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News Archive: September 2013-October 2013

Sochi Olympic torch relay heads to space station
While the Olympic torch relay courses through Russia ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Games in February, a veteran international crew from Russia, the United States and Japan will launch into space next week with an unlit replica for a ceremonial orbital handoff.
   FULL STORY
Arianespace shifts manifest to make room for Gaia
Arianespace has shuffled its launch manifest to make room for the launch of Europe's Gaia galactic survey mission, moving up the next commercial Ariane 5 flight by one week and setting Dec. 20 as Gaia's target launch date.
   FULL STORY
Dream Chaser skidded off runway after smooth flight
A landing gear malfunction that caused a small commercial spacecraft to skid off the runway after its first unmanned flight Saturday caused relatively minor damage and an official with builder Sierra Nevada said Tuesday the test confirmed the flight worthiness of the winged "lifting body" design.
   FULL STORY
   VIDEO: DREAM CHASER APPROACHES RUNWAY
Atlas 5 rocket sails through countdown rehearsal
Gearing up for the launch of NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars next month, United Launch Alliance ran through a practice countdown, loaded propellant into an Atlas 5 rocket, and rehearsed procedures Tuesday to work out the kinks before the real launch day Nov. 18.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
John Glenn returned to space 15 years ago
The shuttle Discovery lifted off Oct. 29, 1998, with a veteran international crew of seven astronauts, including John Glenn, who returned to space for the first time since becoming the first American to orbit the Earth in February 1962.
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Orion spacecraft powered on ahead of 2014 test flight
The first Orion spacecraft to fly in space was powered up inside a cavernous assembly hall at the Kennedy Space Center last week, one year before it is scheduled to launch on an unmanned orbital test flight, NASA and Lockheed Martin Corp. announced Monday.
   FULL STORY
Chinese surveillance craft put in orbit by Long March
China unexpectedly launched a Long March rocket Tuesday and put into orbit a secret military surveillance satellite likely equipped with a synthetic aperture radar to make observations through clouds and darkness.
   FULL STORY
ESA approves sale of Artemis satellite to Avanti
The governing council of the European Space Agency has approved the sale of the 12-year-old Artemis experimental communications satellite to UK-based Avanti Communications, an ESA spokesperson said Friday.
   FULL STORY
European cargo freighter undocks from space station
Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle backed away from the International Space Station on Monday, firing thrusters to vacate the outpost's safety bubble and begin positioning itself for a destructive re-entry Saturday.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
Dream Chaser damaged by crash landing in California
A test article of the lifting body Dream Chaser spaceship built by Sierra Nevada Corp., one of several companies receiving NASA funding to develop a commercial space taxi, made a crash landing on a runway at California's Edwards Air Force Base on Saturday.
   FULL STORY
Sirius XM Radio spacecraft launches on Proton rocket
A Proton rocket and a Breeze M upper stage guided a fresh satellite into orbit Friday to begin a 15-year mission broadcasting hundreds of music, news and entertainment channels to Sirius XM Radio's 25 million subscribers in North America.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   LAUNCH TIMELINE
   OUR ILS PROTON LAUNCH ARCHIVE
Ground crews gas up MAVEN for Mars mission
A team of technicians with specialized skills filled the propellant tank inside NASA's Mars-bound MAVEN spacecraft with 3,626 pounds of hydrazine fuel Friday to help steer the mission toward its ultimate destination in orbit around the red planet.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
Experimental satellite launched by Long March
A Chinese Long March 4B rocket launched Friday with a payload named Shijian 16, which state media claims is an experimental satellite for the testing of advanced space technologies.
   FULL STORY
Indian Mars orbiter attached to launch vehicle
Workers have placed India's first Mars orbiter on top of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle for liftoff Nov. 5, the Indian Space Research Organization announced this week.
   FULL STORY
Launch of Gaia galaxy probe slips to late December
Concerns over the health of two timing transponders inside Europe's Gaia spacecraft have delayed launch of the $1.2 billion mission to map the positions of a billion stars from Nov. 20 until at least late December, officials said Wednesday.
   FULL STORY
Europe's Planck mission destined for silent death
The European Space Agency on Wednesday said goodbye to Planck, an observatory which captured headlines and mapped the relic light of the Big Bang, and turned off its transmitter in a bittersweet ceremony at the mission's control center in Germany.
   FULL STORY
Laser communications test breaks data-rate record
High-definition 3D video postcards from Mars and lightning fast data downloads are a step closer to reality after a successful laser linkup with a communications testbed aboard NASA's LADEE spacecraft, which arrived in orbit around the moon earlier this month.
