Mission Reports

Four private citizens ride SpaceX rocket into orbit on historic mission

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A Falcon 9 rocket streaks into orbit Wednesday night from Kennedy Space Center, kicking off the Inspiration4 mission. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography With the backing of a billionaire businessman, four private citizens blasted off Wednesday night from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a first-of-its-kind fully commercial three-day spaceflight aboard …

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Shenzhou crew departs Chinese space station, heads for Earth

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Artist’s concept of China’s Shenzhou 12 spacecraft undocking from the Tianhe core module of China’s space station. Credit: CCTV China’s three-man Shenzhou 12 crew floated into their return craft and undocked from the Tiangong space station Wednesday, heading for landing in remote northwestern China to close out a three-month mission, the longest human spaceflight to …

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Photos: Inspiration4’s rocket ready for launch on pad 39A

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Photographers visited launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday to set up remote cameras. Photographer Michael Cain captured these views of the 215-foot-tall (65-meter) Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft ahead of liftoff on the Inspiration 4 private crew mission. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography Credit: Michael …

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With tenth launch, OneWeb nears halfway mark in deploying satellite fleet

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A Soyuz rocket takes off Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with 34 OneWeb satellites. Credit: Roscosmos A day after SpaceX launched 51 Starlink broadband satellites from California, a Russian Soyuz rocket fired into orbit Tuesday from a spaceport halfway around the world, shepherding 34 more satellites for the commercial internet network being constructed …

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For the first time, NASA is a spectator for a U.S. crew mission to low Earth orbit

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Jared Isaacman, commander of the Inspiration4 mission, trains in a Crew Dragon simulator at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s launch of the all-private Inspiration4 crew mission, scheduled as soon as Wednesday night, is an all-commercial affair that leaves NASA largely on the sidelines. And that’s just fine with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. …

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Russian rocket ready for launch with 34 more Florida-built OneWeb satellites

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Thirty-four OneWeb satellites, mounted on their deployment fixture, are raised onto a Fregat upper stage at the Baikonur Cosmodrome during pre-launch preparations. Credit: Roscosmos A Russian Soyuz rocket is poised for lift off Tuesday from Kazakhstan with another 34 internet spacecraft for OneWeb, the company’s 10th launch since deployment of the satellite network began in …

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SpaceX launches first full batch of laser-equipped Starlink satellites

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SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaks into space Monday night in this long exposure photo. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX delivered 51 more Starlink internet spacecraft to orbit Monday night with a successful Falcon 9 rocket launch from California, introducing new inter-satellite optical laser links to improve how the network relays broadband signals around the world. The launch …

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All-civilian flight to orbit blazes new trail for charity with this week’s SpaceX launch

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STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The Inspiration4 crew — Chris Sembroski, Hayley Arceneaux, Jared Isaacman, and Sian Proctor — float during a zero-gravity airplane training fight earlier this year. Credit: Inspiration4 / John Kraus An all-civilian, non-astronaut crew, including a childhood cancer survivor, is ready for blastoff this week on a history-making SpaceX flight. …

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Live coverage: SpaceX set for launch from California tonight

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Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with 51 Starlink internet satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket on Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Space …

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New version of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites to begin launching Monday

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A stack of Starlink satellites before a previous launch from Florida. Credit: SpaceX A batch of 51 Starlink internet spacecraft, debuting new laser inter-satellite links, is set for liftoff Monday night from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on SpaceX’s first dedicated Starlink mission from the West Coast. The 51 satellites will begin populating a …

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