Space News & Blog Articles

A Long March 2D rocket lifts off with the Tianhui 1-04 spacecraft. Credit: Xinhua

China successfully launched a Long March 2D rocket July 29 with a Tianhui military satellite on a mission to collect data for maps and land surveys.

China’s largest state-owned space program contractor said the Tianhui 1-04 satellite launched at 0401 GMT (12:01 a.m. EDT) on July 29 from the Jiuquan space center in the Gobi Desert of northwestern China.

The 13-story Long March 2D rocket fired off its launch pad with around 650,000 pounds of thrust from four hydrazine-fueled main engines. The Long March 2D’s second stage took over a few minutes after liftoff, completing a burn to inject its payload into orbit.

Chinese officials declared the launch a success, and independent orbital tracking data published by the U.S. military indicated the rocket deployed its satellite in a near-circular orbit about 300 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth at an inclination of 97.5 degrees.

The Tianhui 1-04 payload is the sixth in China’s series of Tianhui mapping satellites, joining three similar first-generation spacecraft and two new-generation Tianhui satellites.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft sits atop an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography

Officials scrubbed the planned launch of a Boeing-built crew capsule Tuesday to examine a potential technical issue in the spacecraft’s propulsion system, delaying the start of a critical unpiloted test flight to prove the ship is ready to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station.

Boeing announced the scrub around three hours before the mission’s scheduled launch time of 1:20 p.m. EDT (1720 GMT) Tuesday. The Starliner crew capsule’s Atlas 5 launch was already loaded with cryogenic propellants when officials announced the delay.

“During pre-launch preparations for the uncrewed test flight of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, Boeing engineers monitoring the health and status of the vehicle detected unexpected valve position indications in the propulsion system,” the company said in a statement. “The issue was initially detected during check outs following yesterday’s electrical storms in the region of Kennedy Space Center.”

Assuming engineers are satisfied there’s no additional risk from the potential propulsion system issue, the launch team will prepare for another countdown Wednesday, with liftoff scheduled for 12:57 p.m. EDT (1657 GMT).

The propulsion system valves in question are inside the Starliner’s service module, which has an array of rocket thrusters designed to propel the spacecraft away from its launcher during an in-flight emergency. Other thrusters on the service module are used for in-orbit maneuvers and spacecraft pointing control.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

Artist’s concept of a Starship on the moon. Credit: SpaceX

The Government Accountability Office ruled Friday that NASA did not violate procurement law or regulations when it awarded a single $2.9 billion moon lander contract to SpaceX, denying appeals from competitors Dynetics, a Leidos company, and Blue Origin, owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos.

NASA managers initially hoped to award two moon lander contracts, but “down selected” to a single provider — SpaceX — in April based on current and projected funding levels from Congress.

Blue Origin and Dynetics protested the award, claiming NASA was required to make more than one award given the announcement’s stated goal and that the space agency should have given them an opportunity to adjust their bids when it became clear funding was not available to pay for more than one proposal.

“In denying the protests, GAO first concluded that NASA did not violate procurement law or regulation when it decided to make only one award,” the government said in a news release. “NASA’s announcement provided that the number of awards the agency would make was subject to the amount of funding available for the program.”

Russia’s Nauka module, at left, docked with the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Playing it safe, the seven-member crew of the International Space Station moved into the U.S. segment of the outpost Friday, closed hatches and window shutters and stood by while Russian flight controllers vented helium pressurization lines in the newly arrived Nauka lab module.

Because of earlier problems with the module’s propulsion system, the crew was taking no chances, but high-pressure helium in lines used to pressurize Nauka’s propellants was safely vented overboard. Moments later, station cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov opened a final hatch and floated into the roomy new addition.

“Congratulations for a successful venting,” station commander Akihiko Hoshide radioed flight controllers in Houston and Moscow. “We’ll stand down from the current posture.”

The 44,000-pound Nauka multi-purpose laboratory docked with the station’s Russian Zvezda module Thursday. But a software error resulted in unexpected thruster firings three hours later, while the lab was out of contact with Russian flight controllers, that pushed the space station out of its normal orientation, or “attitude.”

