Space News & Blog Articles



In this view from a camera on the space station’s robotic arm, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo ship departs after a three-month stay at the complex. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship departed the International Space Station Saturday after a three-month stay, heading off on the final phase of its mission to deploy a U.S. military tech demo payload and re-enter the atmosphere to dispose of 7,500 pounds of trash.

Expedition 66 crew members, from left to right: Pyotr Dubrov, Tom Marshburn, Anton Shkaplerov, Raja Chari, Mark Vande Hei, Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer. Credit: NASA

The seven-person crew living on the International Space Station resumed normal operations Wednesday, two days after closing off parts of the complex as precaution following a widely-condemned Russian anti-satellite test that created a new cloud of space debris.

An Electron rocket lifts off from Rocket Lab’s spaceport on the North Island of New Zealand with two BlackSky optical remote sensing satellites. Credit: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab launched two small BlackSky optical Earth-imaging satellites Wednesday from New Zealand, the first of three straight Electron rocket flights for the U.S. remote sensing company.

SpaceX test-fired six Raptor engines on the Starship rocket Nov. 12. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX’s team in South Texas is gearing up to be ready for the first combined launch of the Super Heavy booster and Starship mega-rocket as soon as January, assuming the company completes launch pad construction, ground testing, and secures regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, founder Elon Musk said Wednesday.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand carrying two small BlackSky Earth observation satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

File photo showing Falcon 9 rockets on pad 40 and pad 39A on Florida’s Space Coast. Credit: SpaceX

After a lull in launch activity the last few months, SpaceX plans to close out 2021 with a spurt of missions from all three of the company’s active launch pads in Florida and California, with five or more Falcon 9 flights planned before the end of the year.

A Vega rocket takes off Tuesday with the French military’s three CERES reconnaissance satellites. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/S. Martin

A European Vega rocket fired into space from French Guiana Tuesday and deployed three French military satellites to locate sources of radio and radar transmissions around the world, clearing the way for final modifications on the Vega launch pad for an uprated version of the booster set to debut next year.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Vega rocket with the French military’s CERES electronic intelligence-gathering satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

The fifth Epsilon rocket blasts off from the ?Uchinoura Space Center on Nov. 9 (Japanese time). Credit: JAXA

A Japanese Epsilon rocket launched nine small satellites into orbit Nov. 8, deploying technology to prove out ways to eliminate space debris, a miniature lab for biological experiments, and a potpourri of pathfinder probes to test new sensor and spacecraft components.

A view of the International Space Station captured Sept. 28 by a cosmonaut on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft. Credit: Roscosmos

Russia shot down an old Soviet-era military spacecraft Monday in a test of an anti-satellite weapon, scattering hundreds of thousands of debris fragments that will remain in orbit for years or decades, U.S. government officials said.

Live coverage of the Expedition 66 mission on the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

A Falcon 9 rocket climbs above a fog layer at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with 53 Starlink internet satellites. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX shot 53 Starlink internet satellites into orbit on top of a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday from foggy Cape Canaveral, commencing a new phase of deploying the global broadband network with the first launch into a new “shell” some 335 miles above Earth.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 53 Starlink broadband satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

Just ten hours after launching a crew capsule from a nearby pad, SpaceX ignited the main engines on a reused Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Thursday morning for a brief test-firing ahead of a planned liftoff Friday to begin a new phase of deploying the company’s Starlink satellite internet network.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft lifts off Wednesday night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

SpaceX launched four astronauts toward the International Space Station on a brand new Dragon spacecraft Wednesday night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, continuing the company’s swift acceleration of crew missions just two days after another capsule returned to Earth.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand carrying two small BlackSky Earth observation satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.



Live coverage of the countdown and flight 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.

One of the two spacewalker on Sunday’s excursion is seen outside China’s space station, with a part of the lab’s robotic arm in the background. Credit: CMSA

Astronauts Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping, the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk, stepped outside China’s space station Sunday for an excursion lasting more than six hours to ready the orbiting lab’s robotic arm for operations.