   FULL STORY
Cygnus completes maiden visit to space station
The Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo ship completed its first visit to the International Space Station on Tuesday, departing the complex after a highly successful test flight as workers load the second Cygnus spacecraft with supplies for another mission in December.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   IMAGES: DEPARTURE OF CYGNUS
JWST testing dodges threat from government closure
NASA kept a skeleton crew on the job during the partial U.S. government shutdown to watch over a critical component of the James Webb Space Telescope locked inside a cryogenic chamber to test its resiliency to the harsh conditions of space.
   FULL STORY
Orbital drafting Antares commercial launch bid
Orbital Sciences Corp. officials say the success of the company's first two Antares rocket launches has positioned the medium-class launcher to battle for contracts for commercial and national security missions.
   FULL STORY
Government shutdown triggers Minotaur delay
Forced to halt launch preparations due to the partial shutdown of the U.S. government, officials are targeting a mid-November launch of a Minotaur 1 rocket from Virginia's Eastern Shore on a technology demonstration mission with a record-setting payload of 29 satellites.
   FULL STORY
Proton launch of Sirius XM satellite delayed to Friday
A Russian Proton rocket and its 6.6-ton commercial payload for Sirius XM Radio will stay on the ground until at least Friday, according to the launch vehicle's contractor. The rocket was supposed to take off Sunday, but officials pushed back the flight to resolve an issue with a satellite communications facility in South Africa.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   PREVIEW STORY
   IMAGES: PROTON'S TRAIN RIDE TO LAUNCH PAD
SpaceX says market can support four launch pads
SpaceX boss Elon Musk sees a day before the end of the decade when his prospering rocket company administers four launch pads, taking up beach real estate in Florida, Texas and California to serve disparate markets for commercial, government and crewed space missions.
   FULL STORY
Delta 4 rocket grounded by RL10 engine inquiry
United Launch Alliance has postponed the next launch of a Delta 4 rocket from Oct. 23 to sort out the significance of fresh conclusions stemming from an investigation into an RL10 engine anomaly during another Delta 4 launch one year ago, the company said in a statement Friday.
   FULL STORY
ISON has good chance of enduring solar flyby
Comet ISON has a good chance of surviving its sizzling encounter with the sun next month, meaning the much-hyped comet has a shot at putting on a brilliant sky show in the morning sky over the holidays, according to a new study.
   FULL STORY
Delta 4 launch of new GPS satellite postponed
The launch of a new satellite to replenish the U.S. Air Force's GPS navigation network, previously scheduled to lift off Oct. 23 on a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket, has been postponed, according to Air Force officials.
   FULL STORY
Tests loom in next decade of Chinese human spaceflight
China has made progress toward developing a modular Skylab-class space station since Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in space a decade ago, but engineers are still working on new Long March heavy-lift rockets, regenerative life support systems and other advanced technologies required for the huge construction job.
   FULL STORY
Sunshield passes final exam aboard Gaia galaxy-mapper
Working inside a climate-controlled clean room in the tropical French Guiana rainforest, technicians have completed final assembly and checkout of the European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft before it blasts off in November on a quest to map more than a billion stars.
   FULL STORY - with photos!
Grasshopper flight captured in breathtaking video
SpaceX's ambition to develop a reusable rocket took another leap toward reality last week with a record-breaking flight of the Grasshopper testbed, and the company recorded the event from a hexacopter drone hovering over the the company's test facility in Central Texas.
   FULL STORY - with video!
Lunar orbiter set for long-distance laser data linkup
NASA's LADEE spacecraft finished a week-long series of maneuvers to reach an initial operating orbit around the moon Saturday, kicking off a month of commissioning and calibrations while demonstrating a laser communications system that could lead to breakthroughs for future expeditions into deep space.
   FULL STORY
Juno spacecraft recovers from fault after Earth flyby
Scientists in charge of NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno mission said Friday the speedy spacecraft recovered from a fault that triggered an unexpected safe mode as it zoomed by Earth for a gravity assist flyby Wednesday.
   FULL STORY
Atlas 5 launcher erected for MAVEN's launch to Mars
United Launch Alliance on Friday began assembling the Atlas 5 rocket assigned to launch NASA's MAVEN mission in November and send the orbiter on a 10-month cruise to Mars to help decipher the red planet's thinning atmosphere.
   FULL STORY
Look back on the 100th space shuttle mission
The shuttle Discovery launched 13 years ago Friday on the 100th space shuttle mission, delivering a docking port, Ku-band communications antenna and control moment gyroscopes to the fledgling International Space Station. Take a look back in our mission archive.
