Space News & Blog Articles

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

Russia’s Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, perched atop a Soyuz rocket, rolled to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Tuesday, Feb. 21. Credit: Roscosmos

Russia’s space agency said Tuesday that preliminary data suggest a coolant leak on a Progress cargo freighter docked at the International Space Station earlier this month was caused by “external influences” — possibly something that occurred during its launch last year, according to a senior NASA space station manager.

Russian cosmonauts will try to take pictures of the location where coolant leaked out of a Russian Progress cargo ship earlier this month when the supply freighter departs the International Space Station Friday night, as scheduled, to head for a destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.

Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Inmarsat 6 F2 communications satellite. Follow us on Twitter.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, powered by nine Merlin engines, climbs through the atmosphere after liftoff from California Friday with 51 more Starlink internet satellites. Credit: SpaceX

A Falcon 9 rocket delivered 51 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit Friday after launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, adding to SpaceX’s global broadband network that reaches all seven continents.

Artist’s illustration of the Inmarsat 6 F2 communications satellite with solar arrays and its L-band antenna deployed in orbit. Credit: Inmarsat

A large European-built communications satellite owned by London-based Inmarsat is set to ride a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Friday night from Cape Canaveral, kicking off a mission to connect ships and airplanes across the Atlantic Ocean and the U.S. East Coast through 2040.

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The first launch of Japan’s H3 rocket was aborted moments before liftoff Thursday (U.S. time). Credit: JAXA

Japan’s first H3 rocket, nearly a decade in development, was moments from liftoff Thursday (U.S. time) when the launch vehicle detected a problem and cut off the countdown just before sending a command to ignite two strap-on solid-fueled boosters.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Starlink 2-5 mission with 51 Starlink internet satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.



NASA’s Perseverance took this selfie of itself looking down at one of 10 sample tubes deposited at the sample depot it created in an area nicknamed “Three Forks.” This image was taken by the WATSON camera on the rover’s robotic arm on Jan. 20, 2023, the 684th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars has cooly notched up another significant first by creating the first ever storage depot on another world for Martian soil samples. But if the rover’s mission goes to plan and it continues to operate as scheduled, the cached samples could be left on the Martian surface forever.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle lifts off on its second test flight. Credit: ISRO

The second test flight of India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle was successful Feb. 10, delivering Indian and U.S.-owned payloads into orbit after the new rocket’s first demonstration mission ended in failure last year.

A Proton rocket climbs away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Feb. 5 with the Electro Credit: Roscosmos

Russia launched a geostationary weather satellite Feb. 5 on a Proton rocket, heading for a position more than 22,000 miles over the Pacific Ocean to cover Russia’s Far East and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

Watch a replay of our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 5-4 mission at 12:10 a.m. EST (0510 GMT) on Feb. 12 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us on Twitter.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster fired for approximately seven seconds at 3:14 p.m. CST (4:14 p.m. EST; 2114 GMT) Thursday. Credit: LabPadre

In a significant milestone preparing for liftoff of the world’s most powerful rocket, SpaceX test-fired 31 of the booster’s 33 methane-fueled engines Thursday in South Texas as the company eyes a launch attempt as soon as March.

SpaceX is gearing up for the first full-up test-firing Thursday of all 33 engines on the booster for the company’s Starship mega-rocket in Texas, a critical milestone on the path to launching the giant vehicle on its first orbital test flight, which could happen as soon as March if this week’s test goes well.

A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifts off Thursday with the Russian Progress MS-22 supply ship. Credit: Roscosmos

A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, boosting a Progress resupply ship into orbit in pursuit of the International Space Station with more than 5,500 pounds of cargo, fuel, water, and air.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will launched the the Amazonas Nexus geostationary communications satellite for Hispasat. Follow us on Twitter.

Artist’s concept of the Amazonas Nexus satellite in orbit, with its antennas and solar arrays unfurled. Credit: Thales Alenia Space

A nearly five-ton satellite for the Spanish company Hispasat is ready for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Sunday, weather permitting, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, beginning a mission to provide in-flight internet and other communications services over the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean.