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18 articles
NASA’s Artemis 2 rocket hit by new problem expected to bump moonshot into early April
Engineers ran into problems repressurizing the Artemis 2 moon rocket’s upper stage helium tanks overnight Friday, a problem that will require rolling the huge rocket off the launch pad and back to its processing hangar for troubleshooting. The work will push the already delayed mission from March to at least early April, officials said Saturday.
Commander of first piloted Starliner test flight steps down from mission
Christopher Ferguson, commander of the final space shuttle flight and now a Boeing executive, has stepped down as commander of the first piloted test flight of the company's troubled CST-100 Starliner commercial spacecraft, he and Boeing announced Wednesday. He has been replaced by NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore.
NASA outlines recommendations to clear path for Boeing to resume Starliner flights
NASA has completed an exhaustive review of software problems and procedural oversights that prevented an unpiloted Boeing Starliner capsule from docking with the space station last year. The agency is implementing 80 recommendations to clear the way for a second test flight later this year and, if all goes well, Boeing's first piloted flight next spring, officials said Tuesday.
Seventh-grader wins contest to name new Mars rover: Perseverance
Twenty-eight thousand students across the United States submitted essays and proposed names for NASA's newest Mars rover and on Thursday, the agency announced the winner: Perseverance, submitted by Virginia seventh-grader Alexander Mather.
Atlas 5 blasts off with Solar Orbiter
Under a brilliant moon, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flashed to life and vaulted away from Cape Canaveral late Sunday, boosting the European Space Agency's $1.5 billion Solar Orbiter probe out of Earth's gravitational grip toward a multi-year voyage around the sun that will give scientists their first glimpse of the star's poles.
NASA, Boeing clear Starliner for Friday launch
Boeing's Starliner capsule, carrying an instrumented astronaut test dummy nicknamed "Rosie," is on track for launch Friday on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station, mission managers said Tuesday. The flight is a major milestone in NASA's push to resume launching U.S. crews from American soil.
Kennedy Space Center braces for Hurricane Dorian
NASA civil servants and the agency's contractor work force are bracing for high winds and rain from Hurricane Dorian, securing rocket stages, spacecraft assembly areas and even hauling a 6.7-million-pound mobile launch tower, designed for the huge rocket being built for the Artemis moon program, back to the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building for safekeeping.
First unpiloted test flight of SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule reset for March 2
As expected, NASA announced Wednesday that the first unpiloted test flight of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and a Crew Dragon astronaut ferry ship has slipped from later this month to March 2. The first unpiloted flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule is now targeted for the April timeframe.
Boe pulled from commercial crew test flight due to medical issue
Eric Boe, one of three astronauts assigned to the first piloted test flight of a Boeing CST-100 Starliner commercial crew ship later this year has been removed from the mission due to unspecified medical issues, NASA announced Tuesday. He will be replaced by veteran astronaut Mike Fincke.
Bezos rocket engine selected for new Vulcan rocket
Ending months of speculation, Blue Origin, a company owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos, has won a milestone contract to provide first-stage rocket engines for a powerful new booster being designed by United Launch Alliance to replace its current fleet of Atlas and Delta launchers, the companies announced Thursday.