   STS-92 MISSION ARCHIVE
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Scott Carpenter, Mercury astronaut, dies at 88
Malcolm Scott Carpenter, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts who was forced to take manual control of his Aurora 7 capsule after running low on fuel in one of the scarier moments of the early space program, died early Thursday. He was 88.
   FULL STORY
Roscosmos head ousted after series of setbacks
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday named Oleg Ostapenko, Russia's deputy defense minister, as the new chief of the country's space agency, replacing Vladimir Popovkin, whose troubled tenure was marred by launch failures and the loss of an ambitious mission to Mars.
   FULL STORY
Juno goes into safe mode during Earth flyby
NASA's Juno spacecraft went into safe mode Wednesday as it flew by Earth to gain speed on its five-year journey to Jupiter, but the mission's lead scientist said the flyby achieved its objective of putting the probe on the correct course toward the solar system's largest planet.
   FULL STORY
   EARLIER STORY
Space telescope cooling off to find near-Earth asteroids
Approved for an extended mission in August, NASA has reactivated the orbiting NEOWISE mission from hibernation, and the telescope's infrared detectors are cooling off to undertake a renewed survey for asteroids coming perilously close to Earth, the project's top scientist said Tuesday.
   FULL STORY
Space station crew unpacks Cygnus cargo craft
Working in orbit 250 miles above Earth, astronauts aboard the International Space Station have finished unpacking 1,300 pounds of supplies from the commercial Cygnus cargo craft after its historic arrival at the complex last month.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   IMAGES: CYGNUS ARRIVES AT SPACE STATION
India putting final touches on Mars-bound spacecraft
India's first Mars probe is preparing for launch in late October on a trial run to the red planet to lay the technological foundation for future Indian deep space missions.
   FULL STORY
Fifth WGS communications craft enters military service
The U.S. Air Force has taken control of its fifth Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, and a sixth high-throughput WGS spacecraft is on track to join the Defense Department's most capable fleet of communications satellites by the end of 2013, prime contractor Boeing announced last week.
   FULL STORY
   LAUNCH COVERAGE
LADEE arrives at the moon for lunar science mission
NASA's LADEE spacecraft slipped into orbit around the moon Sunday, beginning a feverish four-month campaign to demonstrate a next-generation laser communications system and answer long-standing questions about the nature and origin of the tenuous lunar atmosphere.
   FULL STORY
   PREVIEW STORY
SES 8 satellite shipped for next Falcon 9 launch
A communications satellite booked for the next launch of the Falcon 9 rocket was transported by truck from Virginia to Florida this week as SpaceX seeks to allay the worries of the payload's owner - the global commercial operator SES - and the insurance community after the Falcon 9's test flight Sunday encountered a second stage engine restart anomaly.
   FULL STORY
MAVEN granted reprieve from government closure
Engineers returned to work on NASA's next Mars mission at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday after receiving an emergency exception under federal law to continue launch preparations for a $671 million orbiter to probe the red planet's atmosphere.
   FULL STORY
ISON makes lackluster showing in Mars flyby
Comet ISON made its closest approach to Mars this week, and scientists in charge of the sharp-eyed camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter say the long-awaited comet did not live up to expectations.
   FULL STORY
Shutdown puts MAVEN launch preps on hold
Without funding to pay for numerous programs and research, engineers began shutting down work on a $671 million Mars science orbiter at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, halting critical preparations ahead of the mission's narrow interplanetary launch window in November.
   FULL STORY
   IMAGES: MAVEN IN CLEAN ROOM
NASA shuts down in federal funding impasse
With the federal government in partial shutdown, NASA is implementing drastic, across-the-board furloughs that will severely curtail ongoing research and development and shut down the agency's widely visited web site and satellite television channels.
