier of the solar system that NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft could visit after making an historic flyby of Pluto next summer.

Comet’s flyby of Mars a boon for scientists

October 19, 2014 William Harwood

The red planet’s brush with Comet Siding Spring was a close encounter of the best kind for science, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to study a pristine remnant of the solar system’s birth 4.6 billion years ago as it makes its first and possibly last visit to the warmth of the inner solar system.

U.S. military’s X-37B space plane lands in California

October 17, 2014 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force’s X-37B space plane concluded its third mission, streaking through the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean and gliding to an automated landing on a runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., after spending a record 675 days in orbit.

Two satellites for Latin America launched by Ariane 5

October 16, 2014 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 launcher fired into space from French Guiana, hauling two commercial satellites destined to broadcast television to Latin America for Intelsat, DirecTV and Argentina’s national telecom company.

Ariane 5 rocket to boost satellites for Latin America

October 16, 2014 Stephen Clark

Two telecommunications satellite for Latin America are counting down to liftoff aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.

Indian navigation satellite launched by PSLV

October 15, 2014 Stephen Clark

The third spacecraft to join India’s growing regional navigation system blasted off and flew into orbit aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

Spacewalk achieves all major objectives

October 15, 2014 William Harwood

Astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry “Butch” Wilmore floated outside the International Space Station and, after a bit of trouble with a balky bolt, replaced a broken voltage regulator in one of eight solar power channels to restore the lab’s electrical grid to normal operation.