Mission Reports

Perseverance rover records sounds of driving on Mars

NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its onboard left Navigation Camera (Navcam) on March 7, the same day the rover’s microphone recorded the sounds of driving. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A microphone aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover has recorded itself driving on Mars, recording the crunching sound of its six metallic wheels rolling over soil and …

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NASA’s moon rocket set for second test-firing Thursday

The orange core stage of NASA’s first Space Launch System rocket stands in the B-2 test stand at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Credit: NASA/Stennis Two months after a first test-firing ended prematurely, NASA plans to ignite the core stage of the first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket again Thursday for an eight-minute burn …

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Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus rocket selected for responsive launch demo

A Pegasus rocket underneath its L-1011 carrier jet takes off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, before a 2013 launch. Credit: NASA The U.S. Space Force is planning for an airborne launch of a solid-fueled Pegasus rocket over the Pacific Ocean by early summer after quietly awarding Northrop Grumman a contract for the mission last …

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SpaceX extends its own rocket reuse record on Starlink launch

A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now Using a Falcon 9 booster flying for a record ninth time, SpaceX’s swift sequence of launches continued Sunday with a predawn liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center carrying another set of 60 Starlink …

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China launches spy satellite triplet for third time this year

A Long March 4C rocket lifts off Saturday with three Yaogan 31 military satellites. Credit: Xinhua Three Chinese military satellites launched Saturday aboard a Long March 4C rocket, joining six others China has sent into orbit since the start of the year on ocean surveillance missions. The three Yaogan 31-series satellites took off at 0219 …

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SpaceX rocket rolls out to pad 39A for next Starlink mission

EDITOR’S NOTE: Launch of SpaceX’s next mission is scheduled for 6:01 a.m. EDT (1001 GMT) Sunday. Daylight saving time begins in the United States at 2 a.m. local time Sunday. The Falcon 9 rocket for SpaceX’s 22nd dedicated Starlink mission arrived at pad 39A early Saturday. Credit: Spaceflight Now For the third time in 10 days, …

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Watch live: Spacewalk begins to complete unfinished work outside space station

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Wrapping up unfinished work, two spacewalkers stepped outside the International Space Station early Saturday to complete electrical connections with a European experiment platform, to vent and relocate ammonia coolant jumpers and to install a new wireless camera transceiver. They also planned to attach a stiffener to the Quest …

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Garbage pallet jettisoned from space station will stay in orbit two-to-four years

A pallet loaded with disused batteries was jettisoned from the International Space Station’s robotic arm Thursday. Credit: NASA NASA ground controllers sent commands to the International Space Station on Thursday for release of a 2.9-ton cargo pallet loaded with old batteries, the most massive object ever jettisoned from the orbiting outpost. The garbage carrier is …

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Hubble resumes science observations after software error

The Hubble Space Telescope in the payload bay of space shuttle Atlantis during the last servicing mission in May 2009. Credit: NASA NASA has partially restored the Hubble Space Telescope to science mode after a software error temporarily halted observations, but engineers continue studying a problem that kept the telescope’s aperture door from closing and …

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China’s Long March 7A rocket successful on second flight

China’s Long March 7A rocket lifts off from the Wenchang launch base on Hainan Island. Credit: Xinhua The second flight of China’s new medium-lift Long March 7A rocket successfully placed an experimental satellite into orbit Thursday, following a failed launch of the same configuration last year caused by a problem in a booster liquid oxygen …

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