   FULL STORY
Next-generation Falcon 9 blasts off on first flight
SpaceX launched a souped-up version of its Falcon 9 rocket Sunday on a proving flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, testing upgraded engines and other systems designed to achieve the company's ambitious manifest of satellite launches, space station resupply missions and crewed expeditions.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   PREVIEW STORY
   IMAGES: LIFTOFF FROM VANDENBERG
   IMAGES: FALCON 9 ON THE PAD
   COUNTDOWN TIMELINE
   LAUNCH TIMELINE
   MISSION PRESS KIT
   OUR FALCON ARCHIVE
Cygnus cargo craft arrives for first space station visit
A privately-owned cargo freighter operated by Orbital Sciences Corp. completed its first rendezvous with the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering 1,300 pounds of supplies and demonstrating its ability to automatically maneuver near the 450-ton complex.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   CYGNUS CARGO MANIFEST
Proton returns to flight with successful launch for SES
A Russian Proton rocket blasted off from the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday, kicking off a nine-hour journey to deploy the ASTRA 2E telecommunications satellite in orbit on the Proton's first mission since a July 2 launch failure.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   PREVIEW STORY
JWST instrument repairs on schedule for next year
The infrared eyes of the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble, are poised begin a two-year stretch of unprecedented ground testing after the delivery of the observatory's final instrument to NASA, according to mission managers.
   FULL STORY
Space station crew blasts off from Baikonur
A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut blasted off from Kazakhstan Wednesday, climbed smoothly into orbit and docked with the International Space Station after an abbreviated six-hour rendezvous, boosting the lab's crew back to six.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   PREVIEW STORY
   IMAGES: SOYUZ ROLLOUT
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VIDEO: SOYUZ LAUNCH REPLAYS PLAY
VIDEO: SOYUZ ROLLS TO THE LAUNCH PAD PLAY
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Mars rover gives negative result on Mars methane
Contrary to earlier measurements from Earth and orbiting sensors, scientists analyzing data from the Curiosity rover have concluded the Martian atmosphere contains no methane, dashing hopes the red planet may still harbor microbial life.
   FULL STORY
Chinese weather satellite successfully launched
China launched a weather satellite Monday into a speedy perch over Earth's poles, beginning a three-year mission to provide Chinese meteorological authorities with imagery and data for incorporation into weather forecasts.
   FULL STORY
Cygnus rendezvous aborted due to data link issue
The first Cygnus spacecraft, an unmanned cargo carrier owned and operated by Orbital Sciences Corp., aborted its approach to the International Space Station on Sunday to give ground teams time to resolve a problem with a communications link between the unmanned freighter and the 450-ton orbiting outpost. The next rendezvous attempt will be no earlier than Tuesday.
   FULL STORY
NASA declares end to Deep Impact comet mission
NASA's Deep Impact mission, after fleeting flybys of two comets and 4.7 billion miles of interplanetary travel, has come to an end following a software glitch which likely put the space probe into a tumble in early August, NASA announced Friday.
   FULL STORY
SpaceX completes second static fire on new Falcon 9
For the second time in a week, SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket fired its engines on a new California launch pad Thursday in one of the final steps before the 22-story launcher is cleared for liftoff on a test flight no earlier than Sept. 29.
   FULL STORY - with video!
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
Cygnus spaceship thunders away on shakedown cruise
A privately-owned spaceship built by Orbital Sciences Corp. made an Earth-rattling trip into orbit from Virginia on Wednesday, starting a four-day chase of the International Space Station to close out a nearly $700 million NASA program to foster a fleet of commercial spaceships to replace capabilities lost with the space shuttle's retirement.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   IMAGES: REMOTE CAMERA SHOTS
   IMAGES: PRESS SITE LAUNCH PHOTOS
   IMAGES: ANTARES ROLLOUT
   COUNTDOWN TIMELINE
   LAUNCH TIMELINE
   CYGNUS CARGO MANIFEST
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Secure communications satellite launched by Atlas 5
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket raced away from its launch pad in the Florida wetlands early Wednesday, streaking into a moonlit predawn sky and deploying an ultra-secure, jam-resistant communications satellite in orbit for the U.S. Air Force.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   PREVIEW STORY
   IMAGES: REMOTE CAMERAS CAPTURE LAUNCH
   IMAGES: ATLAS 5 ROLLOUT
   IMAGES: AEHF 3 ENCAPSULATION
   LAUNCH TIMELINE
   GROUND TRACK MAP
   OUR ATLAS ARCHIVE
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Virginia's bet brings big launches to the mid-Atlantic
NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, nestled on a quaint stretch of Virginia's rural coastline, has an active autumn launch schedule this year, one sign a nearly $150 million investment by state and federal governments is starting to pay off.
   FULL STORY
Japan's 'affordable' Epsilon rocket makes debut launch
A Japanese rocket designed to make launches cheaper and more efficient blasted off from southern Japan on Saturday, achieving success on its first flight with a compact telescope to peer at Mars, Venus and Jupiter and observe their response to blasts of solar wind.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   LAUNCH TIMELINE
   GROUND TRACK MAP
Proton's return-to-flight mission delayed by glitch
Grounded since a startling launch failure in July, Russia's Proton rocket will have to wait at least another two weeks to resume flights due to a technical problem on the booster's first stage.