The unwanted motion prompted thrusters in the Zvezda module to fire in an attempt to counteract the push from Nauka’s jets. Thrusters in a Progress cargo ship also joined in to provide more strength.

A Boeing Starliner crew capsule stands on top of an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance

An Atlas 5 rocket was hauled back to its seaside firing stand Monday for launch Tuesday on a flight to boost Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule into orbit for a second unpiloted test to prove the commercial ferry ship is ready to carry astronauts.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 is scheduled for blast off from launch complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, setting up a docking at the International Space Station Wednesday around 1:37 p.m. Forecasters are predicting a 60 percent chance of acceptable launch weather.

Boeing, ULA and NASA had hoped to launch the mission last Friday. But the day before, shortly after a Russian laboratory docked at the space station, a software error aboard the newly-arrived module led to unexpected thruster firings that pushed the station out of its normal orientation.

The alarming jet firings stopped before any harm was done and the module’s propulsion system was “safed” the next day. But NASA managers already had opted to delay the Starliner flight to the next available opportunity — Tuesday — and the Atlas 5 was hauled back to its processing facility. It was rolled back out to the seaside pad early Monday.

Boeing and SpaceX are independently building commercially developed space taxis for NASA to end the agency’s post-shuttle reliance on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft for transportation to and from the space station,

Live coverage of the unpiloted test flight of Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule on the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

An Ariane 5 rocket lifts off Friday from a launch pad in French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron

A European Ariane 5 rocket launched from French Guiana Friday, succeeding on its first flight in nearly a year to deploy a pair of geostationary communications satellites for commercial operators in Brazil and France.

The launch was a key test of the Ariane 5 rocket ahead of a flight later this year to send the James Webb Space Telescope toward its observation post nearly a million miles from Earth. The European Space Agency is providing the launch for JWST, a joint program between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency with a cost of more than $10 billion.

Engineers introduced modifications to the Ariane 5’s payload fairing, or nose cone, to reduce vibrations imparted on the satellites during separation of the shroud, which protects payloads during the first few minutes of flight through the atmosphere.

Ground teams will analyze data from the rocket to make sure the changes reduced the vibrations. Another Ariane 5 launch is scheduled for late September, then JWST will be next in line for a liftoff in November or December.

The Ariane 5 is one of the most powerful rockets in the world. Friday’s mission marked the 110th flight of an Ariane 5 rocket since 1996, but it was the first Ariane 5 launch since last August, an unusually long gap between missions to allow engineers to resolve the fairing vibration concern before the launch of JWST.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with Star One D2 and Eutelsat Quantum communications satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

Arianespace’s live video webcast will begin approximately 15 minutes before launch and will be available on this page.

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NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough tweeted this view of the newly-arrived Nauka module at the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Shane Kimbrough

A heavyweight Russian laboratory module that experienced a variety of problems after launch last week docked at the International Space Station Thursday, but in a moment of unexpected drama, inadvertent thruster firings briefly knocked the sprawling complex out of its normal orientation.

Space station program manager Joel Montalbano said the station was maintaining its orientation, or “attitude,” using massive NASA-supplied gyroscopes when the thruster firings suddenly began at 12:34 p.m. EDT, about three hours after the 44,000-pound Nauka multi-purpose laboratory glided in for docking.

The gyros were unable to counteract the unwanted push from Nauka’s jets and the space station, stretching the length of a football field with a mass of more than 930,000 pounds, began tilting away from its normal orientation.

Attitude control was quickly handed off to more effective rocket motors in the Russian Zvezda module, where Nauka was attached. A few minutes later, thrusters in a Progress cargo ship docked on the other side of Zvezda kicked in with additional muscle.

Live coverage of the docking of Russia’s Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module at the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

NASA TV’s live docking coverage begins at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) on Thursday, July 29.

Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle lifts off at 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT; 6 p.m. local time) Thursday from Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab

Resuming launches after a mission failure two months ago, Rocket Lab successfully placed a small U.S. military research and development satellite into orbit Thursday following a fiery liftoff from New Zealand on a flight that was originally supposed to launch from the company’s new pad in Virginia.

