Space News & Blog Articles

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.



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.

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.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome with 36 OneWeb broadband satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

NASA mission specialist Kayla Barron, pilot Tom Marshburn, commander Raja Chari, and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer participate in the Crew Equipment Interface Test at Area 59, home of Dragon spacecraft processing at Cape Canaveral Space force Station. Credit: SpaceX

The four astronauts set to blast off Oct. 30 to the International Space Station visited Cape Canaveral over the weekend for a test run inside SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft, one of the last training events before they return to Florida on launch week.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket and crew capsule from West Texas carrying actor William Shatner, Planet co-founder Chris Boshuizen, microbiologist Glen de Vries, and Blue Origin vice president Audrey Powers on a 10-minute flight to suborbital space. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

The French-flagged MN Colibri transport ship arrived Tuesday at the Pariacabo harbor in Kourou, French Guiana, with the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Baudon/E. Prigent

The James Webb Space Telescope, a successor to Hubble, arrived at the European Space Agency’s launch base Tuesday in Kourou, French Guiana, for final checkouts and fueling ahead of blastoff in December on top of an Ariane 5 rocket.