News – Page 703 – Spaceflight Now

August 7, 2026

Breaking News

[ August 6, 2026 ] Blue Origin identifies engine issue behind New Glenn explosion New Glenn
[ August 6, 2026 ] NASA, Northrop Grumman repurpose Gateway elements for Moon Base demo missions Artemis
[ August 5, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 3 AST SpaceMobile BlueBird satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
[ August 4, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB Falcon 9
[ July 29, 2026 ] SpaceX launches classified payload for National Reconnaissance Office Falcon 9

In an eerie scene, Chinese villagers visit rocket crash site

January 4, 2015 Stephen Clark

The expended first stage of a Long March rocket tumbled into a forested region of southwestern China a few minutes after successfully blasting off Dec. 31 with a Chinese weather satellite, and photographers were there to capture the booster’s fall back to Earth.

2014’s launch tally highest in two decades

January 4, 2015 Stephen Clark

There were more successful space launches in 2014 than in any year since 1992, with Russia, the United States and China responsible for more than 80 percent of global launch activity.

Rain and clouds in the forecast for Tuesday’s SpaceX launch

January 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

Forecasters predict mostly cloudy conditions and a chance of light rain for Tuesday morning’s scheduled takeoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a space station-bound supply ship, with a 40 percent chance weather could prevent liftoff during an instantaneous predawn launch opportunity.

China sends new weather satellite into orbit

December 31, 2014 Stephen Clark

China launched a spacecraft Wednesday to replenish the country’s fleet of meteorological satellites providing warnings of weather fronts and tropical cyclones across Asia.

Dawn begins final approach to dwarf planet Ceres

December 30, 2014 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has begun its final approach to the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, for an in-depth survey of the uncharted world.

2014’s top stories in spaceflight

December 30, 2014 Spaceflight Now

The year ended with a deluge of big news, reminding us of the risks of spaceflight and the thin margins between success and failure on the final frontier. 2014 was also a year of breakthroughs in the exploration of the solar system and the future of human spaceflight.

O3b Networks plans satellite fleet expansion

December 29, 2014 Stephen Clark

Fresh off the launch of its last four first-generation satellites, O3b Networks is in the early stages of selecting a builder and launch provider for a new series of spacecraft that will grow the company’s broadband communications capacity ten-fold, O3b’s chief executive said.

Photos: Proton lifts off with TV broadcasting satellite

December 29, 2014 Stephen Clark

Firing into space from the historic Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a Russian Proton rocket guided a European television broadcast satellite into orbit Saturday. Check out photos of the Proton rocket’s nighttime liftoff with the Astra 2G satellite.

SpaceX selected for launch of Qatari satellite

December 29, 2014 Stephen Clark

A communications satellite owned by the Qatari government will launch from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in late 2016, according to Qatar’s state-owned satellite company.

Successful Proton launch puts Astra 2G broadcast satellite in orbit

December 28, 2014 Stephen Clark

A Russian Proton rocket fired six main engines and soared into space from Kazakhstan on Saturday, deploying a commercial communications satellite owned by SES for a 15-year mission linking Europe, Africa and the Middle East.