The 59-foot-tall (18-meter) Electron rocket ignited its nine kerosene-fueled Rutherford engines and climbed away from Launch Complex 1 on the North Island of New Zealand at 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT) Thursday.

Liftoff from Rocket Lab’s privately-owned launch base on Mahia Peninsula occurred at 6 p.m. local time, just after sunset.

Heading east from Mahia, the rocket’s first stage burned its nine engines for about two-and-a-half minutes, followed by a six-minute firing of the second stage engine to reach a preliminary parking orbit.

A kick stage deployed from the the Electron rocket’s second stage to begin a coast across the Pacific Ocean, Central America, and the Caribbean Sea before igniting its Curie engine reach a circular orbit about 372 miles (600 kilometers) above Earth at an inclination of 37 degrees to the equator.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand carrying the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Monolith microsatellite. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

Rocket Lab’s live video webcast begins approximately 20 minutes prior to launch, and will be available on this page.

A technician at Rocket Lab’s launch base in New Zealand works with an Electron booster. Credit: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab is set to launch a small U.S. military technology demonstration satellite from New Zealand Thursday on the company’s first flight since a second stage failure doomed a commercial mission in May.

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Monolith microsatellite is set to ride an Electron rocket into orbit Thursday from Rocket Lab’s privately-owned spaceport on the North Island of New Zealand.

There is a two-hour launch window for the mission Thursday. The window opens at 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT; 6 p.m. New Zealand time).

The mission will mark the 21st flight of a Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle since 2017, and the eighth to carry a payload for a U.S. military or intelligence agency customer.

It will be the first Rocket Lab mission since May 15, when an Electron rocket failed before reaching orbit with two commercial BlackSky Earth-imaging satellites.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is stacked on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral. Credit: Boeing/Damon Tucci

The threat of lightning could thwart plans to launch an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Friday with a Boeing commercial crew capsule on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station, according to the forecasters on the Space Coast.

There is a 60% chance that weather could prevent liftoff at 2:53 p.m. EDT (1853 GMT) Friday, when the Atlas 5 has an instantaneous opportunity to launch on a trajectory to allow the Starliner spacecraft to intercept the space station Saturday.

If launch occurs on time, the Starliner spacecraft is set to dock with the station at 3:06 p.m. EDT (1906 GMT) Saturday. The capsule is scheduled to undock and return to Earth for a parachute-assisted landing in New Mexico on Aug. 5.

But that assumes weather cooperates for Friday’s launch attempt.

“It kind of feels like all eyes are on weather at this point,” said Will Ulrich, launch weather officer at the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron. “Anytime me and my colleagues see a launch being put on the schedule or on the calendar during the summer months from Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, we always have to be prepared for a challenge. And this particular launch is no different, especially given the time of the instantaneous launch window just before 3 p.m.”

Live coverage of the unpiloted test flight of Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule on the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

A Starlink ground terminal. Credit: SpaceX

After going through July with no launches, SpaceX is scheduled to resume missions in August with Falcon 9 rocket flights from California and Florida to commence deployment of the next generation of Starlink internet satellites.

SpaceX is gearing up for at least two Starlink launches next month, beginning with a Falcon 9 mission departing from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, no earlier than Aug. 10, multiple sources said. Another Falcon 9 launch is scheduled to carry a batch of Starlink satellites into orbit in mid-August.

They will be the first SpaceX launches since June 30, an unusually long gap in the company’s jam-packed launch schedule. The most recent Falcon 9 mission to carry a full load of Starlink satellites occurred May 26.

Since then, SpaceX has activated hundreds of internet spacecraft delivered to orbit on previous Falcon 9 missions, raising the number of operational Starlink craft from roughly 950 satellites to more than 1,300, according to an analysis by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a widely-respected tracker of spaceflight activity

More than 200 additional Starlink satellites are drifting into their operational positions in orbit 341 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth at an inclination of 53 degrees to the equator.



