Astronauts fired this small, rectangular hunk from the International Space Station today. The payload will separate into two autonomous satellites as part of a research program to take us one tiny step closer towards making asteroid mining a reality.
We’re on location for today’s SpaceX launch of the Jason-3 ocean monitoring satellite. Afterwards, SpaceX will make their first barge landing attempt in the Pacific Ocean. Join us as we report live from Vandenberg Air Force Base!
May 27, 1999: The Space Shuttles were always pretty, but this launch of Discovery was a particularly gorgeous start to the first mission to dock with the International Space Station.
August 30, 1983: It’s never a good sign when nature gets too involved in a rocket launch. This lightning storm put on a spectacular display during rainy skies the morning before Challenger blasted off in the first pre-dawn launch of the space shuttle program.
The Russian space agency successfully launched its latest transport cargo spaceship on Thursday evening, and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly managed to photograph the event from aboard the International Space Station.
The latest trio of astronauts are safely space-bound after an early morning launch out of Kazakhstan. Soyuz will take the scenic route to meet the International Space Station, which is in a higher-than-usual orbit after avoiding space junk. After docking, the station’s crew will temporarily grow to nine astronauts.
It’s a good day for innovative space technology. The Planetary Society’s technology demonstration of solar sails to propel microsatellites hitched a ride into orbit with the launch of the secretive X-37B space plane. The LightSail project is testing solar sail technology for a mission in 2016.
Mexico’s newest communications satellite crashed into Siberia just minutes after launch early this morning. This marks the sixth catastrophic mishap of this particular configuration of a Roscomos Proton-M rocket since 2010.
The Progress spacecraft looked good at the launch of its journey to the International Space Station, but problems quickly emerged. Now it’s tumbling out of control, can’t dock with the space station, and only has days to recover before burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
This Russian Soyuz rocket is getting ready to launch a Progress spacecraft to carry supplies to the International Space Station, and it’s oddly gorgeous. Update: A problem with sporadic telemetry and spacecraft control sent Progress spinning in space and thus far unable to rendezvous with the Space Station.
A quartet of satellites launched tonight, the Magnetospheric Multiscale observatories. The four identical satellites will observe and measure magnetic reconnection, the explosive moment when mismatched magnetic fields connect, realign, and reconnect in a new configuration.
SpaceX is once again counting down to launching the Deep Space Climate Observatory, but this time with a twist: rough seas in the Atlantic mean the company will not be attempting to soft land the Falcon 9 rocket on a barge. If the launch is scrubbed again, moon will block further launch attempts until February 20th.
After tracking issues scrubbed the Sunday launch and bad weather blocked the Monday attempty, SpaceX is counting down to its first deep-space mission and second attempt at landing their Falcon 9 rocket on a barge. Watch it live here!
The launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) and second SpaceX barge landing attempt scrubbed yesterday have been delayed until tomorrow due to unfriendly weather.
After hanging out in storage for over a decade, the Deep Space Climate Observatory is finally being launched to monitor solar storms. The satellite is getting into space on the back of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which means we're also counting down to another historic barge landing attempt!
SpaceX's dull cargo run to the space station featured an exciting secondary mission: the first-ever attempt to land the booster rocket on a floating spaceport drone ship for recovery and reuse. The Falcon 9 hit the barge too hard, impacting rather than landing, a failure so close to success it's worthy of celebration.
The same weekend America is launching a secretive spy satellite with mid-launch media blackouts, Russia launched a new private communications rig on a constant live stream. The new satellite will provide communications and tv signals for Russia and surrounding countries.
Is a launch still clandestine if everyone sees it? Apparently so, as the launch of a secretive payload out on Friday was seen across southern California, yet was totally successful. What the latest secret satellite will do is up for debate, but it has an excellent mission patch.
Japan’s space agency just launched Hayabusa2, an ambitious deep space mission to land on an asteroid, smack it with an interceptor, collect and return samples, and deploy rovers. After a multi-day weather delay, the rocket blasted off a scene seaside spaceport, carrying Hayabusa2 and a collection of opportunistic…
