60 years ago, on May 8, 1962, Atlas-LV3C Centaur-A – designated Atlas Centaur-1 (AC-1) – lifted off from the newly-constructed Launch Complex-36A (LC-36A). AC-1 was the first flight test of the hydrogen-powered Centaur upper stage. Since the maiden flight of Centaur, the stage has flown on several different rocket families across six decades. Centaur has launched military, commercial, and science missions allowing access to every planetary body in the solar system and even beyond.
SpaceX has returned its newest Super Heavy to Starbase’s orbital launch site (OLS) after rapidly repairing damage suffered during the Starship booster’s...
Engineers are making progress resolving mostly ground-system problems that derailed three earlier attempts to fuel the agency’s new Space Launch System moon rocket for a dress rehearsal countdown. NASA managers said last week they’re hopeful about making a fourth attempt by mid-June.
China launched the Tianzhou 4 cargo freighter for the country’s space station Monday, beginning a resupply mission to stage hardware, propellant, and provisions at the complex before arrival of the next long-duration crew in June.
The Canadian government announced May 9 that it is joining the United States in banning tests of destructive direct-ascent antisatellite weapons as a step toward norms of responsible behavior in space.
The James Webb Space Telescope is operating better than expected as the spacecraft enter the final stages of commissioning, project officials said May 9.
NASA officials say they believe the latest effort to shut down an airborne observatory is more likely to be successful because of the endorsement of doing so by last year’s decadal survey.
Two federal agencies in a turf battle over commercial spaceflight investigations say they are now talking with each other to better define their roles and responsibilities.
On 7 May 1992, Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off on her first voyage at 23:40 UTC from Pad-B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Her target: Intelsat VI F-3 (now known as Intelsat 603). The goal: rendezvous with, repair, and re-release the satellite.
A Chinese launch startup sent a small rocket test stage up to an altitude of one kilometer Friday before a performing a powered descent and vertical landing.
April marked Expedition 67’s first full month aboard the International Space Station, with the outpost’s crew receiving visitors in the form of the Axiom-1 mission before Crew Dragon Freedom arrived at the end of the month to begin a crew rotation on the US Orbital Segment.
Four astronauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station early Friday with a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida, the sixth crew launch or landing in support of the station program in fewer than 50 days.
TAMPA, Fla. — Increasing costs and delays have forced Telesat to downsize plans for 298 low Earth orbit satellites by a third to keep within its $5 billion budget.
Virgin Galactic is again postponing the start of commercial service of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane from late 2022 to early 2023, blaming the latest delay on supply chain and labor issues.
The NRO and SpaceX worked out a deal to move NROL-85 to the West Coast at no extra cost to the government and in exchange the NRO agreed to fly the mission on a reused first stage
Intelsat announced financial, commercial and aviation leadership changes May 5 to guide the satellite operator’s post-bankruptcy future.
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NASA
NASA Administrator to Visit Florida Students, Industry
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will speak to elementary school students about the future of space exploration Monday, May 9, and tour a lab working on robotic construction technologies Tuesday, May 10, during a trip to Florida.
NASA expects to be ready to perform another countdown rehearsal of the Space Launch System in early June as it pushes back the first launch of the vehicle to at least August.
SpaceX launched 53 internet communication satellites to low Earth orbit on the Starlink Group 4-17 mission. With liftoff scheduled for 09:42 UTC (5:42 AM EDT), the Falcon 9 launched from historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). This mission marked SpaceX’s 18th mission of 2022, making a pace of one Falcon 9 launch every seven days. In the event of a scrub, there was a backup window less than 24 hours later on May 7.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts aboard the Dragon Endurance spacecraft safely splashed down Friday in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida, completing the agency’s third long-duration commercial crew mission to the International Space Station.
A Crew Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico May 6, returning four astronauts to Earth after nearly six months on the International Space Station.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center at first light Friday with 53 Starlink internet satellites, completing an all-nighter of space operations just five hours after returning four astronauts to a splashdown off the west coast of Florida.
A U.S. military cargo plane delivered NASA’s Psyche spacecraft from California to the Kennedy Space Center last week, starting a three-month campaign to ready the asteroid explorer for liftoff on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in August. The launch preparations at Kennedy will include loading of more than a ton of xenon gas into the Psyche spacecraft, followed by encapsulation of the probe inside SpaceX’s payload fairing before rolling out to pad 39A for integration with a Falcon Heavy launcher. “Shipping to the launch site feels like the home stretch is kind of coming, and it certainly feels that way on Psyche,” said Brian Bone, the lead engineer on Psyche’s assembly, test, and launch operations team. The xenon will fuel the spacecraft’s electric propulsion system, a set of four high-efficiency electric thrusters to guide Psyche from Earth to its namesake asteroid destination. The robotic mission will reach the asteroid Psyche in January 2026, then enter a series of orbits at different distances to map the unexplored world. Psyche, the asteroid, has an irregular shape and
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is holding a series of meetings next week with potential government, academic and industry partners to discuss the agency’s plan to evaluate emerging satellite and ground architecture technologies.
A new study using data from NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter may explain why Martian frost can be invisible to the naked eye and why dust avalanches appear on some slopes.
NASA and Boeing say they’re confident they have resolved a valve issue that delayed a test flight of the company’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle last year and are ready to try again later this month.
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NASA
NASA to Discuss Webb Telescope Alignment, Instrument Setup
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NASA will hold a media teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 9, to discuss progress toward preparing the James Webb Space Telescope for science operations.
Three NASA astronauts and a European Space Agency mission specialist left the International Space Station early Thursday aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, heading for splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida to wrap up a 176-day expedition in orbit.
The United States is at risk of being outpaced by China in space capabilities, in part due to the slow adoption of commercial innovations such as small satellites, warns a new report released May 5 by the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
A Long March rocket launched eight Jilin-1 remote sensing satellites late Wednesday, days after an earlier batch rode to orbit via launch from a sea platform.
EchoStar says satellite builder Maxar Technologies won’t deliver its long-awaited Jupiter-3 satellite in time for its end-of-year launch on a Falcon 9 rocket.
Senators overwhelmingly voted against a motion May 4 that would have dealt a setback in NASA’s efforts to select a second company to develop an Artemis lunar lander.
Crew Dragon Endurance has concluded the Crew-3 mission, returning astronauts Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, Tom Marshburn, and Matthias Maurer back to Earth after nearly six months in orbit.
SpaceX raised a Falcon 9 rocket vertical on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center Thursday, ready for a pre-sunrise blastoff Friday with 53 more Starlink internet satellites, using a booster stage flying for a record-tying 12th time.
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s rocket propulsion arm is asking space companies to help identify technologies and capabilities the military will need to launch missions on short timelines.
Earth imaging company Satellogic announced May 4 it signed a contract with SpaceX to launch 68 more satellites as it continues to build out its constellation.
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NASA
NASA Deputy Administrator to Visit Artemis Partner Advanced Space
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Media are invited to join NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Representatives Ed Perlmutter, Joe Neguse and Jerry McNerney for a tour of the Westminster, Colorado-based aerospace company Advanced Space Thursday, May 5.
