January 14, 2026
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Breaking News
  • [ January 14, 2026 ] Live coverage: SpaceX to launch midweek Starlink mission on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
  • [ January 13, 2026 ] U.S. Space Force switches rockets for upcoming GPS satellite launch Falcon 9
  • [ January 13, 2026 ] ISS gains new commander as Crew-11 prepares midweek departure Mission Reports
  • [ January 12, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
  • [ January 12, 2026 ] India’s PSLV suffers second consecutive launch failure, 16 satellites lost Mission Reports

Mercury

News

John Glenn, first American to orbit the Earth, passes away at 95

December 8, 2016 William Harwood

John H. Glenn Jr., a decorated combat veteran and test pilot who gained worldwide fame as the first American to orbit the Earth, went on to become a U.S. senator and, in the autumn of his life, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery, has died. He was 95 years old.

News

On this date…Second American in orbit

May 24, 2016 Justin Ray

Scott Carpenter launched atop an Atlas rocket to become the second American to orbit the Earth today in 1962, flying for 4 hours and 39 minutes aboard Aurora 7 while making three revolutions of the globe.

Video

OTD…May 15 and Faith 7

May 15, 2016 Justin Ray

The final manned Mercury mission was launched atop an Atlas rocket on this day in 1963 with Gordon Cooper aboard Faith 7 for a 34-hour, 22-orbit flight.

Video

55 years ago today: America entered human spaceflight arena

May 5, 2016 Justin Ray

The U.S. launched its first man into space on this date, May 5, 1961, as Alan Shepard rode the Freedom 7 capsule on a 15-minute suborbital flight to 116.5 miles in altitude and 303 miles downrange to splashdown.

News

Messenger mission ends with plunge into Mercury

April 30, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Messenger spacecraft closed out a successful four-year tour in Mercury’s orbit Thursday with a cataclysmic crash into the scorching planet after consuming its last gasps of fuel.

News

Launch of BepiColombo mission to Mercury slips to 2017

April 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

The launch of a nearly $2 billion joint mission robotic mission to Mercury by Europe and Japan will be delayed from next year to early 2017 to account for late deliveries of critical components and scientific instrumentation, according to the European Space Agency.

News

NASA spacecraft to get bonus time studying Mercury

December 26, 2014 Stephen Clark

Running low on fuel after completing the first global survey of Mercury, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft could get an extra month of time at the solar system’s innermost planet thanks to a crafty new way of using helium gas to temporarily forestall the mission’s end next year.

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News Headlines

  • Live coverage: SpaceX to launch midweek Starlink mission on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    January 14, 2026
  • U.S. Space Force switches rockets for upcoming GPS satellite launch
    January 13, 2026
  • ISS gains new commander as Crew-11 prepares midweek departure
    January 13, 2026
  • SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    January 12, 2026
  • India’s PSLV suffers second consecutive launch failure, 16 satellites lost
    January 12, 2026
  • SpaceX deploys NASA’s Pandora, other smallsats amid 1st ‘Twilight’ rideshare mission
    January 10, 2026
  • L3Harris announces $845 million majority sale of Space Propulsion and Power Systems business
    January 9, 2026
  • Crew-11 to cut mission short and return to Earth due to medical issue
    January 9, 2026
  • FCC gives SpaceX “green light” to expand Starlink constellation to 15,000 satellites
    January 8, 2026
  • NASA weighs an earlier end to the Crew-11 mission after a ‘medical situation’ with an ISS crew member postpones first spacewalk of 2026
    January 7, 2026
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