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VideoVideo: Europe’s IXV prepared for launch
Watch a time lapse video chronicling several days of activity to ready the European Space Agency's sleek IXV re-entry demonstrator for flight.
Flight timeline for ESA’s re-entry demonstrator
An automobile-sized prototype space plane is ready for an around-the-world test flight to demonstrate technologies to fly on a future orbital space plane, reusable rocket stages, and interplanetary sample return probes. Follow the 102-minute flight with this timeline.
Commercial Dragon supply ship returns to Earth
SpaceX's Dragon supply ship wrapped up a 29-day stay at the International Space Station on Tuesday, departing the complex with nearly 3,700 pounds of research specimens, a balky spacesuit and experimental 3D printed parts before re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
Falcon 9 launch scrubbed by high winds aloft
Unfavorable high-altitude winds above Cape Canaveral on Tuesday kept a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket loaded with a NOAA space weather observatory on the ground another day.
Live coverage: European mini-shuttle back on Earth
A European re-entry demonstrator launched aboard a solid-fueled Vega rocket at 1340 GMT (8:40 a.m. EST) from French Guiana, kicking off a whirlwind 102-minute around-the-world test flight to validate technologies that could be used on future reusable launchers and spaceships.
ESA re-entry vehicle could pave way for reusable launcher
European engineers are eager to test an experimental re-entry demonstrator Wednesday to validate technologies for future robotic exploration probes, winged space planes, and reusable rocket boosters.
17 years later, Gore makes case for viewing Earth from deep space
After waiting nearly two decades for dream to become reality, former Vice President Al Gore said Sunday the mission he fostered in 1998 -- finally ready for launch this week -- will have important scientific and social impacts in humanity's relationship with Earth.
VideoSpaceX plans a busy day Tuesday
Tuesday is shaping up to be a busy day for SpaceX, with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a space weather satellite, an experimental booster flyback maneuver to test reusable launch technologies, and the splashdown of a Dragon capsule returning from the International Space Station.
VideoFalcon 9 countdown halted by faulty radar tracker
A problem with a U.S. Air Force tracking radar kept a Falcon 9 rocket crowned with a NOAA space weather observatory grounded Sunday, forcing a long-delayed mission to stay on Earth an extra day.
Photos: SpaceX rocket standing on launch pad
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket stands on Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad ahead of a Feb. 8 launch attempt with NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory.