Space News & Blog Articles

Live coverage of the test flight of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

The payload fairing containing the National Reconnaissance Office’s classified spy satellite is lifted atop ULA’s Delta 4-Heavy rocket before the NROL-91 mission. Credit: United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance’s ground team recently completed a countdown dress rehearsal and installed a classified spy satellite payload on top of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, readying the triple-body launcher for liftoff Saturday.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

A Soyuz-2.1a rocket stands on its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome after rollout from its hangar Monday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Ground teams at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan rolled a Soyuz rocket to its launch pad Sunday, moving a step closer to liftoff Wednesday with a team of two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut heading for the International Space Station, the first flight of a U.S. crew member on a Russian spacecraft since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

A Long March 7A rocket lifts off from the Wenchang launch bae with the Zhongxing 1E military communications satellite. Credit: CASC

One of China’s newest rockets, the Long March 7A, launched Tuesday with a military communications satellite, potentially signaling the start of a transition of launches for the country’s armed forces from aging booster designs with toxic propellants to newer rockets with more environmentally friendly fuels.

Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle lifts off from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand with the StriX 1 radar observation satellite. Credit: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab’s 30th mission delivered the StriX 1 radar imaging satellite into orbit for the Japanese Earth observation company Synspective, beginning the deployment of a constellation of 30 commercial  radar satellites planned over the next four years.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Starlink 4-34 mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 54 Starlink broadband satellites. Follow us on Twitter.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1B on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand with the StriX 1 radar remote sensing satellite for the Japanese company Synspective. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

A kerosene-fueled Rutherford engine undergoing a test-firing. Credit: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab is set to launch its 30th mission from New Zealand Thursday with a commercial Japanese radar remote sensing satellite. While the company does not plan to retrieve the Electron rocket on this mission, engineers recently test-fired an engine recovered from a flight earlier this year, another step toward Rocket Lab’s goal of reusing first stage boosters.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Starlink 4-34 mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 54 Starlink broadband satellites. Follow us on Twitter.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Starlink 4-34 mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 54 Starlink broadband satellites. Follow us on Twitter.

Firefly’s launch pad crew works on the Alpha rocket Monday, Sept. 12, at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now

Firefly Aerospace said Monday it will try again Sept. 19 to launch its second Alpha rocket from California after scrubbing back-to-back launch attempts due to a helium pressure issue and unfavorable wind conditions.

NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket on its launch pad. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography

NASA said Monday it is now targeting Wednesday, Sept. 21, for a critical fueling test on the Space Launch System moon rocket, which could allow for another attempt to launch the unpiloted Artemis 1 lunar test flight as soon as Sept. 27, assuming engineers find no problems and the Space Force approves an extension for the rocket’s range safety system. The updated schedule is a four-day delay for the SLS tanking test and next launch opportunity.

Artist’s concept of the CAPSTONE spacecraft near the moon. Credit: llustration by NASA/Daniel Rutter

Ground teams will try to stabilize the motion of NASA’s small CAPSTONE scouting satellite and rescue the $30 million mission on the way to the moon, following a problem Sept. 8 that sent the spacecraft into a tumble and caused controllers to temporarily lose contact with the probe, officials said Monday.



These photos show Firefly Aerospace’s second Alpha rocket as it was raised on its launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sept. 10. Photographers captured these views on the eve of the rocket’s planned test flight carrying seven small satellites into orbit.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of Firefly’s Alpha rocket on the “To the Black” test flight with seven small nanosatellites and picosatellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

Firefly’s Alpha launch vehicle stands on its launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sept. 10. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now

A year after an early engine shutdown cut short an inaugural test flight, Firefly Aerospace’s second Alpha launcher is scheduled to take off Sunday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a demonstration mission to place seven small satellites into orbit.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Starlink 4-2 mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 34 Starlink internet satellites and a rideshare payload for AST SpaceMobile’s space-based cellular broadband network. Follow us on Twitter.

SpaceX is counting down to a static fire test of a Falcon 9 rocket on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The test-firing of the booster’s nine engines is in preparation for a launch with 54 more Starlink internet satellites as soon as Sunday night at 10:53 p.m. EDT (0253 GMT Monday).