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Boeing crew capsule mounted on Atlas 5 rocket for unpiloted test flight

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Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft emerges from the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing facility early Saturday. Credit: Alex Polimeni / Spaceflight Now Boeing’s second Starliner crew ferry spacecraft rolled out of its factory early Saturday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for mounting on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket set for liftoff July 30 …

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Hubble resumes science observations after month-long outage

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The Hubble Space Telescope pictured during the final space shuttle servicing mission in 2009. Credit: NASA NASA said Saturday that the Hubble Space Telescope, now running on a backup payload computer, has resumed scientific observations after a failure knocked the aging observatory offline for more than a month. “All instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope …

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China launches satellite group to detect global radio transmissions

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A Chinese Long March 6 rocket lifts off Friday from the Taiyuan space center. Credit: Xinhua China launched five small satellites designed to detect and monitor global radio transmissions Friday on top of a Long March 6 rocket, joining five similar spacecraft deployed in orbit in 2019. The five Ningxia, or Zhongzi, satellites rocketed into …

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China launches satellite to link mission control with space station

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A Long March 3C rocket lifts off July 6 with China’s new Tianlian 1-05 data relay satellite. Credit: CASC China launched a fresh satellite for the country’s Tianlian data relay network July 6, reinforcing a fleet of spacecraft designed to connect ground controllers with the country’s space station. The Tianlian 1-05 data relay satellite launched …

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SpaceX cargo capsule splashes down in Gulf of Mexico

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A Cargo Dragon capsule backs away from the International Space station Thursday, heading for splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Credit: Thomas Pesquet/ESA/NASA Wrapping up a 36-day mission to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico Friday night with biomedical experiments, spacewalk equipment, and other hardware …

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China launches Fengyun weather satellite into polar orbit

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A Chinese Long March 4C rocket takes off carrying the Fengyun 3E weather satellite. Credit: Xinhua A new Chinese Fengyun weather satellite launched Sunday and flew into an early morning polar orbit to feed data into global computer models, adding inputs that international weather officials said will improve medium and long-range forecasts. The Fengyun 3E …

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China launches five Earth observation satellites on Long March 2D rocket

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A Chinese Long March 2D rocket lifts off Saturday. Credit: Xinhua China successfully launched five small remote sensing satellites on top of a Long March 2D rocket Saturday into an orbit more than 330 miles above Earth. The five spacecraft, all from Chinese companies operated using commercial business models, lifted off at 0251 GMT Saturday …

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Progress supply ship docks with space station

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Russia’s Progress MS-17 supply ship moves in for docking at the International Space Station on Thursday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now Russia’s automated Progress MS-17 cargo ship docked with the International Space Station Thursday, wrapping up a two-day journey from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with nearly 2.7 tons of fuel, food, water, and supplies. The …

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Virgin Orbit’s first operational mission deploys military CubeSats

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Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket fires its kerosene-fueled main engine seconds after dropping from the company’s Boeing 747 carrier jet. Credit: Virgin Orbit Virgin Orbit’s air-launched rocket aced its first operational mission Wednesday, firing into orbit from the wing of a 747 carrier jet southwest of Los Angeles to deploy small satellites for the U.S. Army, …

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SpaceX scrubs launch after helicopter ventures into restricted airspace

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Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography A private helicopter flew into restricted airspace near Cape Canaveral moments before the scheduled liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday. SpaceX chief Elon Musk said the keep out zone for launches is “unreasonably gigantic” and called for updated regulations. The Federal Aviation Administration clears commercial …

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