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
200 articles
VideoWith widespread salts and ices, Ceres in a class of its own
The dwarf planet Ceres turns out to be a world with untold wonders, with vivid bright spots likely made of dried mineral salts and hazes apparently triggered by daytime heating, drawing a comparison to comets and strikingly differentiating it from neighboring bodies in the asteroid belt.
VideoJapanese probe fires rockets to steer into orbit at Venus
Five years after missing a shot to enter orbit at Venus, Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft completed a critical rocket burn late Sunday in a bid to salvage the research mission and become the only space probe operating around Earth's nearest planetary neighbor.
VideoSolar wind blasting away Martian atmosphere
The solar wind, the million-mile-per-hour stream of charged particles blasted away from the sun, is slowly but surely stripping away Mars' atmosphere and likely played a major role in turning the red planet from a habitable world in the distant past into the dry, frozen wasteland seen today, scientists said Thursday.
VideoRecord-breaking Hurricane Patricia viewed from orbit
Astronauts on the International Space Station and a fleet of Earth-watching satellites caught views of Hurricane Patricia, the most powerful cyclone on record in the Western Hemisphere, after the storm exploded in strength to become a monster Category 5 hurricane Friday.
VideoNASA to post new ‘blue marble’ pictures every day
Your daily dose of planet Earth is now just a click away, thanks to a new NASA website hosting photos looking back at the world from a small satellite stationed almost a million miles away, realizing a dream of former Vice President Al Gore nearly two decades ago.
VideoWatch the moon transit the Earth
Spectacular views from a NOAA space weather observatory show the sunlit far side of the moon crossing the face of the Earth from a distant vantage point a million miles away.
VideoUAE details ambitious plan for Martian weather satellite
Scientists from the United Arab Emirates have announced the Arab world's first Mars probe will launch in July 2020 and collect global measurements of the Martian atmosphere.
VideoSMAP observatory unfurls large science antenna structure
Deploying its marquee element in space Tuesday, NASA's new Soil Moisture Active Passive spacecraft took a major step towards realizing its science potential.
VideoStoried space weather observatory finally ready for launch
The world's most distant weather outpost is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Sunday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launching to a point a million miles from Earth to warn forecasters of solar storms that could disrupt global air traffic, satellite navigation and power grids.
VideoFull story: Delta 2 rises to occasion with SMAP observatory
The ever-dependable Delta 2 rocket continued its flawless service to NASA and Earth sciences Saturday with the launch of a $916 million environmental probe focused on producing global maps of soil moisture from space.