Spaceflight Insider

  • Damaged Arecibo Observatory collapses

    Laurel KornfeldDecember 1st   The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, a world-famous 1,000-foot-wide radio telescope through which major discoveries in astronomy and astrophysics were made, collapsed on the morning of Tuesday, December 1, after one of its main cables broke on November 6. That cable’s collapse occurred three months after the telescope’s reflector dish was damaged in August […]

  • Probe finds deep space is not completely dark

    Laurel KornfeldDecember 1st Now more than four billion miles away from Earth, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, acting as a distant space observatory, has found that deep space is not entirely dark.

  • First operational Crew Dragon spacecraft docks to ISS

    Derek RichardsonNovember 17th SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Resilience” and its four-person astronaut occupants arrived at the International Space Station a day after an evening launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

  • SpaceX Successfully launches first operational crewed mission

    Matt HaskellNovember 16th At 7:27 PM EST on November 15, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule containing 4 astronauts lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A in Florida.

  • Arrokoth’s flattened shape could shed light on planetesimal formation process

    Laurel KornfeldNovember 15th The flattened shape of the two lobes that make up Arrokoth, the Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) visited by the New Horizons spacecraft in January 2019, may hold clues to the formation process of planetesimals and even planets.

  • “All Systems Go”: Schedule of Crew-1 launch countdown events

    Sean CostelloNovember 15th Following the confirmation by SpaceX via Twitter, that “All systems are go for tonight’s launch at 7:27 p.m. EST”, SpaceFlight Insider has produced this handy reference of the key countdown events and their approximate times.

  • NASA and SpaceX set to launch first operational Crew Dragon mission

    Matt HaskellNovember 15th Following up on the successful launch and return of NASA Astronauts in May, SpaceX is on the cusp of flying the first certified operational mission of their Crew Dragon capsule.

  • ULA successfully launches NRO-101 mission into evening Florida sky

    Sean CostelloNovember 13th With the tell-tale crackle of three GEM 63 solid rocket boosters, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket leapt from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 pad at 5:32 p.m. EST this evening, carrying a top-secret National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payload skyward.

  • Breakdown of Crew-1 Flight Plan: an inside look

    Cullen DesforgesNovember 13th On Tuesday November 10, teams at SpaceX and NASA completed the final launch readiness review for the first operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

  • ULA set for second launch attempt of classified NRO payload

    Matt HaskellNovember 13th United Launch Alliance is set to re-attempt the launch of their Atlas V rocket and its NROL-101 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on Friday evening. 

  • Crew-1’s dress rehearsal complete; countdown to launch continues

    Sean CostelloNovember 12th With less than 48 hours until the scheduled liftoff of Falcon 9 and NASA’s Crew-1 mission, all systems appear go on Florida’s Space Coast.

  • GPS III-SV04 takes flight atop new Falcon 9 booster, B1062

    Theresa CrossNovember 7th On November 5 at 6:24 p.m. EST, SpaceX successfully launched the fourth in a series of third-generation global positioning satellite, departing from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.

  • Damaged Arecibo Observatory collapses

    Laurel KornfeldDecember 1st   The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, a world-famous 1,000-foot-wide radio telescope through which major discoveries in astronomy and astrophysics were made, collapsed on the morning of Tuesday, December 1, after one of its main cables broke on November 6. That cable’s collapse occurred three months after the telescope’s reflector dish was damaged in August […]

  • First operational Crew Dragon spacecraft docks to ISS

    Derek RichardsonNovember 17th SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Resilience” and its four-person astronaut occupants arrived at the International Space Station a day after an evening launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

  • SpaceX Successfully launches first operational crewed mission

    Matt HaskellNovember 16th At 7:27 PM EST on November 15, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule containing 4 astronauts lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A in Florida.

  • NASA and SpaceX set to launch first operational Crew Dragon mission

    Matt HaskellNovember 15th Following up on the successful launch and return of NASA Astronauts in May, SpaceX is on the cusp of flying the first certified operational mission of their Crew Dragon capsule.

  • ULA successfully launches NRO-101 mission into evening Florida sky

    Sean CostelloNovember 13th With the tell-tale crackle of three GEM 63 solid rocket boosters, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket leapt from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 pad at 5:32 p.m. EST this evening, carrying a top-secret National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payload skyward.

  • Breakdown of Crew-1 Flight Plan: an inside look

    Cullen DesforgesNovember 13th On Tuesday November 10, teams at SpaceX and NASA completed the final launch readiness review for the first operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

  • ULA set for second launch attempt of classified NRO payload

    Matt HaskellNovember 13th United Launch Alliance is set to re-attempt the launch of their Atlas V rocket and its NROL-101 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on Friday evening. 

  • Crew-1’s dress rehearsal complete; countdown to launch continues

    Sean CostelloNovember 12th With less than 48 hours until the scheduled liftoff of Falcon 9 and NASA’s Crew-1 mission, all systems appear go on Florida’s Space Coast.

  • GPS III-SV04 takes flight atop new Falcon 9 booster, B1062

    Theresa CrossNovember 7th On November 5 at 6:24 p.m. EST, SpaceX successfully launched the fourth in a series of third-generation global positioning satellite, departing from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.

  • ULA set to launch classified spy satellite atop Atlas V, featuring first GEM 63 boosters

    Matt HaskellNovember 4th United Launch Alliance is set to launch their Atlas V rocket on Wednesday evening, November 4, launching the highly classified NROL-101 spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral.

  • The ISS marks two decades of continuous human presence

    Derek RichardsonNovember 2nd The International Space Station has just crossed 20 years of continuous human occupation as its unbroken string of expedition crews continue to perform a wide range of scientific research aboard this multinational outpost.

  • Expedition 1 and the early International Space Station

    Derek RichardsonNovember 1st Two decades ago, Expedition 1 arrived at the International Space Station to begin an unbroken chain of expeditions to inhabit this outpost.

  • SpaceX marks their 100th successful flight during Starlink launch

    Matt HaskellOctober 24th On Saturday Oct 24, A SpaceX Falcon 9 took to the stars from Cape Canaveral with another batch of Starlink satellites, marking the company’s 100th successful launch. 

  • SLS Mobile Launcher moves to launch pad for final tests

    Theresa CrossOctober 23rd On October 20, 2020, the Mobile Launcher (ML) for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket rolled to Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39B for the first time since December 2019.

  • ISS Expedition 63 crew returns home safely

    Cullen DesforgesOctober 22nd On October 21, 2020, the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft carrying the Expedition 63 crew members departed the International Space Station, successfully returning NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, and Russian Cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner back to planet Earth at a landing site in Kazakhstan.

  • GHGSat releases PULSE, an online tool to visualize worldwide methane gas concentration

    Sean CostelloOctober 21st Accessible at no-cost for public and community use, GHGSat’s newly released PULSE project brings methane gas concentration data within reach of anyone seeking to explore their interactive, online worldwide map. In this screenshot taken by the author during a tour of the PULSE platform, Dr. Sarah Gallagher with the Canadian Space Agency is explaining how […]

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