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VideoLive coverage: SLS core stage engines shut down early during critical hotfire test
A critical test-firing of the Space Launch System's core stage engines cut off about a minute into a planned eight-minute burn Saturday on a test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The rocket's four engines ignited at 5:27 p.m. EST (2227 GMT) for a test that was to pave the way for the core stage's shipment to the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations.
VideoNASA sets mid-January target for SLS hot fire test
NASA is moving forward with a crucial test-firing of the core stage of the first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket as soon as Jan. 17 after engineers were satisfied with the results of a fueling test last month.
VideoInternational Space Station offers ‘blueprint’ for exploration, first crew says
Bill Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL-turned astronaut who arrived at the International Space Station 20 years ago Monday to begin the continuous occupancy of the orbiting research outpost, says the experience gained by NASA and its global partners over the last two decades provides a blueprint for missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond.
VideoCrucial first fueling test on tap for SLS core stage later this month
If all goes according to plan, engineers in southern Mississippi later this month will load cryogenic propellants into the core stage of a rocket NASA says will launch astronauts back to the moon, exposing its tankage and internal plumbing to extreme operating conditions hundreds of degrees below zero for the first time. The fueling test -- a major milestone in its own right -- is a precursor to a high-stakes eight-minute test-firing of the Space Launch System's four shuttle-era main engines planned as soon as November.
VideoSLS booster segments arrive in Florida, but stacking on hold until core stage test
Fueled segments of the solid rocket boosters that will lift off on the first flight of NASA's Space Launch System have arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but officials will hold off on stacking the boosters until the SLS core stage completes a crucial test-firing later this year.
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.
VideoApril 14, 1981: Landing of Columbia on STS-1
VIDEO: The winged spaceship Columbia returned to Earth with a pinpoint landing at Edwards Air Force Base on this day 35 years ago, concluding the maiden flight of the space shuttle.
VideoFinal space shuttle fuel tank in existence heads to California museum
On the 35th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch, the last remaining external fuel tank set sail today from its factory in New Orleans to Los Angeles and a remarkable museum attraction in the making.
VideoApril 12, 1981: 35 years since the maiden space shuttle launch
America's first space shuttle launched on this day 35 years ago as the reusable flying machine, Columbia, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center with John Young and Bob Crippen aboard.
VideoOTD…March 9 and STS-133 landing
Today in 2011, shuttle Discovery made a graceful landing at Kennedy Space Center, returning from her final voyage after a remarkable three-decade life of service.