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
352 articles
Payloads revealed for next flight of X-37B military spaceplane
The next flight of the U.S. military's reusable X-37B spaceplane -- scheduled for liftoff May 16 from Cape Canaveral -- will carry more experiments into orbit than any of the winged ship's previous missions, including two payloads for NASA and a small deployable satellite built by Air Force Academy cadets.
NASA plans to launch first two Gateway elements on same rocket
Aiming to reduce risk and costs, NASA has decided to launch the first two modules of the Gateway station in lunar orbit on the same heavy-lift rocket in 2023, rather than fly them on separate rockets and dock them together in deep space, according to the the agency's chief human spaceflight manager.
NASA identifies risks in SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander proposal
SpaceX's proposal to land astronauts on the moon using the company's reusable Starship vehicle could be "game-changing" for space exploration, but comes with risks and complexity that "threaten the schedule viability" to achieve NASA's goal of returning crews moon by the end of 2024, agency officials said.
Companies release new details on human-rated lunar lander concepts
The next time astronauts land on the moon, they will ride to the lunar surface in a spacecraft that looks a lot different than the Apollo-era landing module last used in 1972. Lander concepts proposed by SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics -- which won a combined $967 million in NASA funding Thursday -- take wildly different approaches to carrying crews to the moon.
Blue Origin wins lion’s share of NASA funding for human-rated lunar lander
NASA has selected Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to move forward with development of human-rated lunar landers, committing nearly $1 billion in funding for a range of moonship concepts that include a variant of SpaceX's next-generation Starship vehicle, officials announced Thursday.
NASA awards robotic lunar landing contract to Masten Space Systems
NASA has awarded Masten Space Systems, a small company based in Mojave, California, a $75.9 million contract to deliver nine science and technology instruments to the moon's south pole in 2022 with its XL-1 robotic lunar lander.
Ground teams fuel Perseverance rover landing system, attach Mars Helicopter
Working under the cloud of the global coronavirus pandemic, technicians and engineers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center have installed a rotor-driven drone on the agency's next Mars rover and fueled the spacecraft's "sky crane" landing system in preparation for launch in July.
In parallel with rocket development, Firefly launches lunar lander initiative
A souped-up version of the Israeli Beresheet moon lander built in Texas could be ready to carry NASA science and technology payloads to the lunar surface before the end of 2022, according to officials from Firefly Aerospace.
Back in Florida, Orion capsule nears readiness for Artemis test flight
The Orion spacecraft slated to fly around the moon on an unpiloted mission next year has arrived back at the Kennedy Space Center following an environmental test campaign in Ohio, ready for a series of final checkouts before officials pause launch preparations this summer to await readiness of NASA's Space Launch System.
NASA picks SpaceX to deliver cargo to Gateway station in lunar orbit
NASA has selected SpaceX to deliver supplies to the planned Gateway mini-space station in lunar orbit using a new version of the Dragon cargo vehicle launched atop Falcon Heavy rockets.