Space Flight

SpaceX planned to launch two rockets with internet satellite payloads this morning from sites in Florida and California. The California launch was postponed after the first stage from the Florida launch broke apart on landing on a SpaceX droneship several hundred miles northeast of the Cape Canaveral launch site. But the second stage of the […]

SpaceX has pushed back to Wednesday the launch of a private mission that is planned to include the first civilian spacewalk. The Polaris Dawn mission will take four private citizens to a maximum altitude of 870 miles and see two of the crew members exit the Crew Dragon capsule while they’re more than 400 miles […]

As was widely anticipated, NASA has decided it’s too risky to send test pilot astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that took them to the International Space Station in June. Instead, what started as an eight-day shakedown mission for the two veteran astronauts has turned into an […]

As NASA brass debate the future of its crew capsule, Boeing is said to be trying to get out of the space launch business. Reuters is reporting that Boeing and Lockheed Martin, who jointly operate United Launch Alliance, are in talks to sell their rocket business to Sierra Space, a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation, […]

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 […]