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VideoPropulsive landings nixed from SpaceX’s Dragon spaceship
SpaceX's upgraded Dragon capsules will not return astronauts to Earth for powered landings as originally envisioned, company boss Elon Musk said Wednesday, a design change that raises questions about the space transport firm's plans to send commercial landers to the surface of Mars.
VideoLive coverage: SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship ends month-long mission
A Dragon supply ship owned and operated by SpaceX departed the International Space Station early Monday and returned to Earth for a predawn splashdown in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles with scientific specimens and other equipment. Astronaut Jack Fischer released the Dragon cargo capsule from the station's robotic arm at 2:41 a.m. EDT (0641 GMT), and splashdown occurred around 8:12 a.m. EDT (1212 GMT).
VideoPrototype solar array jettisoned as Dragon capsule prepares for trip home
An experimental solar wing sent to the International Space Station earlier this month was jettisoned from the orbiting lab's robotic arm after engineers were unable to fully retract the array.
VideoLive webcast: Cygnus freighter leaves the space station Sunday morning
Taking advantage of available astronaut time, the International Space Station's crew will cast off the commercial Orbital ATK Cygnus freighter on Sunday morning nearly six weeks ahead of schedule.
VideoRide with NASA’s Juno orbiter over turbulent Jupiter
Take a trip around Jupiter with NASA's Juno spacecraft in a time-lapse animation created from a sequence of images taken during the probe's last close-up flyby of the gas giant May 19.
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.
VideoNASA probe finds Saturn ring gap emptier than predicted
NASA's Cassini spacecraft sped through a gap between Saturn and its rings for the second time Tuesday after data from the probe's first perilous passage through the unexplored region last week found it to contain fewer potentially hazardous dust particles than expected.
VideoGravitational wave testbed repurposed as comet dust detector
In the final months of Europe's LISA Pathfinder mission, scientists have found an unexpected use for the trailblazing testbed for a future gravitational wave observatory by tracking the tiny dings made by microscopic particles that strike the spacecraft in deep space, exploiting the impacts to learn about the population of dust grains cast off by comets and asteroids across the solar system.
VideoLive coverage: Yurchikhin, Fischer reach space station after fast-track rendezvous
Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, on his fifth trip into space, and rookie NASA astronaut Jack Fischer, a Colorado native, blasted off aboard a Soyuz booster at 0713 GMT (3:13 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, heading for the International Space Station for a four-and-a-half month expedition. The duo docked with the orbiting outpost at 1318 GMT (9:18 a.m. EDT).
VideoSoyuz booster moved to launch pad to loft two-man crew
A Russian Soyuz rocket rolled to its launch pad in Kazakhstan early Monday aboard a specially-designed rail car, three days before sending a Russian cosmonaut and U.S. astronaut to the International Space Station.