News Archive
Browse every article published on Spaceflight Now, from launch reports and mission previews to spacecraft development coverage. Use the filters to narrow by topic or search by keyword.
Matching Articles
691 articles
Atlas 5 rocket runs through practice countdown before Mars rover launch
The Atlas 5 rocket that will send NASA's Perseverance rover toward Mars next month aced a countdown rehearsal Monday at Cape Canaveral, helping ensure the United Launch Alliance-built rocket is ready for liftoff during the rover's 23-day launch window.
Photos: NASA’s Perseverance rover buttoned up for launch
NASA's Perseverance rover has been closed up inside its protective aeroshell, the structure that will protect the spacecraft when it plunges into the Martian atmosphere, in preparation for launch no earlier than July 20 from Cape Canaveral.
NASA’s space station program manager retiring from agency
Kirk Shireman, NASA's program manager for the International Space Station, is retiring from the space agency later this month to take a position in private industry.
Fitted with super-clean sample tubes, NASA’s next Mars rover nears launch date
The Perseverance rover’s sterilized sample tubes — designed to seal Martian rock and sediment for eventual return to Earth — are installed on the spacecraft as teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center prepare to enclose the rover inside the payload shroud of its Atlas 5 launcher for liftoff July 20.
NASA says JWST won’t be ready for launch in March 2021
The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will not happen in March 2021 -- the mission's previously-scheduled launch date -- after the coronavirus pandemic forced a more than 50 percent reduction in staff levels at the observatory's assembly and test facility.
University-built CubeSat launched with swarm of auroral science nodes
Rocket Lab successfully launched five small satellites from New Zealand Saturday for customers in the United States and Australia, including a CubeSat with a novel swarm of tiny magnetometers to measure the plasma currents that shape colorful auroras.
After crane problem, ULA caps build-up of Atlas 5 rocket for Mars rover launch
United Launch Alliance has completed stacking of the major elements of the Atlas 5 rocket assigned to power NASA's Perseverance rover toward Mars, but the mission's launch date has been pushed back three days to July 20 after teams repaired an issue with a crane in the Atlas 5's assembly building.
Astronauts say riding Falcon 9 rocket was “totally different” from the space shuttle
Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken say SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket was a "very pure flying machine" as it sped their Crew Dragon spaceship into orbit, but they said they were surprised by the rougher-than-expected ride on the Falcon 9's powerful upper stage.
VideoLive coverage: Rocket Lab back in action with twilight launch in New Zealand
Rocket Lab's Electron rocket took off at 1:12 a.m. EDT (0512 GMT) Saturday carrying five payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and the University of New South Wales at Canberra in Australia. The launch was the first for Rocket Lab since January due to delays related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Photos: SpaceX’s first crewed mission launches from pad 39A
This collection of images from NASA and SpaceX photographers shows the Crew Dragon spacecraft lifting off on top of a Falcon 9 rocket May 30.