Space News & Blog Articles

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: SpaceX

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket thundered into the sky over Florida’s Space Coast Sunday night and deployed a sophisticated internet satellite for Viasat into a circular orbit more than 20,000 miles over the equator, delivering for a competitor to SpaceX’s own Starlink broadband network.

Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 5-6 mission at 3:31 a.m. EDT (0731 GMT) on May 4 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us on Twitter.

A full-scale test model of an Ariane 6 rocket stands on its launch pad in French Guiana last year. Credit:
ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut

While preparing for launch of its first ViaSat 3 internet satellite on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket this week, Viasat is considering bids from commercial launch service providers to carry an identical satellite into orbit next year, following a decision to move the spacecraft off of a European Ariane 6 rocket because of delays in its development and availability.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the ViaSat 3 Americas broadband satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

Watch a replay of our live coverage of the countdown and launch two SpaceX rockets — a Falcon 9 and a Falcon Heavy — less than two hours apart on Friday, April 28. Follow us on Twitter.

Lightning strikes Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday night, with a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket awaiting liftoff. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX says engineers completed checks of the Falcon Heavy rocket, its satellite payloads, and ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center after a lightning strike on the launch pad’s tower Thursday night, part of a wave of severe weather that forced officials to delay the launch attempt.



NASA’s Perseverance rover glimpsed the Ingenuity helicopter earlier this month after the rotorcraft’s 50th flight. This view shows dust accumulation on the vehicle. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s pioneering Mars helicopter Ingenuity continues to outperform its design specifications, having now notched up more than 50 record-breaking forays across the Red Planet’s surface, 10 times as many flights as originally planned for.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the ViaSat 3 Americas broadband satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Starlink 3-5 mission with 46 Starlink internet satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket for the ViaSat 3 Americas mission inside the hangar at Launch Complex 39A. The three Falcon Heavy boosters will be powered by 27 kerosene-fueled Merlin engines. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX rolled a Falcon Heavy rocket back to its launch pad in Florida Tuesday night for liftoff Wednesday with a high-power Viasat broadband satellite, following an eight-day delay for a launch vehicle engine swap.

Executives from ispace (lower left) watch animation of the Hakuto-R landing sequence Tuesday in Tokyo. Credit: ispace

A small spacecraft attempting to become the first privately-funded probe to accomplish a controlled landing on the moon likely fell to the lunar surface after running out of fuel Tuesday, according to the Japanese company ispace, which managed the mission.

The Martian moon Deimos, with the Red Planet in the background, was captured in imagery by the UAE’s Hope orbiter March 10. Credit: Emirates Mars Mission / MBRSC

The United Arab Emirates’ Hope probe has seen the far side of the Martian moon Deimos up close for the first time, collecting compositional data suggesting it may have formed from material that broke off of Mars long ago, and not from a captured asteroid.

Live coverage of the landing of ispace’s commercial Hakuto-R spacecraft on the moon. The landing attempt is scheduled for around 12:40 p.m. EDT (1640 UTC). Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

The Hakuto-R lunar lander captured this view of Earthrise from an altitude of about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface. Credit: ispace

The Japanese company ispace could become the first commercial firm to achieve a controlled landing on the moon Tuesday, when its privately-funded Hakuto-R lander attempts to touch down inside a crater to deliver a small Emirati rover and other research payloads to the lunar surface.

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Saturday. Credit: ISRO

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off Saturday and flew to an altitude of more than 360 miles (580 kilometers) to deploy two Singaporean satellites, one for all-weather radar imaging surveillance and another for technology demonstrations.

SpaceX’s Starship rocket, nearly 40 stories tall, climbs off its launch pad at the Starbase launch site in South Texas. Credit: Trevor Mahlmann / Spaceflight Now

After years of anticipation, SpaceX launched the first test flight of its full-scale Starship rocket Thursday from South Texas, but the mission ended four minutes later as the vehicle veered out of control and self-destructed over the Gulf of Mexico following multiple engine failures.

Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark reports from Starbase in South Texas as SpaceX prepares the largest rocket in history for a second launch attempt after calling off a launch attempt Monday due to a valve problem. The next launch attempt is set for Thursday at 8:28 a.m. CDT (9:28 a.m. EDT; 1328 UTC).

SpaceX’s fully fueled Starship and Super Heavy booster during the first launch attempt Monday, April 17. Credit: SpaceX

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, did his best to set low expectations heading into the first test flight of the gargantuan Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket this week.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of SpaceX’s first full-scale Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket from Starbase, SpaceX’s development and test facility at Boca Chica Beach, Texas. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.