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406 articles
SLS mobile launcher moves to pad 39B for final exams
A towering mobile platform for the agency's Space Launch System arrived at launch pad 39B Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a sequence of water and propellant flow tests, swing arm checkouts and other rehearsals that should conclude with managers declaring the spaceport's ground systems ready to support the first SLS launch campaign by the end of the year.
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.
Q&A with Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX (members only)
Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and chief executive, spoke with reporters via conference call May 15 as the company prepared for the launch of the first 60 satellites to build out a network of potentially thousands of broadband relay stations in low Earth orbit providing high-speed Internet to consumers around the world.
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.
VideoRapid-fire engine tests raise hopes for DARPA’s planned reusable spaceplane
A series of unprecedented back-to-back test-firings of a rocket engine originally developed for NASA's space shuttle concluded earlier this month, giving engineers data crucial to achieving rapid 24-hour turnarounds planned for a U.S. military-funded reusable winged booster under construction at Boeing, government and industry officials said.
Former astronaut Bruce McCandless dies
Former astronaut Bruce McCandless II, a retired Navy captain and son of a Medal of Honor winner who joined NASA during the buildup to the Apollo program, served as capsule communicator when Neil Armstrong took his historic first step on the moon and later flew in space twice during the shuttle program, died Thursday. He was 80.
Shuttle-era structure dismantled piece-by-piece at pad 39A
A heavy-duty crane towering over launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in recent weeks has removed several large sections of a disused structure once needed to install satellites and space station modules into space shuttle cargo bays.
Chinese astronomy satellite placed into orbit by Long March rocket
China's first X-ray astronomy satellite launched Thursday on a mission to survey the Milky Way galaxy for black holes and pulsars, the remnants left behind after a star burns up its nuclear fuel.
Twin solid rockets, reused veterans of spaceflight, set for Endeavour display
Two space shuttle solid rocket boosters -- reusable space hardware that launched on 81 missions -- are being gifted to the California Science Center to become part of the museum's launch pad display of Endeavour.
Video: 31 years since Challenger tragedy
President Reagan addressed the nation with this speech 31 years ago today, following the loss of the space shuttle Challenger and crew on Jan. 28, 1986.