Space Flight

It’s looking more likely that test pilots Sunni Williams and Butch Wilmore won’t be going Boeing for their trip back to earth from the International Space Station. Instead, there are reports now leaking out of NASA that a SpaceX Dragon capsule will do a quick turnaround launch from Cape Canaveral to pick them up and […]

SpaceX’s ubiquitous Falcon 9 rockets have been grounded after one malfunctioned while attempting to deliver a batch of internet satellites into orbit on Thursday night. The launch, which occurred around 10:30 p.m. local time at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, is a rare mishap for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which routinely flies NASA astronauts […]

This morning, NASA astronauts and Boeing Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams conducted a live video press conference from the International Space Station (ISS). They acknowledged the challenges the Starliner faced with disabled reaction control system (RCS) jets and degraded thrust from the propulsion engines. With no clear schedule for their return, they […]

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were originally expected to spend eight days on the International Space Station (ISS), could be spending a couple more weeks as experts work through issues the Starliner experienced upon docking. According to an article from NPR, NASA is conducting additional ground testing and evaluation of issues the […]

Boeing insists its first crewed mission of the Starliner capsule is “going well” despite another delay in the return of its astronauts from the International Space Station. In a statement on Wednesday, the company said the delay is part of the program and not a failure. “It is a test flight,” the company said. “The […]

Boeing and NASA have pushed back the departure of the Starliner crew capsule from the International Space Station until at least June 26 citing the need to gather more data. The capsule has sprung five helium leaks and developed a problem with a valve since docking with the ISS last week. It was supposed unhook […]

Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity space tourism vehicle has been retired after its seventh flight on Saturday, and it will be at least two years before replacement craft are ready. Unity took a pilot and four passengers to an altitude of 54.4 miles, just shy of the Kármán line (62 miles) commonly considered to the be […]

The Boeing Starliner capsule docked with the International Space Station at 1:34 p.m. EDT this afternoon, joining the SpaceX Dragon capsule “Endeavor,” marking the first time two capsules have docked with the orbiting space station. The Starliner lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida yesterday. A planned earlier docking around 10:30 a.m. […]

Despite a flap burn-through that had observers on the edge of their seats, SpaceX’s fourth test flight of its megarocket is being hailed as a stunning success. SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), “Successful soft landing of the Starship Super Heavy rocket booster!” The 400-foot-tall rocket launched this […]

An Atlas rocket has launched with astronauts aboard for the first time since Gordon Cooper’s final Mercury flight in his Faith 7 capsule on May 15, 1963 (powered by an Atlas LV-3B 130-D). The Atlas V rocket that launched today (June 5), manufactured by United Launch Alliance and powered at liftoff by a Russian-built RD-180 […]