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Falcon 9 rocket fires engines in hold-down test for station resupply launch
SpaceX ran through countdown and fueling procedures with a Falcon 9 rocket at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, culminating in ignition of the booster's nine first stage Merlin engines in a customary check of the launcher's readiness before liftoff Thursday with a Dragon supply ship for the International Space Station.
Video: SpaceX test-fires Falcon 9 rocket at pad 39A
Four days before its scheduled blastoff on a resupply run to the International Space Station, a Falcon 9 rocket ran through a countdown rehearsal and engine test Sunday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Astronauts complete shortened spacewalk outside International Space Station
Astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer put on spacesuits Friday and headed outside the International Space Station for several repair and maintenance tasks, but the duo only completed part of their originally planned work after a leaky cooling umbilical delayed the start of their spacewalk.
Satellite for broadband on-the-go next in rapid-fire SpaceX launch campaign
A powerhouse communications satellite owned by Inmarsat has been fueled for liftoff on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Monday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a mission to provide broadband links for passengers and crews aboard ships and airplanes, while technicians are loading space station-bound supplies into a commercial Dragon cargo capsule and preparing a Bulgarian telecom for launch on two other SpaceX boosters by mid-June.
Photos: Launch day for Fyodor Yurchikhin and Jack Fischer
These photos chronicle the activities of Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Jack Fischer on Thursday as they prepared for liftoff on a Soyuz rocket to begin an expedition of more than four months on the International Space Station.
VideoLive coverage: Yurchikhin, Fischer reach space station after fast-track rendezvous
Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, on his fifth trip into space, and rookie NASA astronaut Jack Fischer, a Colorado native, blasted off aboard a Soyuz booster at 0713 GMT (3:13 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, heading for the International Space Station for a four-and-a-half month expedition. The duo docked with the orbiting outpost at 1318 GMT (9:18 a.m. EDT).
VideoSoyuz booster moved to launch pad to loft two-man crew
A Russian Soyuz rocket rolled to its launch pad in Kazakhstan early Monday aboard a specially-designed rail car, three days before sending a Russian cosmonaut and U.S. astronaut to the International Space Station.
Photos: Soyuz MS-02 spaceship lands in Kazakhstan
Carrying three space station crew members back home after 173 days in orbit, the Russian Soyuz MS-02 landing craft touched down in Kazakhstan on Monday after a parachute-assisted descent through clear skies.
VideoLive coverage: Three-man crew closes out 173-day space mission
Outgoing space station commander Shane Kimbrough and two Russian crewmates returned to Earth on Monday, riding a Soyuz capsule in a bubble of hot plasma to a parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan. The trio undocked from the space station at 0757 GMT (3:57 a.m. EDT) and landed on the Kazakh steppe at 1120 GMT (7:20 a.m. EDT) Monday.
NASA, Roscosmos open to extending station operations to 2028
Top officials from NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, could decide soon to commit to keeping the International Space Station staffed and flying through at least 2028, four years after the research lab's current retirement date.