Spaceflight Insider

  • Pluto’s subsurface ocean may date back to planet’s formation

    Laurel KornfeldJune 29th Scientists who recently studied the detailed images of Pluto’s surface returned by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015 have found evidence that the dwarf planet’s subsurface ocean may have been around since Pluto’s formation over four billion years ago.

  • Perseverance mission scientist outlines rover’s instruments, mission

    Laurel KornfeldJune 23rd One month before the scheduled launch of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, Roger Wiens, who serves as both principal investigator of its SuperCam laser instrument and as co-investigator of its SHERLOC team, discussed the mission’s science instruments and its purpose in a virtual webinar presented by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI).

  • Locked and Loaded: Artemis I’s muscle delivered to KSC

    SpaceFlight InsiderJune 16th NASA, still riding high on regaining the ability to launch astronauts to low-Earth-orbit is now preparing to turn the dial up to eleven. LEO is nice and all - but flying to the Moon is way better. The agency is pulling this pieces to achieve just that.

  • NASA TAPS ASTROBOTIC TO DELIVER VIPER ROVER TO THE MOON

    Michael ColeJune 16th NASA awarded a nearly $200 million contract Thursday to Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, to deliver NASA’s VIPER rover to a destination at the moon’s south pole in 2023.

  • New Horizons parallax experiment observes an alien sky

    Laurel KornfeldJune 14th NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, now over 4.3 billion miles (6.9 billion km) from Earth, successfully imaged two nearby stars displaced from the locations in the sky where they are seen from Earth in its April stellar parallax experiment.

  • 3 SkySat, 58 Starlink satellites fly during first SpaceX Rideshare launch

    Cullen DesforgesJune 13th At 5:21 a.m. EDT, SpaceX’s ninth set of Starlink satellites departed Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, flying with three SkySat satellites, part of the company’s first commercial ride share arrangement.

  • OPINION: A booster return like no other

    Matt HaskellJune 10th For many residents on the space coast, seeing a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster being returned to the Cape on the company’s autonomous drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” is a regular occurrence. But this one was special.

  • President Trump delivers remarks after Demo-2 launch

    Michael McCabeJune 6th     President Donald J. Trump gave a speech inside of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building after the successful launch of astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

  • First Starlink VisorSat takes flight aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

    Sean CostelloJune 3rd On Wednesday June 3, SpaceX successfully launched its eighth batch of Starlink satellites, lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at 9:25 p.m. EDT, 1:25 UTC on June 4.

  • Demo-2’s Falcon 9 Booster 1058.1 arrives in Port

    Sean CostelloJune 2nd Less than 72 hours after lofting the Crew Dragon carrying Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken on the historic Demo-2 journey to the International Space Station, the Falcon 9 first stage booster 1058.1 has arrived in Port Canaveral.

  • SOFIA data sheds new light on endurance of Pluto’s atmosphere

    Laurel KornfeldJune 1st Data captured by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), an airborne observatory that studied Pluto’s atmospheric hazes just two weeks before New Horizons‘ 2015 flyby, indicates the hazes in Pluto’s atmosphere are regularly replenished.

  • Crew Dragon Endeavour docks with International Space Station

    Derek RichardsonMay 31st Less than 19 hours after soaring into orbit from Florida, SpaceX’s Demo-2 Crew Dragon mission with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken has reached the International Space Station.

  • Perseverance mission scientist outlines rover’s instruments, mission

    Laurel KornfeldJune 23rd One month before the scheduled launch of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, Roger Wiens, who serves as both principal investigator of its SuperCam laser instrument and as co-investigator of its SHERLOC team, discussed the mission’s science instruments and its purpose in a virtual webinar presented by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI).

  • Locked and Loaded: Artemis I’s muscle delivered to KSC

    SpaceFlight InsiderJune 16th NASA, still riding high on regaining the ability to launch astronauts to low-Earth-orbit is now preparing to turn the dial up to eleven. LEO is nice and all - but flying to the Moon is way better. The agency is pulling this pieces to achieve just that.

