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Watch time-lapse of Falcon Heavy going upright (members only)
In this time-lapse video, a Falcon Heavy rocket is lifted into position atop launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in readiness for a pre-flight test firing of its 27 Merlin main engines.
10 years since its launch, NASA lunar orbiter remains crucial for moon landings
Scientists marked the 10th anniversary of the launch of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on Tuesday, celebrating a mission that has greatly outlived its original one-year design life and continues taking high-resolution pictures to help U.S. companies and international space agencies select destinations for moon landers.
Live coverage: Falcon Heavy engines test-fired for launch next week
SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy launch for the U.S. Air Force took a major step closer to liftoff with a hold-down engine firing Wednesday night at launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff with a cluster of experimental satellites and weather monitoring craft is set for June 24.
First Falcon Heavy night launch slips to June 24
The first nighttime launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, and the first Falcon Heavy flight for the U.S. military, is set for no earlier than June 24 from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Air Force officials said Friday.
Scientists call on InSight’s robotic arm to assist stalled heat probe on Mars
Later this month, ground teams will send commands for the InSight lander on Mars to use its robotic arm in a series of carefully-choreographed movements to help inspect, and potentially assist, one of the mission's main geologic instruments that stalled as it hammered into the Red Planet's crust earlier this year.
NASA picks three companies to send commercial landers to the moon
NASA has announced that Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and OrbitBeyond won contracts to deliver science instruments and technology demonstration payloads to the moon's surface in the first of a series of robotic missions preceding a human return to the moon.
NASA chooses Maxar to build keystone module for lunar Gateway station
NASA has selected Maxar Technologies for a $375 million contract to design, build and launch the core element of a mini-space station in orbit around the moon that will double as a deep space research outpost and a staging point for future human expeditions to the lunar surface.
NASA to soon announce winner of first commercial lunar lander competition
Within days, NASA is expected to select a winner from a roster of nine eligible companies to try and become the first commercial entity to accomplish a soft landing on the moon with a robotic spacecraft. The privately-developed probe would be the vanguard in a series of unpiloted missions intended to deliver science instruments to the lunar surface and prepare for a human expedition as soon as 2024.
Trump adds $1.6 billion to NASA budget request to kick start ‘Artemis’ moon mission
The Trump administration is adding an additional $1.6 billion to NASA's $21 billion 2020 budget request to kick start plans to return American astronauts to the moon in 2024, four years earlier than previously planned, NASA announced Monday.
NASA, ULA find launch opportunity for inflatable heat shield demonstrator
A flight demonstration of an inflatable heat shield that could be used to retrieve reusable engines from United Launch Alliance's next-generation Vulcan rocket, and for the delivery of heavier cargo to the surface of Mars, is planned for launch in late 2021 or early 2022 as a piggyback payload on an Atlas 5 rocket with a NOAA weather satellite.