Space News & Blog Articles

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

A Falcon 9 rocket streaks into the sky over Cape Canaveral during a launch with Starlink satellites in March 2021. Credit: SpaceX

Forecasters predict a 90% chance of good weather Wednesday night at Cape Canaveral for launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a fresh group of Starlink internet satellites.



The James Webb Space Telescope inside a clean room at the Guiana Space Center. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now

NASA engineers have cleared teams at the Guiana Space Center in South America to begin loading 63 gallons of fuel and oxidizer into the James Webb Space Telescope, after extra testing showed the observatory suffered no damage during a processing incident in the clean room earlier this month.

File photo of a previous Blue Origin New Shepard launch. Credit: Blue Origin

The third piloted flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spacecraft will launch December 9 with a crew of six, including a network morning anchor and the eldest daughter of Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the company announced Nov. 23.

Russia’s Prichal node module moments before docking at the International Space Station. Credit: Roscosmos

Russia’s Prichal docking module linked up with the International Space Station Friday, adding the final planned piece of the Russian segment of the outpost to provide a new connection for future crew and cargo ships.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with NASA’s DART asteroid deflection mission. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

A small NASA space probe blasted off from California early Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a first-of-its-kind mission to change the orbit of an asteroid, pioneering a technique that may one day be used to divert an asteroid off of a collision course with Earth.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Soyuz rocket with Russia’s Prichal module for the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

These photos show SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket standing on Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Space Force Base, hours before liftoff with NASA’s DART mission, an experiment to test how a spacecraft might deflect a hazardous asteroid away from Earth.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base, heading southeast over the Pacific Ocean with NASA’s DART asteroid deflection experiment.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Vega rocket with the French military’s CERES electronic intelligence-gathering satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

The James Webb Space Telescope inside its clean room in French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Piron

NASA said Monday the launch of the $9.7 billion James Webb Space Telescope will be delayed at least four days until no earlier than Dec. 22 out of “sheer caution” to ensure the observatory suffered no damage from vibrations during a processing incident at its launch site in French Guiana.

NASA’s DART spacecraft was encapsulated inside the payload fairing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Nov. 16. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman

A small NASA spacecraft set to launch on a collision course with an asteroid has been encapsulated inside the payload fairing of its Falcon 9 rocket for blastoff from California this week, a mission that will mark SpaceX’s first launch with a solar system science probe.





In this view from a camera on the space station’s robotic arm, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo ship departs after a three-month stay at the complex. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship departed the International Space Station Saturday after a three-month stay, heading off on the final phase of its mission to deploy a U.S. military tech demo payload and re-enter the atmosphere to dispose of 7,500 pounds of trash.

Expedition 66 crew members, from left to right: Pyotr Dubrov, Tom Marshburn, Anton Shkaplerov, Raja Chari, Mark Vande Hei, Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer. Credit: NASA

The seven-person crew living on the International Space Station resumed normal operations Wednesday, two days after closing off parts of the complex as precaution following a widely-condemned Russian anti-satellite test that created a new cloud of space debris.

An Electron rocket lifts off from Rocket Lab’s spaceport on the North Island of New Zealand with two BlackSky optical remote sensing satellites. Credit: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab launched two small BlackSky optical Earth-imaging satellites Wednesday from New Zealand, the first of three straight Electron rocket flights for the U.S. remote sensing company.

SpaceX test-fired six Raptor engines on the Starship rocket Nov. 12. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX’s team in South Texas is gearing up to be ready for the first combined launch of the Super Heavy booster and Starship mega-rocket as soon as January, assuming the company completes launch pad construction, ground testing, and secures regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, founder Elon Musk said Wednesday.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand carrying two small BlackSky Earth observation satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

File photo showing Falcon 9 rockets on pad 40 and pad 39A on Florida’s Space Coast. Credit: SpaceX

After a lull in launch activity the last few months, SpaceX plans to close out 2021 with a spurt of missions from all three of the company’s active launch pads in Florida and California, with five or more Falcon 9 flights planned before the end of the year.