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62 articles
VideoRoman Space Telescope, NASA’s next ‘great observatory,’ launched
Using a donated Hubble-class mirror originally built for a spy satellite, NASA's Roman Space Telescope launched Sunday on a $4.3 billion mission to open a new window on the universe. Liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy came at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 UTC).
VideoAstronauts ‘operate’ on space station’s broken robot arm
On May 27, flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston noticed one of the Canadian-built arm's seven joints was drawing more current than expected and not moving properly.
VideoBlue Origin vows to resume New Glenn flights by year’s end
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, in an overnight post on the social media platform X, said propellant tanks at launch pad 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station made it through the blast in good shape, as did a nearby processing hangar. The main support gantry, while damaged, can be repaired in place.
VideoBlue Origin launches third New Glenn rocket, but payload ends up in wrong orbit
Blue Origin launched the company's third New Glenn rocket Sunday, re-flying and successfully recovering a previously used first stage. But the rocket's payload, a direct-to-cellphone communications satellite, ended up in the wrong orbit, the company said.
VideoNASA confident Artemis 2 heat shield will protect crew during re-entry
When the Artemis 2 Orion crew capsule returns to Earth after flying around the moon, it will hit the discernible atmosphere some 75 miles above the Pacific Ocean at a blistering 24,000 mph, fast enough to fly from New York to London in less than 10 minutes.
VideoSpaceX pulls off mid-air launch pad capture of descending Super Heavy booster
In one of the most dramatic, high-risk space flights to date, SpaceX launched a gargantuan Super Heavy-Starship rocket on an unpiloted test flight Sunday and then used giant "mechazilla" robot arms on the pad gantry to pluck the returning first stage out of the sky in an unprecedented feat of engineering.
VideoULA launches second Vulcan flight, encounters strap-on booster anomaly
United Launch Alliance fired off a next-generation Vulcan rocket Friday in the second of two "certification" test flights needed before the new launcher can be used to carry high-priority national security payloads for the U.S. Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office. One of two solid-propellant strap-on boosters provided by Northrop Grumman suffered an anomaly of some sort. ULA CEO Tory Bruno said it will be investigated.
VideoSpaceX launches two to space station, giving Starliner astronauts a ride home in February
SpaceX launched a reduced two-man crew on a flight to the International Space Station Saturday, along with supplies and a pair of empty seats for two Starliner astronauts waiting to hitch a ride home in February after an unexpected eight-and-a-half-month stay in orbit.
VideoPolaris Dawn crew gears up for Thursday spacewalk
Billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX crew trainer Sarah Gillis prepared to open the forward hatch of their Polaris Dawn spacecraft early Thursday to take turns floating outside in the first non-government spacewalk in the history of space exploration. Depressurizing the spacecraft will begin around 2:23 a.m. EDT (0623 UTC) and a scaffold-like "Skywalker" assembly extending just above the hatch will be used for stability.
VideoStarliner lands safely in New Mexico
Despite NASA's concerns about earlier thruster problems and multiple helium leaks in the ship's propulsion pressurization system, the Starliner had no trouble undocking and moving away from the station at 6:04 p.m. EDT and executing a critical 59-second deorbit braking maneuver at 11:17 p.m. to drop out of orbit.