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NASA declares first SLS core stage complete
NASA has declared assembly complete on the core stage for the first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket in New Orleans, signaling a long-awaited transition from manufacturing to testing as the core stage is set to move to the nearby Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for a hold-down firing next year of its four shuttle-era main engines.
Q&A with John Shannon, Boeing’s SLS vice president and program manager (members only)
In nearly five years on the job as Boeing's Space Launch System program manager, John Shannon has presided over the completion of the first SLS core stage inside a cavernous factory in New Orleans.
After redesigns, the finish line is in sight for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship
Five-and-a-half years ago, SpaceX founder Elon Musk revealed SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, a sleek-looking human-rated spaceship with 3D-printed engines, a roomy stylized interior and touchscreen controls. Now SpaceX's first ship to ferry astronauts -- with numerous design changes introduced since 2014 -- is about to leave the company's factory for final testing before launching early next year.
Astronauts perform third spacewalk to fix cosmic ray detector
After prepping their patient -- a $2 billion cosmic ray detector -- during two earlier spacewalks, two space station astronauts ventured back outside for a third outing Monday to carry out what amounted to transplant surgery, installing replacement coolant pumps in a bid to revive the costly instrument and extend its life.
After quiet autumn, SpaceX preps for busy December launch schedule
After a lull in launch activity this fall, SpaceX teams at Cape Canaveral are preparing for up to four Falcon 9 missions in December to close out 2019 with a surge of launches.
Spacewalkers continue repair of cosmic ray detector
In a complex bit of orbital surgery, two spacewalking astronauts cut into a $2 billion cosmic ray detector Friday, venting away life-sustaining carbon dioxide refrigerant and then snipping eight coolant lines the size of soda straws to prepare the high-tech "patient" for a coolant pump transplant.
SpaceX offering Starship to NASA for lunar landing missions
SpaceX is eligible to propose using its next-generation Starship vehicle to carry NASA robotic science payloads to the lunar surface, the U.S. space agency announced Monday, on missions that could precede future Starship flights with people on-board. SpaceX is one of five companies NASA selected Monday to join a roster of commercial transportation providers to deliver scientific instruments and technology demonstration packages to the moon as soon as 2022.
Astronauts complete bonus objectives in first in series of AMS repair spacewalks
Two astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station Friday for the first of four spacewalks to repair a $2 billion cosmic ray detector, breezing through work to prep the device for invasive surgery to splice in new coolant pumps and extend the instrument's life probing the composition of the universe.
Complex spacewalk repair work begins Friday
After four years of brainstorming, custom tool development and training, two astronauts plan to venture outside the International Space Station Friday for the first of four spacewalks to repair a $2 billion cosmic ray detector. The excursions are considered the most challenging since work to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
SpaceX fires up Crew Dragon thrusters in key test after April explosion
SpaceX test-fired the Crew Dragon spacecraft's eight SuperDraco abort engines Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, paving the way for a high-altitude rocket escape test and demonstrating engineers have apparently fixed the problem that triggered an explosion during a similar ground firing in April.