   FULL STORY
Voyager 1 crosses over into interstellar space
Covering nearly a million miles a day, NASA's nuclear-powered Voyager 1 spacecraft, 36 years and 12 billion miles from Earth, has crossed the boundary between the sun's influence and interstellar space, sailing into the vast gulf between the stars to become humanity's first true starship, scientists announced Thursday.
   FULL STORY
Upgraded Falcon 9 rocket ignites for prelaunch test
SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket briefly fired nine Merlin 1D engines on the launch pad Thursday, but engineers will review data from the prelaunch static fire test before confirming the mission's targeted Sunday launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, sources familiar with SpaceX's launch preparations said.
   FULL STORY
Rockot launch clears way for oft-delayed ESA mission
A Russian Rockot launch vehicle lifted off Wednesday with three small satellites for Russia's Gonets communications relay system, clearing the way for Europe's Swarm magnetic field research mission to begin launch preparations after more than a year of rocket-related delays.
   FULL STORY
Three-man space station crew back on planet Earth
Two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut, buckled up inside a Russian Soyuz capsule, plunged through Earth's atmosphere and descended to a parachute-assisted landing on the desolate steppes of Kazakhstan on Wednesday, closing out a 166-day mission aboard the International Space Station.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   PREVIEW STORY
NASA's plucky Deep Impact probe feared lost
Scientists fear NASA's comet-chasing Deep Impact spacecraft may be lost in space after a software glitch cut off communications between the aging space probe and befuddled engineers on Earth.
   FULL STORY
Space station cameras record HTV's destruction
Japan's HTV cargo craft plunged back to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean last weekend, leaving a brilliant trail of fire visible from the International Space Station.
   IMAGES: HTV'S RE-ENTRY
Lockheed Martin lands commercial Atlas 5 contract
A communications satellite for the Mexican government will launch on an Atlas 5 rocket from Florida in 2015, a rare win for the workhorse booster in the commercial launch market dominated by rockets from Europe, Russia and newcomer SpaceX.
   FULL STORY
Minotaur 5's dazzling nighttime launch in photos
Observers up and down the U.S. East Coast got a spectacular light show Friday night as NASA's LADEE moon mission rocketed into space from Virginia aboard a Minotaur 5 rocket. We present photos of the launch submitted from readers and imagery captured by remote cameras near the launch pad.
   IMAGES: VIEWS FROM NYC, DC
   IMAGES: REMOTE CAMERA SHOTS
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Epsilon rocket's maiden launch reset for Saturday
The next launch attempt for Japan's new Epsilon rocket is scheduled for no earlier than Sept. 14 after a last-minute hold in the launcher's first countdown in late August, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
Moon mission blasts off, overcomes pointing problem
NASA's latest moon mission, a $280 million project to study the lunar atmosphere, soared to space aboard a Minotaur 5 rocket Friday in a brilliant late-night launch from Virginia that lit up skies all along the U.S. East Coast.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   IMAGES: SPECTACULAR VIEW FROM NYC
   PREVIEW STORY
   LAUNCH TIMELINE
   GROUND TRACK
   VISIBILITY MAP
   LAUNCH WINDOWS
   LADEE PRESS KIT - pdf download
   OUR MINOTAUR ARCHIVE
New Minotaur 5 rocket tailored for moon mission
NASA's new moon mission, designed to survey the little-known lunar atmosphere, will blast off from Virginia on Friday aboard a U.S. Air Force Minotaur 5 rocket assembled from stockpiled Peacekeeper missile motors originally built to hurl nuclear weapons at targets across the globe.
   FULL STORY
Cygnus cargo vehicle gearing up for debut flight
Orbital Sciences Corp. is almost ready to send the first commercial Cygnus cargo freighter on a demonstration mission to the International Space Station, and NASA officials gave the green light Wednesday for engineers to begin final preparations for the test flight's Sept. 17 launch on an Antares rocket from the Virginia coastline.
   FULL STORY
HTV departs space station after resupply mission
Japan's fourth H-2 Transfer Vehicle left the International Space Station on Wednesday, setting up for a destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean on Saturday and clearing the way for the arrival of a privately-owned Cygnus resupply ship later this month.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   PREVIEW STORY
Chinese military payload successfully launched
China launched three military surveillance satellites Sunday aboard a Long March 4C rocket, but government officials are keeping their mission a secret.
   FULL STORY

Read our earlier news archive page.