News – Page 84 – Spaceflight Now

March 12, 2026

Breaking News

[ March 10, 2026 ] NASA inspector general assesses agency’s management of moon lander risk Artemis
[ March 9, 2026 ] SpaceX launches direct television satellite for EchoStar Falcon 9
[ March 7, 2026 ] NASA contract confirms selection of ULA’s Centaur 5 as new upper stage for the SLS rocket Artemis
[ March 6, 2026 ] SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg SFB Sunday Falcon 9
[ March 5, 2026 ] Spanish launch startup PLD Space raises $209 million to scale its rocket production Miura 5

Live coverage: Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth

June 3, 2023 Stephen Clark

Wrapping up a six-month mission in orbit, three Chinese astronauts departed the Tiangong space station Saturday and landed in the remote Gobi Desert of northwestern China at 6:33 p.m. EDT (2233 UTC).

Webb spots vast plume of water vapor spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus

June 2, 2023 Spaceflight Now

Using the sensitivity of the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have managed to detect a vast plume of water vapor spewing from the southern pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, a jet extending nearly 6,000 miles and feeding a previously detected torus circling the entire planet.

Third set of upgraded solar arrays ready for ride to International Space Station

June 2, 2023 Stephen Clark

Two more roll-out solar arrays will ride a SpaceX cargo ship to the International Space Station this weekend, continuing a years-long mid-life station upgrade as NASA plans procurement of a final set of new solar wings to fully reinforce the lab’s power supply.

Technical snags force another delay for Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule

June 1, 2023 Stephen Clark

Boeing and NASA officials said Thursday the first launch of astronauts on Boeing’s delay-prone Starliner crew capsule won’t happen in July after engineers recently discovered a problem with the spacecraft’s parachute system and identified flammable tape around wiring harnesses inside the vehicle.

North Korean launch attempt fails, days after South Korea’s successful space shot

June 1, 2023 Stephen Clark

An attempt to place a small North Korean military spy satellite into orbit May 30 failed a few minutes after liftoff, five days after South Korea successfully launched the country’s homegrown Nuri rocket with several technology demonstration and scientific research spacecraft.

SpaceX delivers 52 more Starlink satellites into orbit

May 31, 2023 Stephen Clark

Another batch of 52 Starlink satellites launched late Tuesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on the way to join SpaceX’s fleet of more than 4,000 spacecraft beaming broadband signals around the world.

Private astronauts splash down to close out 9-day commercial research mission

May 31, 2023 William Harwood

America’s most experienced space flier and her three private astronaut crewmates undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth late Tuesday, blazing through the night sky like a fiery shooting star before splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites from California

May 30, 2023 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:02 p.m. PDT Tuesday (2:02 a.m. EDT; 0602 UTC Wednesday) with another batch of 52 Starlink internet satellites.

Live coverage: U.S.-Saudi commercial astronaut crew returns to Earth

May 30, 2023 Stephen Clark

Wrapping up a nine-day mission, four commercial astronauts on Axiom Space’s second flight to the International Space Station departed the orbiting research complex at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1505 UTC) Tuesday. The crew rode back to Earth inside a SpaceX Dragon crew capsule for splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico at 11:04 p.m. EDT (0304 UTC).

Chinese astronaut launch breaks record for most people in orbit

May 30, 2023 Stephen Clark

The launch of the next crew to China’s Tiangong space station late Monday (U.S. time) added three astronauts to the population of humans in space, which reached a record number of 17 people in orbit — six Chinese citizens, five Americans, three Russians, two Saudis, and one Emirati astronaut.