Space News & Blog Articles

The James Webb Space Telescope is seen inside the S5C payload processing facility Oct. 15 at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

Engineers removed the James Webb Space Telescope from its intercontinental shipping container in South America last week, and kicked off a final pre-launch comprehensive electrical systems test Monday ahead of blastoff in December on an Ariane 5 rocket, NASA’s program manager said.

The observatory arrived Oct. 12 at the Guiana Space Center, a spaceport run by the French space agency CNES and the European Space Agency, after a 16-day journey by boat from Southern California, where Northrop Grumman assembled and tested Webb.

The $10 billion mission, more than two decades in the making, is scheduled for launch Dec. 18 on a European Ariane 5 rocket. The launch window opens at 7:20 a.m. EST (9:20 a.m. local time; 1220 GMT).

The launch on an Ariane 5 rocket is one of the major contributions to the mission by ESA, which also supported development of several of Webb’s scientific instruments. The observatory is designed to peer more than 13 billion years in time to see the universe as it was after the Big Bang, the unimaginably violent event that created the cosmos.

Webb will also observe the cores of distant galaxies, study how stars form and evolve, and look at planets around other stars, revealing new insights into their atmospheres, like whether they might harbor the building blocks for life.



Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are moving the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 moon mission into the Vehicle Assembly Building Tuesday for stacking on top of the Space Launch System.

The 67-foot-tall (20-meter) spacecraft, with its launch abort system tower attached, is scheduled to move into the iconic assembly building during the predawn hours Tuesday.

The Orion spacecraft will ride a special transporter from Launch Abort System Facility to the VAB. The more than 6-mile (10-kilometer) journey from the Kennedy Space Center’s industrial area is expected to take several hours.

Once inside the VAB, the spacecraft will be lifted by crane atop the SLS heavy-lift rocket later this week, capping off the stacking of the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) launch vehicle for the Artemis 1 mission. Artemis 1 is the first full-up unpiloted test flight of the SLS and Orion vehicles, paving the way for future crew missions to the moon.

Artist’s illustration of the final phase of deploying the solar arrays on NASA’s Lucy spacecraft. Credit: NASA

A NASA official said Monday there is “widespread optimism” that a solar array snag discovered on the Lucy asteroid probe after its launch over the weekend will not jeopardize the spacecraft’s 12-year exploration mission.

Lucy’s two solar arrays were folded up on each side of the box-shaped spacecraft during launch Saturday from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas 5 rocket. One of the two solar array wings fully unfurled and latched after launch, but NASA says it did not receive confirmation that the other wing latched into place.

The Atlas 5 deployed the Lucy probe nearly an hour after liftoff, sending the 3,300-pound (1,500-pound) spacecraft on an escape trajectory into the solar system. The launch kicked off a $981 million mission to explore the Trojan asteroids, a primordial population of small worlds leading and trailing Jupiter in its orbit around the sun.

Lucy is the mission is the first to explore the Trojan asteroids, which scientists say are leftover building blocks similar to objects that came together to form the solar systems giant outer planets. The probe will fly by seven Trojan asteroids between 2027 and 2033, plus one object in the main asteroid belt in 2025.

A few minutes after separating from the Atlas 5 launcher, Lucy began a pre-programmed sequence to unfold the solar arrays like giant Chinese fans. Fully deployed, the UltraFlex solar wings span about 24 feet (7.3 meters) in diameter, the circular power arrays to ever fly in space.

A Long March 2D rocket blasts off with China’s Xihe solar research satellite. Credit: CASC

China successfully launched a half-ton scientific research satellite Oct. 14 to study the violent and sudden physical processes behind solar flares, joining 10 other small payloads on a Long March 2D rocket that also tested grid fins to help guide the expendable booster away from populated areas during its fall back to Earth.

The Long March 2D rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan launch base in Shanxi province, located in northern China, at 6:51 a.m. EDT (1251 GMT) on Oct. 14, according to China’s space agency.

The two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket headed south from Taiyuan and placed the 11 satellites into a polar sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of approximately 323 miles (520 kilometers).

The rocket employed a grid fin control system on its first stage, the first time such a steering mechanism has been used on a Long March 2D launcher. The grid fins extended from the first stage after the booster jettisoned a few minutes after launch.

The system is designed to reduce the size of the booster’s impact area by more than 80%, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., the leading state-owned contractor for China’s space program.