Wrapping up nearly 20 years of service as a docking port and airlock, Russia’s Pirs module is set to depart the International Space Station Monday under tow from a Progress supply ship, heading for a destructive re-entry in Earth’s atmosphere to clear the way for arrival of a larger science lab later this week.

Russia’s Progress MS-16 cargo freighter will undock from the space station at 6:56 a.m. EDT (1056 GMT) Monday. Instead of departing the station alone, the Progress spacecraft will back away from the complex with Russia’s Pirs docking compartment, clearing a port on the Zvezda service module that has been occupied since 2001.

The Pirs module launched to the space station Sept. 14, 2001, aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A modified Progress cargo spacecraft delivered the Pirs module to the station, culminating in a docking with the Earth-facing port on the Zvezda service module two days after launch.

Since then, the Pirs module has supported dozens of Russian spacewalks and served as a docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress ferry ships carrying crew and cargo to the space station. The Russian Poisk module, launched in 2009 and similar in design to Pirs, remains at the space station on the opposite side of the Zvezda module to serve as an airlock for future Russian spacewalks.

A Long March 2C rocket lifts off with three more Yaogan 30 spy satellites for the Chinese military. Credit: Xinhua

China launched another trio of Yaogan 30 military spy satellites July 19, bringing to 30 the number of similar Chinese spacecraft shot into orbit since 2017 on suspected naval surveillance missions.

A Long March 2C rocket carried the newest three Yaogan 30-class satellites into orbit after liftoff 0019 July 19 (8:19 p.m. July 18) from the Xichang launch base in Sichuan Province in southwestern China.

The 140-foot-tall (43-meter) Long March 2C rocket flew southeast from Xichang and released its first stage and payload shroud to fall on Chinese territory. The rocket’s second stage placed the three Yaogan 30 satellites and a small rideshare payload into a 370-mile-high (600-kilometer) orbit inclined 35 degrees to the equator, according to U.S. military tracking data.

Chinese officials heralded the launch as a success, marking the country’s 23rd successful orbital launch so far this year.

The constellation of Yaogan 30 satellites are designed to “carry out electromagnetic environment detection and related technical verification,” according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., the country’s biggest state-owned space program contractor.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is secured atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on July 17, 2021. Starliner will launch on the Atlas V for Boeing’s second Orbital Flight Test (OFT-2) for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The spacecraft rolled out from Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center earlier in the day.

NASA and Boeing held a day-long flight readiness review Thursday and cleared the company’s CST-100 Starliner astronaut ferry ship for launch July 30 on a second unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station.

The spacecraft’s maiden flight in December 2019 was marred by major software problems that prevented a planned rendezvous and docking with the station. Next week’s Orbital Flight Test No. 2, or OFT-2, will test a wide variety of upgrades and improvements intended to clear the way for a piloted flight by the end of the year.

“After reviewing the team’s data, and the readiness of all the parties, everybody said ‘go’ for the launch,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA’s director of spaceflight. “To me, this review was a reflection of the diligence and the passion of this Boeing and NASA team that really chose to learn and adapt and come back stronger for this uncrewed demonstration mission.”

Liftoff from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is targeted for 2:53 p.m. EDT next Friday, roughly the moment Earth’s rotation carries pad 41 into the plane of the space station’s orbit.

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A light-colored “paver stone” like the ones seen in this mosaic will be the likely target for first sampling by the Perseverance rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Five months after landing on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover is gearing up to collect its first core sample next month, mission managers said Wednesday, drilling out a lipstick-size bit of rock from the floor of an ancient lakebed where the remnants of past microbial life might be preserved.

“When Neil Armstrong took the first sample from the Sea of Tranquility 52 years ago, he began a process that would rewrite what humanity knew about the Moon,” Thomas Zurbuchen, director of science at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement.

“I have every expectation that Perseverance’s first sample from Jezero Crater, and those that come after, will do the same for Mars. We are on the threshold of a new era of planetary science and discovery.”

The nuclear-powered rover is expected to collect dozens of samples over the course of its mission to help scientists characterize the Jezero Crater landing site where a 28-mile-lake once rose and fell and where the remnants of ancient organisms might have settled out and been preserved.