Watch live as NASA holds briefings at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on the upcoming Crew 9 mission. A SpaceX Dragon capsule is due to ferry NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, and Stephanie Wilson and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the International Space Station in August. Meanwhile at Kennedy Space Center SpaceX is rolling out a Falcon 9 for the first launch of its workhorse rocket since an upper stage failure on July 11 suspended flights.
Boeing’s Starliner, docked at the International Space Station, pictured in a long-duration exposure as the craft soared 258 miles above western China. Image: NASA.
Critical tests are on tap this weekend to confirm Boeing’s Starliner capsule can safety carry its two-person crew back to Earth despite unexpected helium leaks and degraded maneuvering thrusters, officials said Thursday.
The Starliner spacecraft on NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s forward port as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above the Mediterranean Sea. Image: NASA.
NASA and Boeing leadership are set to provide an update on the ongoing Crew Flight Test of the Starliner spacecraft as the mission enters its 50th day since launch. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams launched to the International Space Station atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket back on June 5 and docked the following day.
SpaceX conducted a static fire test of its Falcon 9 rocket as it looks to resume launches in the near future. The launch provider was grounded following a July 11 anomaly that occurred with its upper stage during the Starlink 9-3 mission. Image: Spaceflight Now
SpaceX took another important step on its road to resuming launches of its Falcon 9 rocket. At the stroke of midnight on Thursday, July 25, it conducted a static fire test of its workhorse launch vehicle.
NASA’s Pegasus barge, carrying the agency’s massive SLS (Space Launch System) core stage, arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Complex 39 turn basin wharf in Florida on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, after journeying from the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The core stage is the next piece of Artemis hardware to arrive at the spaceport and will be offloaded and moved to NASA Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be prepared for integration ahead of the Artemis II launch. Image: NASA/Kim Shiflett
NASA’s took another important step in its Artemis program, designed to return humans to the Moon in preparation for missions to Mars. On Tuesday, the 212-foot-long Space launch System (SLS) core stage, nestled inside NASA’s massive Pegasus barge, completed its week-long voyage from eastern Louisiana to Florida.
An artist’s impression of SpaceX’s ISS Deorbit Vehicle pushing the lab toward a controlled re-entry and breakup in the 2030 timeframe, after a formal decision to retire the lab complex after three decades of operation. Graphic: SpaceX
SpaceX is building a souped-up version of its cargo Dragon spacecraft to drive the International Space Station out of orbit for a controlled re-entry and breakup over an uninhabited stretch of ocean when the lab is finally retired in the 2030 timeframe, NASA and company officials said Wednesday.
NASA’s VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – sits assembled inside the cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. Image: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas
NASA announced Wednesday it was pulling the plug on the VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project. It was the second time in less than a decade, NASA scrapped plans for a roving scout to explore the Moon for water ice, the decision coming six years after cancelling a similar mission, the Resource Prospector.
A liquid oxygen tank shell was delivered from Scorpius Space Launch Company in California to Vaya Space in Florida on Monday, July 15, 2024. This will serve as a pathfinding test article as Vaya Space continues working on its forthcoming Dauntless rocket. Image: Will Robinson-Smith/Spaceflight Now
A delivery from California to Florida on Monday marked a new milestone for aerospace company, Vaya Space. It received its first, full-sized liquid oxygen tank shell for its two-stage Dauntless rocket.
An unusual build up of ice on the second stage of the Falcon 9 that launched the Starlink 9-3 mission. Image: SpaceX.
SpaceX is seeking to resume launching its Falcon 9 rocket soon. In a statement to Spaceflight Now, the Federal Aviation Administration said the company was seeking a public safety determination.
Boeing Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore spoke to reporters Wednesday and said they’re confident the spacecraft will bring them safely back to Earth. In the meantime, Williams said, they’re both enjoying their extended stay aboard the International Space Station. Image: NASA TV
The crew of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft said Wednesday they’re confident the capsule will carry them safely back to Earth at the end of their extended stay aboard the International Space Station, despite helium leaks in the ship’s propulsion system and trouble with maneuvering thrusters.
A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX is preparing to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday night. The near-sunset flight will add another 20 Starlink satellites to its growing mega-constellation of more than 6,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.
The first home-grown communications satellite 6A satellite is encapsulate inside SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairings ahead of its planned launch on July 8, 2024. Image: SpaceX
Turkey is poised to launch its first home-grown communications satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu called the Türksat 6A geostationary satellite “the symbol of our independence”.
The Ariane 6 rocket stands at the launch pad at the Europe Spaceport in French Guiana following the removal of the mobile launch gantry. Image: M. Pédoussaut/ESA
To quote the title track of Swedish rock band Europe’s third album, “It’s the final countdown” for the long awaited Ariane 6 to finally take flight. After running years behind schedule, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Arianespace are less than a week from the planned debut.
A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX is preparing to launch a batch of Starlink satellites using a booster that ran into technical issues during the final seconds of its last launch attempt. The launch is the first of the month for the company, which is aiming for an average of 12 Falcon flights per month in 2024.
Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket carrying eight CubeSats as part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative’s (CSLI) ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) 43 mission rolls out of the company’s Payload Processing Facility to Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on Sunday, June 30, 2024. Firefly Aerospace is one of three companies selected to fly small satellites to space under NASA’s Launch Services Program Venture-Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 (VCLS Demo 2) contract awarded in December 2020. Image: Firefly Aerospace / Trevor Mahlmann
Update 12:30 a.m. EDT: Firefly called a scrub of the “Noise of Summer” mission and is assessing its next launch opportunity.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the NROL-186 mission on June 28, 2024. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX launched a national security mission on behalf of the United States’ National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from Vandenberg Space Force Base Friday night. The spy agency described the classified mission as “the second launch of NRO’s proliferated architecture, delivering critical space-based ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to the nation.”
This view from a window on the cupola overlooks a portion of the International Space and shows the partially obscured Starliner spacecraft from Boeing docked to the Harmony module’s forward port. Image: NASA
The return to Earth of Boeing’s Starliner capsule is on indefinite hold pending results of new thruster tests and ongoing analysis of helium leaks that cropped up during the ship’s rendezvous with the International Space Station, NASA announced Friday.
A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX is marking two key records with the planned launch of its latest batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Starlink 10-3 mission will be SpaceX’s 350th Falcon 9 rocket launch.
The 10th SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket stands ready to launch the joint NASA and NOAA GOES-U mission on June 25, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein / Spaceflight Now
The finale in a series of critical weather satellites for the United States faces some weather challenges as it looks to join its three fellow satellites on orbit. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-U (GOES-U) satellite is designed to provide critical weather, climate and solar data to meteorologists and other parties to enhance the safety of people and property.
A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to support the Starlink 7-9 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The mission also includes the first six satellites that will be used for the company’s direct-to-cell service. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX hopes to complete another double launch day as it prepares to launch its first Falcon Heavy rocket of the year with a payload for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The second of the doubleheader boasts 20 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, with 13 featuring Direct to Cell capabilities.
A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX is preparing to launch its first Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in more than two weeks. The last time the company attempted to launch the Starlink 10-2 mission, it encountered a rare scrub as the Falcon 9’s first stage Merlin engines began firing.
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