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A Russian actress and her director-cameraman, wrapping up a 12-day movie shoot aboard the International Space Station, returned to Earth Sunday and promptly filmed a few additional scenes that will be part of the film’s conclusion.

With cameras rolling, actress Julia Peresild, playing the role of a surgeon sent to the station to treat a critically ill cosmonaut, was pulled from the Soyuz descent module and carried to a nearby recliner where she pretended to be just back from her make-believe mission.

Soyuz commander Oleg Novitskiy, who was wrapping up a 191-day stay in space, played the patient during shooting aboard the space station and again on the ground after touchdown, patiently enduring multiple takes before filming was halted.

All three crew members, looking fit and chatting easily with support crews, were then carried to a nearby medical tent for traditional post-landing checks before being flown to Karaganda to board a jet for the trip back to Star City near Moscow.

The Shenzhou 13 crew — Ye Guangfu, Zhai Zhigang, and Wang Yaping — float inside the Tianhe core module of the Chinese space station. Credit: CMSA

Three astronauts floated into the living quarters of China’s space station Friday, hours after launching from a military-run spaceport in the Gobi Desert, moving in for a six-month mission to prepare the outpost for expansion next year.

The Shenzhou 13 mission, China’s eighth human spaceflight mission, launched Friday from the Jiuquan space center in northwestern China.

A Long March 2F rocket ignited its core stage engine and four liquid-fueled strap-on boosters at 12:23:53 p.m. EDT (1623 GMT; 12:23 a.m. Beijing time). The engines, each consuming a toxic mix of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants, generated 1.4 million pounds of thrust to steer the rocket east from Jiuquan.

The launch was timed for the moment Earth’s rotation brought the launch site underneath the space station’s orbital plane.

After separation from the rocket, the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft unfurled solar panels and began maneuvers to match its orbit with that of the station. The rendezvous culminated in an automated docking with the station’s Tianhe core module at 6:56 p.m. EDT (2256 GMT).

Live coverage of the Expedition 65 mission on the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket provided the ride to space for NASA’s Lucy asteroid probe. Credit: United Launch Alliance

Bound for a pristine population of ancient asteroids, a NASA science probe named Lucy took off from Cape Canaveral before dawn Saturday and rocketed into space on top of an Atlas 5 launcher to begin a 12-year, $981 million mission seeking out clues about the early solar system.

The mission takes advantage of a unique alignment between Earth and the Trojan asteroids, groups of objects leading and trailing Jupiter in its orbit around the sun. The trajectory will take the Lucy spacecraft near eight asteroids from 2025 until 2033, more than any other mission.

The probe will be the first to visit the Trojan asteroids, which were trapped in two swarms as Jupiter settled into its current orbit around the sun. Scientists believe the Trojan asteroids are primordial leftovers from the early solar system. Similar objects collided or clumped together to form the giant planets of the outer solar system.

“The way we think of them are as fossils, which is why we named the Lucy spacecraft after the human ancestor fossil known as Lucy,” said Hal Levison, principal investigator for the Lucy mission at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “This is going to tell us how the giant planets formed and how they moved around.”

Lucy will target asteroids in the Trojan swarms that range in size from less than a mile to more than 60 miles. The spacecraft will also fly by asteroids that appear to have color differences in ground-based observations, a sign that they might have different compositions.

The final Atlas rocket assigned to launch a solar system exploration mission is set for liftoff before dawn Saturday. NASA’s Lucy asteroid mission is mounted on top of the rocket awaiting launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket is seen in these photos standing on Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. The 188-foot-tall (57.3-meter) rocket is one of 28 Atlas 5s left in ULA’s inventory before retiring the Atlas line in favor of the new-generation Vulcan launch vehicle.

While Atlas 5s will continue launching for a few more years, the Lucy mission is the last solar system probe assigned to the Atlas program.

The rocket will fly in the “401” vehicle configuration with a 4.2-meter (13.8-foot) diameter payload fairing, no solid rocket boosters, and a single-engine Centaur upper stage. The Atlas 5-401 is the least powerful version of the Atlas 5 rocket family.

Liftoff is set for 5:34 a.m. EDT (0934 GMT) Saturday to send the Lucy spacecraft on a 12-year journey through the solar system. The mission will fly by eight unexplored asteroids, a record for a single spacecraft, including seven so-called Trojan asteroids leading and trailing Jupiter in its orbit around the sun.

