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Space News & Blog Articles
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Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1B on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand carrying NASA’s small CAPSTONE mission to the moon. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
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An engineer at Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems inspects solar arrays on NASA’s CAPSTONE spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Dominic Hart
NASA and commercial companies are ready to launch a 55-pound spacecraft from New Zealand to the moon Tuesday on a pathfinder mission to scout the orbit where engineers plan to assemble a mini-space station as a waypoint for astronauts flying to and from the lunar surface.
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Artist’s illustration of the Psyche spacecraft at its destination. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s billion-dollar Psyche asteroid mission will not launch this year, officials confirmed Friday, after delays in completing software verification testing for the spacecraft’s guidance, navigation and control system.
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A monitoring camera on ESA’s BepiColombo mission captured this black-and-white view of a heavily cratered region on Mercury during a June 23 flyby. Volcanic plains are also visible in this image, which was captured from a distance of 873 miles (1,406 kilometers) from Mercury. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM
Following up on a first pass last year, the European-Japanese BepiColombo mission flew by Mercury again Thursday for a gravity assist to continue reshaping its course, setting up for a maneuver in 2025 to settle in an orbit around the planet closest to the sun.
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The first stage for ULA’s next Atlas 5 launch was stacked on a mobile platform May 27 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance
United Launch Alliance teams at Cape Canaveral are in the final week of preparations for the next flight of an Atlas 5 rocket, set for liftoff with two U.S. military technology demonstration satellites June 30, a one-day delay after bad weather held up launch processing.
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A European Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from the Guiana Space Center with the MEASAT 3d and GSAT 24 satellites. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/JM Guillon
Two multi-ton geostationary communications satellites for Malaysian and Indian operators took off on top of an Ariane 5 rocket Wednesday from French Guiana, leaving four Ariane 5s left to fly before retirement of the European workhorse launcher.
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The second segment of SpaceX’s Starship launch tower was lifted at pad 39A Thursday morning. Credit: Spaceflight Now
The second section of the Florida launch tower for SpaceX’s huge Super Heavy and Starship rocket was lifted on top of the first tower segment Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center, continuing construction of a structure that will stand more than 400 feet tall.
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NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket on Launch Complex 39B earlier this month. Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Foregoing another countdown rehearsal, NASA plans to return the first Space Launch System rocket to its assembly hangar at the Kennedy Space Center next week for a hydrogen leak repair and continued preparations for liftoff on the Artemis 1 moon mission.
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Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the MEASAT 3d and GSAT 24 communications satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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An Ariane 5 rocket on its launch pad Tuesday evening at the Guiana Space Center. Credit: Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Piron
Two geostationary communications satellites for India’s space agency and a Malaysian company will rocket into orbit from the jungle of South America on Wednesday on a European-built Ariane 5 launcher.
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NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket stands fully fueled on pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center soon after the conclusion of a wet dress rehearsal Monday evening. Credit: NASA
NASA loaded more than three-quarters of a million gallons of super-cold propellant into the first Space Launch System moon rocket Monday in Florida, achieving key milestones in a practice countdown but falling short of all the test objectives after discovering a new hydrogen leak.
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Live coverage of the wet dress rehearsal for the Space Launch System on NASA’s Artemis 1 mission. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
SFN Live
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A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with the Globalstar FM15 satellite. Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX hauled a Globalstar communications satellite into orbit early Sunday from Cape Canaveral, pulling off the third Falcon 9 rocket flight in 36 hours, the fastest sequence of three missions
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STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION
The moon hangs in the sky behind NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System moon rocket on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA/Ben SmegelskyCountdown clocks began ticking Saturday for NASA’s fourth attempt to complete a dress-rehearsal countdown and fueling test of its Space Launch System moon rocket, a requirement before the huge booster can be cleared for launch on its long-awaited maiden flight.
“There’s nobody that wants to get through this more than the EGS (Exploration Ground Systems) team, and all of our teams … to get this vehicle tanked, understand where we get to in the terminal count and then get back … out for launch,” said Jim Free, director of exploration development at NASA Headquarters.
The countdown began at 5:30 p.m. EDT and if all goes well, the two-day test will tick into its final hours Monday morning when engineers plan to remotely load the rocket’s first and second stages with three quarters of a million gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel.
Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and her team plan to count down to T-minus 33 seconds and then carry out a recycle that will mimic an unplanned hold before counting all the way down to just inside T-minus 10 seconds. At that point, just before the rocket’s four main engines would begin their start-up sequence in an actual launch, computers will stop the test.
The goal is to make sure complex launch control software, the rocket’s electrical, mechanical and propellant systems, along with their interfaces with launch pad support equipment, will work together as required to safely launch the most powerful booster ever built for NASA.
Those complexities were on display in three previous attempts to fuel the SLS as engineers ran into problems with launch pad subsystems, unexpected propellant temperature and pressure excursions, a jammed upper stage helium valve and leaks in a fitting that connects a hydrogen fuel line to the rocket’s first stage.
Originally hauled out to pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on March 18, NASA moved the 330-foot-tall SLS rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building on April 25 to replace the helium valve, fix the hydrogen leak and carry out several other upgrades and improvements.
Hydrogen leaks are notoriously hard to pinpoint and eliminate because they typically don’t show up until the hardware is exposed to cryogenic temperatures. But Free is optimistic that work to tighten up a flange in the fuel line connector has resolved the problem.
“We fixed some things we saw around the area where we saw the leak, including going back to some of the procedures we used and the know how from the shuttle days, which we really benefited from,” he said. “Obviously, we won’t know the results of that until we actually flow the liquid hydrogen at the pad.
“We also worked on some of the loading procedures,” he continued. “We saw some things with LOX (liquid oxygen) and hydrogen that our team was actually able to go back in (and) automate those procedures, which we know will help us during the upcoming flow.”
Along with addressing the hydrogen leak, engineers replaced the helium valve after finding a bit of rubber debris lodged in the mechanism. They also modified fueling procedures to eliminate some of the pressure and temperature issues experienced earlier.
Mounted atop a powerful crawler-transporter, the SLS rocket and its mobile launch stage were hauled back out to the launch pad June 6, setting the stage for this weekend’s fourth attempt to complete the rehearsal.
Assuming the test goes well, NASA will move the rocket back to the VAB one more time for final flight preparations.
NASA hopes to finally launch the SLS in late August, boosting an unpiloted Orion crew capsule on a test flight beyond the moon and back. The first piloted mission, a flight carrying four astronauts around the moon, is planned for 2023 with a landing in the 2025 timeframe.
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Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with the Globalstar FM15 voice and data relay satellite. Follow us on Twitter.
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SpaceX raised a Falcon 9 rocket vertical on pad 40 Saturday in preparation for launch with the Globalstar FM15 satellite. Credit: SpaceX
Globalstar is set to add a spare spacecraft to its commercial data relay network early Sunday with a launch from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, but the satellite operator remained silent about the mission on the eve of liftoff.
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A Falcon 9 rocket soars by the moon in the sky over California’s Central Coast, carrying Germany’s SARah 1 military imaging satellite into orbit. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now
A four-ton, cloud-penetrating radar observation satellite for the German military soared into orbit Saturday from California on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, beginning a 10-year mission to collect all-weather reconnaissance imagery.
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SpaceX launched 53 more Starlink internet satellites Friday on a Falcon 9 booster that flew for the 13th time. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 booster for a record-breaking 13th time Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, hauling 53 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit as astronomers renew concerns about the growing brightness of the latest generation of the broadband relay spacecraft.
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