Space News & Blog Articles

SpaceX’s Dragon Endurance spacecraft stands on pad 39A atop a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of liftoff on NASA’s Crew-5 mission. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX’s next astronaut launch for NASA, set for Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center, is one of three missions on the company’s schedule this week from launch pads in Florida and California. The crew mission will get top priority, a SpaceX official said, as managers watch downrange sea conditions and technicians try to resolve final technical issues before liftoff.

Four kerosene-fueled Reaver engines power Firefly’s Alpha rocket off the launch pad in California on Oct. 1. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now

Firefly Aerospace said its privately-developed Alpha small satellite launcher achieved “100% mission success” on a test flight from California early Saturday, adding another provider to the growing roster of commercial companies that have successfully fired a rocket into orbit.

NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket rolls into High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building on Sept. 27 to take shelter from Hurricane Ian. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA said Friday that officials have ruled out launching the agency’s first giant Space Launch System moon rocket and Orion spacecraft before mid-November, following the rocket’s return to the hangar at Kennedy Space Center for safekeeping from Hurricane Ian.

Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata inside the crew access arm at pad 39A during a launch day dress rehearsal Sunday. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX teams and the four crew members set for blastoff this week to the International Space Station completed dress rehearsals Sunday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, familiarizing the astronauts with their launch day checklist and testing out the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry them into orbit.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Watch a replay of the Atlas 5 rocket’s rollout to the launch pad here.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with 52 Starlink internet satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

From left to right: Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, NASA astronaut Josh Cassada, NASA commander Nicole Mann, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina arrive at Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 1 to prepare for launch to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

The next multinational crew scheduled to ride a SpaceX rocket and capsule to the International Space Station next week arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Saturday as ground teams rolled their Falcon 9 booster and Dragon Endurance spacecraft to the launch pad, resuming work suspended earlier in the week as Hurricane Ian moved across Florida.

Live coverage of preparations for the launch of SpaceX’s Crew-5 mission carrying NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina on a flight to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

The Hubble Space Telescope in the payload bay of space shuttle Atlantis during the last servicing mission in May 2009. Credit: NASA

NASA and SpaceX will study the potential use of a commercial Dragon crew spacecraft to reboost and service the Hubble Space Telescope, a 32-year-old observatory last upgraded by a space shuttle in 2009, officials announced Thursday.

Firefly’s Alpha rocket stands on its launch pad Sept. 29 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now

After a delay of several weeks due to technical issues, bad weather, and a busy launch range, Firefly Aerospace is set to try again early Friday to send its commercial small satellite launcher into orbit on a test flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of Firefly’s Alpha rocket on the “To the Black” test flight with seven small nanosatellites and picosatellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

The long-range navigation camera on NASA’s DART spacecraft captured this view of asteroid Dimorphos moments before impact. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL

A $330 million NASA mission completed what amounts to an interplanetary game of darts Monday night with an on-target collision with a space rock nearly 7 million miles from Earth, testing a technique that scientists could use in the future to protect our home planet from a threatening asteroid.

Live coverage of the Soyuz MS-21 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 view from NOAA’s GOES-16 weather satellite of Hurricane Ian making landfall in Southwest Florida on Sept. 28. Credit: NOAA

The forecast track of Hurricane Ian across Central Florida has forced SpaceX and United Launch Alliance to postpone several upcoming launches at Cape Canaveral, including the next crew flight to the International Space Station, a Starlink mission, and the liftoff of an Atlas 5 rocket.

Watch live views from our cameras at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as Hurricane Ian brings heavy rain and gusty winds to the Space Coast. NASA moved the Artemis 1 moon rocket back inside the Vehicle Assembly Building on Tuesday.

NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket moves into the Vehicle Assembly Building on Sept. 27. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now

NASA moved the Space Launch System moon rocket back into its hangar Tuesday to take shelter from Hurricane Ian, likely pushing back the next launch attempt for the agency’s long-delayed Artemis 1 lunar test flight until mid-November as Kennedy Space Center braces for high winds and flooding rains.

Live coverage of pre-launch preparations for NASA’s Artemis 1 mission. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

Live coverage of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART mission. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

Artist’s concept of the DART spacecraft, with its LICIACube ride along spacecraft, approaching asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos. Credit: NASA

A NASA spacecraft is aiming to slam into a stadium-size asteroid at more than 14,000 mph Monday in a planetary defense experiment to test a technique that could be used in the future to divert threatening asteroids off a collision course with Earth.

NASA’s crawler transporter moves into position near pad 39B on Saturday to prepare for the rollback of the Artemis 1 moon rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Faced with threatening weather from Hurricane Ian, NASA managers decided Monday to haul the $4.1 billion Artemis 1 rocket off its launch pad and back to the protection of the agency’s Vehicle Assembly Building, likely ending any chance of launching the unpiloted moonshot before November.