About an hour after launch Saturday, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will start the delicate process of opening its circular, fan-shaped solar arrays — the largest ever on a deep space probe — to power the asteroid explorer’s 12-year journey into the outer solar system.

When it reaches the apex of its interplanetary orbital arc, the Lucy mission will become the most distant spacecraft to ever use solar power, breaking the record set by NASA’s Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter. Lucy will fly by eight asteroids during its mission, including seven objects in the Trojan swarms that lead and trail Jupiter in its orbit around the sun.

The mission is the first to explore the Trojan asteroids, which scientists say are leftover building blocks similar to objects that came together to form the solar systems giant outer planets.

To get there, Lucy will rely on a few engineering innovations.

“The most obvious feature that we have on Lucy is our gigantic, amazing solar array wings,” said Katie Oakman, structures mechanisms lead for the Lucy mission at Lockheed Martin, which assembled the spacecraft for NASA.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Atlas 5 rocket with NASA’s Lucy mission, a robotic explorer to study the Trojan asteroids in the outer solar system. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

Our live launch show begins at 4:30 a.m. EDT (0830 GMT) Saturday, Oct. 16. NASA TV’s live launch broadcast begins at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT).

Artist’s concept of the Lucy spacecraft flying past a Trojan asteroid. Credit: Southwest Research Institute

NASA is ready to launch a $981 million mission to the distant reaches of the solar system Saturday, kicking off a 12-year expedition to visit a group of unexplored asteroids that may offer clues to help scientists decipher how the planets formed more than 4 billion years ago.

The Lucy mission, NASA’s latest solar system explorer, will leave Earth to begin a series of ever-larger orbital loops around the sun, eventually reaching the distance of Jupiter in 2027. Then the mission will fly by five asteroids in 15 months before taking another lap around the sun, setting up for a final flyby of a binary pair of asteroids in 2033.

“This mission is going to study a population of objects called the Trojan asteroids, which lead or follow Jupiter in its orbit by 60 degrees,” said Hal Levison, Lucy’s principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute, or SWRI, in Boulder, Colorado. “The reason why they’re important scientifically is they were leftovers.

“The way we think of them are as fossils, which is why we named the Lucy spacecraft after the human ancestor fossil known as Lucy,” Levison said in an interview with Spaceflight Now. “This is going to tell us how the giant planets formed and how they moved around.”

Built by Lockheed Martin in Colorado, the 3,300-pound (1,500-kilogram) Lucy spacecraft is tucked inside the nose cone of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Blastoff from launch pad 41 is scheduled for 5:34 a.m. EDT (0934 GMT) Saturday, the opening of a 75-minute launch window.

The 188-foot-tall Atlas 5 rocket crowned with NASA’s Lucy asteroid probe rolled out to its launch pad Thursday at Cape Canaveral. These aerial views, captured by a drone and released by NASA, show the launch vehicle moving along rail tracks to Space Launch Complex 41.

Liftoff is scheduled for 5:34 a.m. EDT (0934 GMT) Saturday to begin 12-year mission exploring the Trojan asteroids in the outer solar system.

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Live coverage of China’s Shenzhou 13 mission, a planned six-month expedition to the Chinese space station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

Artist’s concept of the completed Chinese space station. Credit: CMSA

On the eve of the next crew launch to the Chinese space station, a spokesperson for China’s human spaceflight agency repeated Thursday the country’s invitation for international astronauts to fly to the new orbiting space lab.

The Shenzhou 13 mission, with an all-Chinese crew of three astronauts, is set for blastoff Friday at 12:23 p.m. EDT (1623 GMT) to begin the first six-month expedition on China’s space station. The mission follows the three-month Shenzhou 12 crew mission, which ended last month.

China, which is not a partner on the International Space Station project, plans to finish construction of its own space station by the end of next year, when astronauts will begin flying regular six-month stints on the complex.

“The construction of China’s space station will provide a platform for broader international cooperation, including astronaut joint space flights,” said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency. “In fact, many countries and regions have already proposed to cooperate with us. We have already carried out cooperation in astronaut selection and training.

“We welcome astronauts from other countries entering our space station, and conducting international cooperation,” Lin said. “We believe that after the station enters the operation and utilization phase, more foreign astronauts will visit our station.”

Credit: Alex Polimeni/Spaceflight Now

An Atlas 5 rocket emerged from its hangar and rolled to a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Thursday with NASA’s Lucy asteroid probe. The launch of the Lucy spacecraft Saturday will mark the final planetary science mission in the storied history of the Atlas program.

