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
62 articles
VideoSpaceX Starship prototype lost in test flight landing mishap
SpaceX launched a prototype Starship rocket Tuesday from its Boca Chica, Texas, flight facility, successfully sending the silver booster up to an altitude of about six miles as planned. But the unpiloted test flight ended with a spectacular explosion when the rocket failed to right itself and slow down enough for a tail-first landing.
VideoNorthrop Grumman looking into dramatic nozzle anomaly on Omega rocket motor
Near the end of a ground-shaking test firing of Northrop Grumman's solid-propellant Castor 600 rocket motor -- the first stage of a new booster being designed to launch spy satellites and other national security payloads -- a major part of the rocket's big nozzle appeared to break apart, littering the test site with shards of debris.
VideoNASA chief slams India anti-satellite test
The successful test of an Indian anti-satellite weapon March 27 created a cloud of high-velocity debris that poses a near-term threat to other spacecraft in low-Earth orbit, including the International Space Station, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told agency employees Monday. Indian officials said the threat was minimal.
VideoBlue Origin launches New Shepard test flight
Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, launched a reusable New Shepard sub-orbital rocket from the company's west Texas launch site Tuesday, boosting an unpiloted crew capsule out of the dense lower atmosphere for a brief foray into space before a parachute descent to Earth.
VideoCassini races toward fiery mission-ending plunge into Saturn
Thirteen years after reaching Saturn, NASA's nuclear-powered Cassini spacecraft raced through its 294th and final orbit Thursday, collecting priceless data while hurtling toward a kamikaze-like plunge into the ringed planet's atmosphere Friday, going out in a blaze of glory to wrap up an "insanely" successful mission.
VideoPence vows to renew American space leadership
Vice President Mike Pence, chairman of the recently re-established National Space Council, toured the Kennedy Space Center Thursday and vowed to renew American leadership on the high frontier, telling spaceport workers "our nation will return to the moon, and we will put American boots on the face of Mars."
VideoHurriedly planned ‘contingency’ spacewalk on tap Tuesday
Space station commander Peggy Whitson and astronaut Jack Fischer are set for a two-and-a-half hour spacewalk Tuesday, a quickly-planned excursion to replace a recently installed external computer that failed Saturday.
VideoSoyuz docking boosts station crew size back to six
Two days after launch from Kazakhstan, a Russian Soyuz ferry ship glided to a smooth docking with the International Space Station Saturday, bringing a veteran cosmonaut, a Frenchman making his first flight and NASA's most experienced female astronaut to the lab complex.
VideoSoyuz crew blasts off from Kazakhstan
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA shuttle veteran blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday and set off after the International Space Station.
VideoAstronauts set for second spacewalk in two weeks
Space station commander Jeff Williams and astronaut Kate Rubins plan to carry out their second spacewalk in two weeks Thursday, venturing back outside to retract a cooling radiator, install a high-definition TV camera, replace a burned-out light and inspect struts attached to a large solar array rotary mechanism.