NASA

NASA astronaut Don Pettit makes fourth trip to the International Space Station

September 11, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

Pettit will fly to the orbiting outpost alongside Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner on the Soyuz MS-26 mission. Liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome is set for 12:23 p.m. EDT (1623 UTC).

Starliner lands safely in New Mexico

September 7, 2024 William Harwood

Despite NASA’s concerns about earlier thruster problems and multiple helium leaks in the ship’s propulsion pressurization system, the Starliner had no trouble undocking and moving away from the station at 6:04 p.m. EDT and executing a critical 59-second deorbit braking maneuver at 11:17 p.m. to drop out of orbit.

As it happened: Boeing’s Starliner returned to Earth, marking the end of the Crew Flight Test mission

September 6, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The spacecraft will journey back to Earth without the two astronauts it launched with back on June 5. Undocking is set for 6:04 p.m. EDT (2204 UTC) with landing just after midnight on Saturday.

NASA to announce final determination on how to conclude Starliner Crew Flight Test

August 24, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is set to discuss the agency’s decision following a rare mid-mission, agency-level flight readiness review. A press conference will begin no earlier than an hour following the conclusion of the discussion.

Rocket Lab’s Mars-bound twin satellites – Blue and Gold – hit the road ahead of Blue Origin launch

August 16, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The twin spacecraft, named Blue and Gold, left Rocket Lab’s Long Beach facilities on Thursday to begin the trip to Florida. The EscaPADE mission will launch aboard Blue Origin’s first New Glenn rocket.

As it happened: NASA officials discuss latest on Boeing Crew Flight Test

August 14, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

This media briefing comes as NASA is potentially within a week of making its final decision on how to bring the Starliner CFT crew home. The agency is debating on if Starliner is determined to be safe or if NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmroe and Sunita “Sunni” Williams will return on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

NASA sends final command to its NEOWISE spacecraft, ending more than a decade of asteroid observations

August 9, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The spacecraft launched in 2009 as the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission before making the pivot to become NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) in 2010. NEOWISE is expected to safely burn up in the atmosphere by late 2024.