The 188-foot-tall (57.3-meter) Atlas 5 rocket rolled out of United Launch Alliance’s Vertical Integration Facility around 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) Thursday. The launcher rode on top of a mobile platform along rail tracks to pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

In less than an hour, the rocket had completed the 1,800-foot (550-meter) rollout and arrived at the launch mount on pad 41.

Automatic couplers engaged to connect the Atlas 5 to ground systems, setting the stage for final inspections, closeouts and other activities to ready the rocket for an overnight countdown set to begin late Friday night.

The countdown will be timed for blastoff of the Atlas 5 rocket at 5:34 a.m. EDT (0934 GMT) Saturday, the opening of a 75-minute launch window for the Lucy mission.

Chinese astronaut Ye Guangfu, commander Zhai Zhigang, and astronaut Wang Yaping meet Chinese media in a pre-launch press conference at the Jiuquan space center Thursday. Credit: CCTV

China’s first six-month human spaceflight mission, set to become a regular occurrence for the rest of the decade, is poised for launch Friday to kick off a trip to the country’s Tiangong space station.

Chinese officials unveiled the astronauts for the Shenzhou 13 mission Thursday, publicly naming commander Zhai Zhigang to lead the crew. He will be joined by veteran astronaut Wang Yaping, who became the second Chinese woman to fly in space in 2013, and first-time space flier Ye Guangfu.

The astronauts met with Chinese state-run media in a televised press conference Thursday at the Jiuquan space base, where the Shenzhou 13 mission is set for launch at 12:23:44 p.m. EDT (1623:44 GMT) Friday.

“All pre-launch preparations are in order,” said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency.

Shenzhou 13 is scheduled to fly to the space station for a six-month stay, exceeding the 92-day flight achieved by Shenzhou 12, the previous Chinese human spaceflight mission. Shenzhou 12’s three astronauts were the first to board the Tiangong space station in June, and they returned to Earth last month.



Another batch of 36 satellites for OneWeb’s internet network rode a Russian Soyuz launcher into orbit Thursday, giving the company more than half of the 648-spacecraft fleet it aims to deploy by the end of next year.

The satellites, each about the size of a mini-refrigerator, blasted off at 5:40:10 a.m. EDT (0940:10 GMT) Thursday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia’s newest spaceport in the far eastern Amur region near the Chinese border.

A kerosene-fueled Soyuz-2.1b rocket gave the satellites an initial boost into space, then a Russian Fregat upper stage separated and fired its engine two times to inject the OneWeb payloads into a 279-mile-high (450-kilometer) orbit inclined 87.4 degrees to the equator.

Heading north from Vostochny, where liftoff occurred at 6:40 p.m. local time, the Soyuz rocket jettisoned is four first stage boosters about two minutes into the flight, then released its core stage nearly five minutes after launch.

This illustration from United Launch Alliance shows the Atlas 5 rocket that will launch the Lucy mission, and an artist’s concept of the Lucy spacecraft visiting the Trojan asteroids. Credit: United Launch Alliance

NASA and United Launch Alliance officials met Wednesday and cleared an Atlas 5 rocket for launch from Cape Canaveral before dawn Saturday with the Lucy asteroid mission, a robotic spacecraft to visit unexplored asteroids in the outer solar system.

Managers gave a “go” to continue rocket preparations during a launch readiness review Wednesday, giving a green light for teams to press on with rollout of the 188-foot-tall (57.3-meter) Atlas 5 rocket to its launch pad Thursday morning.

The rocket will make the 1,800-foot (550-meter) journey from ULA’s Vertical Integration Facility to the Complex 41 launch pad Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) to begin final pre-flight preparations.

The Atlas 5 will make the trip on top of a mobile launch platform pushed by locomotives along rail tracks leading to the launch pad. The transfer should take less than an hour to complete.

Once the rocket and its mobile platform are at pad 41, teams will connect auto-couplers to feed cryogenic propellant into the Atlas 5 during the countdown Saturday morning.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Atlas 5 rocket with NASA’s Lucy mission, a robotic explorer to study the Trojan asteroids in the outer solar system. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

NASA TV’s live launch broadcast begins at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT) Saturday, Oct. 16. Live views of the Atlas 5 rocket’s rollout to the launch pad will also be available on this page at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on Thursday, Oct. 14.