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SpaceX Launches CRS-15 Dragon Into Stunning Twilight to Space Station

A flight-proven SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule loft the CRS-15 resupply mission into a morning twilight from Cape Canaveral, FL June 29, 2018. Photo: Alan Walters / AmericaSpace

Laden with approximately 3,775 pounds (1,712 kg) of payloads and supplies for the incumbent Expedition 56 crew of the International Space Station (ISS), SpaceX’s CRS-15 Dragon cargo ship has successfully…

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Complexity, Human Errors & Other Factors Delay Webb Telescope Launch Again, Now to 2021

Engineers conducting a white light inspection of the James Webb Space Telescope’s large mirror. Photo Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

The most sophisticated and ambitious space-based observatory ever conceived by the human mind, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), will not be ready to launch until AT LEAST Spring of 2021, according to a report this week by an Independent Review Board (IRB)…

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Spectacular View Expected for SpaceX's CRS-15 Cargo Run to ISS Friday Morning

Spectacular View Expected for SpaceX’s CRS-15 Cargo Run to ISS Friday Morning

This weekend will see the 15th visit of a Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS). Photo Credit: NASA

A major science instrument to monitor the temperatures and water requirements of plants and a new Latching End Effector (LEE) will be among 3,775 pounds (1,712 kg) of payloads and supplies heading uphill to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, 29 June. Liftoff of…

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'They Didn't Have a Clue': Remembering Endeavour's STS-57 Mission, A Quarter-Century On

‘They Didn’t Have a Clue’: Remembering Endeavour’s STS-57 Mission, A Quarter-Century On

With the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm deftly operated by Nancy Sherlock, astronauts David Low and Jeff Wisoff are maneuvered around Endeavour’s payload bay. The Spacehab module is clearly visible in the foreground. Photo Credit: NASA

June has always been a significant month in the annals of women in space. In June 1963, the first female cosmonaut—Soviet factory worker Valentina Tereshkova—…

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Ride, Sally Ride: 35 Years Since America's First Woman in Space

Ride, Sally Ride: 35 Years Since America’s First Woman in Space

Sally Ride on Challenger’s flight deck during STS-7. Her mission opened the door for U.S. women to venture into orbit. Photo Credit: NASA

Thirty-five years ago, this week, America launched its first woman into space. Physicist Dr. Sally Ride rocketed into orbit aboard shuttle Challenger—accompanied by fellow STS-7 astronauts Bob Crippen, Rick Hauck, John Fabian and Norm Thagard—and became the…

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NASA Hopeful Opportunity Rover Will Survive Raging Dust Storm on Mars

Series of images showing the gradually darkening skies at Opportunity’s location. The current darkest view is on the right side. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU

If you felt a bit apprehensive about this morning’s media teleconference from NASA, you’re not the only one. The very long-lived Opportunity is facing its most dire predicament yet – a raging dust stormthat has virtually turned day…

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'Why I Wasn't Devastated': Remembering the Final Shuttle-Mir Mission, 20 Years On

‘Why I Wasn’t Devastated’: Remembering the Final Shuttle-Mir Mission, 20 Years On

STS-91 marked the ninth and final docking mission between the shuttle and Russia’s Mir space station. Photo Credit: NASA

Twenty years ago, this week, shuttle Discovery pulled away from Russia’s Mir space station for the final time, closing out a group of impressive rendezvous and docking missions which had cemented a new partnership between two old rivals and had laid much of the groundwork for…

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Juno Gets Science Mission Extension and Solves Electrifying Mystery on Jupiter

This image is a combination of a JunoCam image with artist’s conception of lightning distribution in Juno’s northern hemisphere. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/JunoCam

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has shown Jupiter in ways never seen before, not only sending back incredibly detailed images of the beautifully turbulent atmosphere, but also new data on what the giant planet is really like on the…

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Curiosity Rover Makes Intriguing New Discoveries About Martian Organics and Methane

