A Chinese Kuaizhou 1A rocket blasts off Wednesday. Credit: Xinhua
The successful deployment of a small remote sensing satellite Wednesday set a new record for Chinese orbital launch attempts in a single year at 40 missions, surpassing a mark set in 2018 and 2020.
A Soyuz-2.1a rocket stands on its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz will launch with the Progress MS-18 supply ship for the International Space Station. Credit: Roscosmos
A Soyuz rocket is ready to boost Russia’s Progress MS-18 supply ship into orbit Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, setting course for a two-day chase of the International Space Station.
Astronauts Matthias Maurer, Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final launch preparations. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now
Astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Matthias Maurer, and Kayla Barron flew from their home base in Houston to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Tuesday to begin their final few days of launch preparations before blasting off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the International Space Station Sunday.
Artist’s illustration of the Orbital Reef space station. Credit: Blue Origin/Sierra Space
Blue Origin and Sierra Space announced Monday they are leading development of a commercial space complex named Orbital Reef. The companies said Orbital Reef will be operational by the time NASA and its partners retire the International Space Station.
Live coverage of preparations for the launch of SpaceX’s Crew-3 mission carrying NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer on a flight to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
A Japanese H-2A rocket blasts off from Tanegashima Space Center with the QZS 1R navigation satellite. Credit: MHI
A replacement for an aging satellite in Japan’s regional navigation network successfully launched Monday from Tanegashima Space Center aboard an H-2A rocket, heading to an orbit more than 20,000 miles above Earth.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft moved over the weekend to the hangar near pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where ground teams will mate it to a Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff Oct. 31. Credit: SpaceX
NASA managers at Kennedy Space Center gave the go-ahead Monday to continue preparations for a Halloween launch of four astronauts to the International Space Station, pending more analysis of a modification to the toilet system on the crew’s SpaceX-owned capsule.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-2A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. The mission will launch the Japanese QZS 1R navigation satellite. Follow us on Twitter.
A Japanese H-2A rocket rolls out to its launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center with the QZS 1R satellite. Credit: MHI
Japan is set to launch a replacement satellite Monday for a navigation spacecraft that has been in space since 2010, augmenting the U.S. military’s GPS network to provide more precise positioning and timing services over the Asia-Pacific region.
A Long March 3B rocket lifts off with China’s Shijian 21 satellite. Credit: CASC
China launched the classified Shijian 21 satellite Saturday on what government officials described as an experimental “space debris mitigation” mission.
Artist’s concept of the Starlab space station. Credit: Nanoracks
Nanoracks announced Oct. 21 it is teaming with Lockheed Martin to develop a commercial crewed space station named Starlab that officials said could reach initial operational capability by 2027.
An Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from the Guiana Space Center with the SES 17 and Syracuse 4A communications satellites. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/S. Martin
A European Ariane 5 rocket fired into space Saturday night from French Guiana with a commercial broadband satellite for SES and a French military telecom craft, setting a new payload mass record for geostationary transfer orbit on the final Ariane 5 flight before launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in December.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the SES 17 and Syracuse 4A communications satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
An Ariane 5 rocket on its launch pad Thursday in Kourou, French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/JM Guillon
Arianespace is counting down to the blastoff of an Ariane 5 rocket Saturday night from French Guiana, the final flight of Europe’s workhorse launcher before NASA and the European Space Agency entrust it to launch the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope.
Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, said Friday the company’s huge new Starship rocket could be ready for its first orbital test launch from South Texas as soon as November, but the schedule comes with two big uncertainties that may push the launch to next year.
The 74,000-pound Orion spacecraft was lifted inside the Vehicle Assembly Building this week, and mounted to the top of the Space Launch System. Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
With NASA’s powerful new 322-foot-tall moon rocket fully stacked at Kennedy Space Center, managers said Friday that Feb. 12 is the soonest the unpiloted Artemis 1 mission could blast off toward lunar orbit, a date that hinges on the outcome of a critical fueling test on the launch pad in January.
An Ariane 5 rocket on its launch pad Thursday night in Kourou, French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/JM Guillon
Arianespace delayed the launch from French Guiana of a European Ariane 5 rocket with two geostationary communications satellites Friday to conduct more checks of ground support equipment at the spaceport.
The Progress MS-17 spacecraft approaches the International space Station for docking Friday. Credit: Roscosmos
A Russian Progress supply ship docked with the new Nauka lab module at the International Space Station Friday, completing a 29-hour free flight after detaching from a different port at the complex.
A view inside Rocket Lab’s factory in New Zealand, where Electron boosters are lined up in an assembly facility. The rockets with red markings are tagged for recovery missions. Credit: Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab said this week that its next mission, set for launch Nov. 10 after delays caused by a coronavirus lockdown in New Zealand, will include the company’s third booster recovery experiment. For the first time, Rocket Lab plans to have a helicopter in the downrange recovery zone to observe the descending booster in preparation for future mid-air catch attempts.
The Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 mission is lowered on top of its Space Launch System rocket Oct. 20 inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center worked overnight Wednesday to tighten 360 bolts connecting the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 moon mission to the first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, hours after a crane hoisted the deep space capsule atop the booster inside the Vehicle Assembly Building.
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