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Photos: Delta 4-Heavy with Orion on eve of launch
View photos from the Delta 4 launch pad on the day before liftoff with NASA's first space-bound Orion capsule.
VideoNASA Administrator speaks about Orion test flight
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden speaks to Spaceflight Now's Stephen Clark about the upcoming test flight of the Orion space capsule on the EFT-1 mission.
Hayabusa 2 launches on audacious asteroid adventure
A Japanese H-2A launcher blasted off from an idyllic island spaceport Tuesday, dispatching a daring six-year expedition to bring a piece of an asteroid back to Earth.
Philae’s “little cousin” heading for asteroid touchdown
Weeks after accomplishing the first touchdown on a comet, the team of European scientists that developed the Philae landing craft is awaiting launch of a related robot riding piggyback with Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft to achieve the same feat on an asteroid.
VideoVideo: Orion countdown status briefing
NASA, Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance officials hold the L-2 day countdown status briefing following the launch readiness review on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
VideoJapan set to launch asteroid sample return mission
Japan is readying an H-2A rocket for liftoff Tuesday to kick off an audacious six-year roundtrip journey to a carbon-rich asteroid, drop a fleet of landers to its surface, collect primordial rock samples, and return the materials to terrestrial laboratories for analysis.
Small satellites have another way to get into space
A spherical U.S. Navy spacecraft the size of a beach ball spring-ejected from a new satellite deployer outside the International Space Station last week, debuting a fresh way for low-budget space missions to reach orbit.
Live coverage: Orion lands in Pacific
NASA's first space-worthy Orion capsule blasted off atop a Delta 4-Heavy booster rocket for a two-orbit, four-hour shakedown cruise in orbit. Liftoff occurred at 7:05 a.m. EST (1205 GMT), with splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 11:29 a.m. EST (1629 GMT).
Live coverage: Japanese asteroid mission blasts off
An ambitious mission of exploration launched from Japan at 0422 GMT Wednesday (11:22 p.m. EST Tuesday). An H-2A rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center with Hayabusa 2, starting a six-year journey to collect rocks from an asteroid and return them to Earth.
Isolated showers, gusty winds expected for Thursday’s Delta 4 launch
Weather forecasters will watch for isolated rain showers and gusty winds that could delay Thursday's launch of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket carrying NASA's Orion space capsule on its first flight into orbit.