“Self-portrait” of the Curiosity rover on Vera Rubin Ridge. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Is there or has there ever been life on Mars? We still don’t know the answer for sure, but two new findingsannounced this morning by NASA during a live discussion provide more tantalizing clues. The new results come from the Curiosity rover in Gale crater, and build on previous data collected by the…

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Soyuz MS-09 Launches U.S., Russian, German Spacefarers to Space Station

Soyuz MS-09 launches from Site 1/5 at Baikonur at 5:12 p.m. local time (7:12 a.m. EDT) Wednesday, 6 June, bound for a two-day pursuit of the International Space Station (ISS). Photo Credit: Roscosmos/Twitter

Three spacefarers from three nations—including a former Russian Air Force strategic bomber pilot, the second European commander of the International Space Station (ISS) and a Cuban-American…

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Ceres Up-Close: Dawn Prepares for Lowest (and Last) Science Orbit Around Dwarf Planet

Recent new image of Ceres from Dawn, one of the first sent back in over a year. Image was taken on May 16, 2018 from an altitude of about 270 miles (440 kilometers). Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

NASA is about to get its closest-ever look at the dwarf planet Ceres – a world which has already amazed planetary scientists with its intriguing geology including numerous bright spots…

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SpaceX Successfully Launches Powerful SES-12 Communications Satellite to Geostationary Orbit

Boasting an flight-proven Block 4 first stage and a new Block 5 second stage, SpaceX’s Upgraded Falcon 9 roars into the night at 12:45 a.m. EDT Monday, 4 June. Photo Credit: John Studwell/AmericaSpace

After several days of weather-related delay, SpaceX’s long-running partnership with Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES bore fruit in the small hours of Monday, 4 June, with the launch to…

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The Saddest Moment: Remembering America's First Spacewalk, On This Day in 1965

The Saddest Moment: Remembering America’s First Spacewalk, On This Day in 1965

Clasping the cold-gas maneuvering gun in his right hand, and trailed by a snake-like tether, Ed White tumbles over a cloud-speckled Earth during the United States’ first EVA. Photo Credit: NASA

On this day, 3 June, way back in 1965, the United States took a huge step forward in its drive to land a man on the Moon. Aboard Gemini IV, astronauts Jim McDivitt and Ed White spent four days in…

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No U.S. Crew Will Command The International Space Station in 2019

Drew Feustel will be the 21st U.S. citizen to command the International Space Station (ISS). After the completion of his tenure, no U.S. astronaut is slated to command the station throughout 2019. Photo Credit: NASA

When Expedition 56 astronaut Drew Feustel relinquishes the helm of the International Space Station (ISS) to Germany’s Alexander Gerst, early in October, an unprecedented period of…

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Don Peterson, First Shuttle Spacewalker, Dies Aged 84

Don Peterson (right) eats and confers with Commander Paul “P.J.” Weitz during STS-6. Weitz died last year. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

Veteran astronaut Don Peterson, who flew aboard STS-6, the maiden voyage of orbiter Challenger, performed the first-ever spacewalk from the shuttle airlock and might—had the hands of fate turned differently—have launched to the Air…

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'Tally-Ho the Skylab': The Mission to Save America's Space Station, 45 Years On

‘Tally-Ho the Skylab’: The Mission to Save America’s Space Station, 45 Years On

The multiple docking adaptor and Apollo Telescope Mount (top left) of Skylab, viewed from the crew of the first visiting mission. Photo Credit: NASA

Four decades have now passed since one of the most dramatic reversals in fortune in American space history: the salvation of Skylab. On 14 May 1973, America’s first space station was launched into orbit atop the final Saturn V booster, but an…

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Moonwalker, Skylab Commander and Lunar Artist Alan Bean Dies, Aged 86

At 2013’s Skylab 40th anniversary event, astronaut Alan Bean (with microphone) talks to crewmate Jack Lousma, flanked by fellow astronauts. Photo Credit: Emily Carney

Alan Bean, the fourth man to set foot on the lunar surface—and the second Moonwalker to pass in 2018—has died, aged 86, after several days on life support after suffering a stroke. With his passing, the world has now lost eight of…

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