ISS One-Year Mission Expedition 43 Soyuz TMA-16M Launch Coverage NASA TV A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts blasted off for the International Space Station today. Their launch wasn’t historic in its own right. After all, the three are members of the 43rd expeditionary crew to live aboard the outpoust. What is groundbreaking is the […]
Space Exploration
Spectacular Launch Delivers MMS Probes To Study Magentic Reconnection
NASA’s first-of-its kind mission to study the violent interactions of the magnetic fields surrounding Earth got underway last night with a spectacular blastoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral AFS. The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) lifted off on time at 10:44 p.m. EDT, beginning the third of […]
Deep Space Falcon Launch Successfully Deploys NASA’s DSCOVR Climate Observatory
The second mission of 2015 for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket finally thundered into space today from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral after three days of delays due to weather and technical issues. Described as the most beautiful Falcon launch to date, the vehicle lifted off a few minutes before sunset at 6:03:32 pm […]
NASA’s New Horizons Returns First Photos Of Pluto, Charon As It Nears Encounter
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft returned its first new images of Pluto on Wednesday, as the probe closes in on the dwarf planet. Although still just a dot along with its largest moon, Charon, the images come on the 109th birthday of Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the distant icy world in 1930. “My dad would be […]
“Old Reliable” Delta II Orbits First Of A Kind Soil Moisture Mapping Spacecraft
Blazing a trail through a cloudy California morning, a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket successfully deployed NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP spacecraft into polar orbit this morning on one of the venerable launch vehicle’s final missions. After delays this week due to strong high altitude winds, Delta blasted off at 6:22 a.m. PST […]
Planetary Society Announces LightSail Spacecraft Test Flight
The Planetary Society today announced the first of its LightSail spacecraft will embark on a May 2015 test flight. Funded entirely by private citizens, the solar sail satellite will hitch a ride to space aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission will test LightSail’s critical functions, a […]
First Full-Scale SLS Booster Installed On Stand For March Static Test
NASA and ATK have completed installing the first Space Launch System booster qualification motor, QM-1, in a specialized test stand in Utah. The largest solid rocket motor ever built for flight, QM-1 is now being prepared for its static-fire test, which is scheduled for March 11. “Testing before flight is critical to ensure reliability and […]
RS-25 Main Engine Testing Resumes At Stennis After Five-Year Hiatus
The new year is off to a hot start for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS). The engine that will drive America’s next great rocket to deep space blazed through its first successful test Jan. 9 at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The RS-25, formerly the space shuttle main engine, fired […]
NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Completes “Picture Perfect” First Test Flight
Reaching a pinnacle in its nine-year development program, NASA’s next-generation Orion deep-space exploration craft soared through a picture-perfect test flight today to mark a major milestone in NASA’s plans to return to human space exploration with sights firmly fixed on Mars. Exploration Flight Test-1 was Orion’s first mission and the first “real-life” test for many […]
Inferno Over Wallops! A first-hand Photo And Video Account Of Antares Launch Failure
Read the story with a full page of launch pad remote camera photos and video! Last month, Zero-G News had the opportunity to travel to Wallops Flight Facility, VA in order to cover the anticipated launch of an Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket to deliver the Cygnus Orb-3 spacecraft on a cargo resupply run to […]