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
902 articles
ExoMars parachute failures could jeopardize 2020 launch date
The European Space Agency has confirmed a parachute for the ExoMars rover mission set for launch next July failed during a test over Sweden earlier this month, the project's second parachute test accident since May.
NASA’s first interplanetary smallsats may struggle to stay under cost caps
The first set of proposals for a new class of small robotic probes NASA wants to dispatch across the solar system came in with higher cost estimates than agency officials expected, a NASA manager said Sunday.
VideoMars 2020 rover on track for launch next July
The launch of NASA's Mars 2020 rover is less than a year away, and the steady pace of work inside the craft's pristine assembly hall in California is keeping the mission on schedule for liftoff from Cape Canaveral next July, despite growing costs, according to mission managers.
NASA terminates lunar lander contract with OrbitBeyond
NASA has terminated a $97 million contract with OrbitBeyond, a New Jersey-based company with plans to build robotic moon landers in Florida, just two months after announcing an agreement to send science instruments to the lunar surface as soon as next year.
NASA opts to go ahead with full-duration SLS core stage test-firing
After considering canceling a planned full-duration test-firing of the Space Launch System's core stage in Mississippi ahead of the heavy-lift rocket's first flight, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced this week that the agency will press ahead with the test next year, citing safety and reliability benefits for future astronauts riding on the launcher on missions to the moon.
SpaceX’s Starship prototype aces first untethered hop test
An early test model of SpaceX's Starship vehicle, which billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk says will carry people and cargo to the moon and Mars, briefly left the ground on its first untethered test flight Thursday night powered by the company's new methane-fueled Raptor engine.
NASA taps Northrop Grumman in sole-source agreement to build Gateway habitat
Racing against the clock to meet the Trump administration's 2024 deadline to land astronauts on the moon, NASA plans to select Northrop Grumman to build a pressurized habitation module derived from the company's Cygnus cargo craft for living quarters for crews transiting to and from the lunar surface.
First moon-bound Orion crew capsule declared complete, major tests remain
Teams working at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida last week connected a U.S.-built Orion crew module with its European-made power and propulsion element for the first time, a significant accomplishment ahead of the spacecraft's shipment to Ohio this fall for testing inside the world's largest vacuum chamber.
Pence delivers a promise, and a warning, to NASA and its contractors
Despite appearances and a presidential tweet suggesting otherwise, the United States is "100%" committed to sending astronauts back to the moon in 2024 and establishing a long-term, sustainable presence there as a stepping stone to eventual piloted flights to Mars, Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview with CBS News.
India launches robotic mission to land on the moon
Seeking to become the fourth nation to successfully land on the moon, India launched an ambitious robotic lunar mission named Chandrayaan 2 on Monday, targeting a touchdown near the lunar south pole Sept. 6.