  • NASA TAPS ASTROBOTIC TO DELIVER VIPER ROVER TO THE MOON

    Michael ColeJune 16th NASA awarded a nearly $200 million contract Thursday to Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, to deliver NASA’s VIPER rover to a destination at the moon’s south pole in 2023.

  • 3 SkySat, 58 Starlink satellites fly during first SpaceX Rideshare launch

    Cullen DesforgesJune 13th At 5:21 a.m. EDT, SpaceX’s ninth set of Starlink satellites departed Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, flying with three SkySat satellites, part of the company’s first commercial ride share arrangement.

  • OPINION: A booster return like no other

    Matt HaskellJune 10th For many residents on the space coast, seeing a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster being returned to the Cape on the company’s autonomous drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” is a regular occurrence. But this one was special.

  • First Starlink VisorSat takes flight aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

    Sean CostelloJune 3rd On Wednesday June 3, SpaceX successfully launched its eighth batch of Starlink satellites, lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at 9:25 p.m. EDT, 1:25 UTC on June 4.

  • Demo-2’s Falcon 9 Booster 1058.1 arrives in Port

    Sean CostelloJune 2nd Less than 72 hours after lofting the Crew Dragon carrying Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken on the historic Demo-2 journey to the International Space Station, the Falcon 9 first stage booster 1058.1 has arrived in Port Canaveral.

  • Crew Dragon Endeavour docks with International Space Station

    Derek RichardsonMay 31st Less than 19 hours after soaring into orbit from Florida, SpaceX’s Demo-2 Crew Dragon mission with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken has reached the International Space Station.

  • Historic Launch Day for SpaceX, NASA: Demo-2 In Images

    Sean CostelloMay 30th For a day which began with a forecast offering 50% odds of violating launch weather rules, it seemed to proceed fairly well.

  • The drought is over: NASA and SpaceX successfully launch Demo-2

    Cullen DesforgesMay 30th History has been made and an almost nine-year drought has ended. SpaceX has successfully launched its first crewed mission, marking the beginning of a new era in human spaceflight. The SpaceX Crew Dragon is now officially on her way to the International Space Station for the first time with humans on board.

  • Demo-2 Launch Day: Countdown time schedule

    Sean CostelloMay 30th The launch countdown timeline schedule is out for SpaceX Demo-2 launch attempt day #2, and SpaceFlight Insider correspondents are onsite at the Kennedy Space Center LC39 Press Site, on the river’s edge in Titusville and just south in Port Canaveral; Falcon 9 is vertical on the pad and all eyes are now on the weather.

  • Scrub! Historic Demo-2 mission delayed due to weather

    Cullen DesforgesMay 27th NASA’s historic Demo-2 mission has been scrubbed due to weather over the launch site and off the Florida coast. The next attempt is set to occur on Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 pm local time.

  • CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen speaks on Crew Dragon, Demo-2

    Sean CostelloMay 27th On the morning of SpaceX’s scheduled Demo-2 launch, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen shared his thoughts about the final test flight of Crew Dragon, and what it means to him.

  • Demo-2 Launch Readiness Review complete, weather systems presenting as a ‘strange brew’

    Cullen DesforgesMay 25th   NASA and SpaceX today completed the Launch Readiness Review for Demo-2, the next step in marching towards a May 27, 2020 planned launch date.

  • Virgin Orbit set to perform first test launch

    Matt HaskellMay 23rd Virgin Orbit has released that they are finally ready to let their rocket fly for the first time, targeting Sunday morning at 10 AM PST from a location off the coast of Southern California.

  • US Space Force prepares for astronaut rescue missions

    Matt HaskellMay 22nd The 45th Operational Group, Detachment 3 stands ready to rescue Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley in the event their missions ends in an unexpected abort.

    The Range

  • Pluto’s subsurface ocean may date back to planet’s formation

    June 29th
    Scientists who recently studied the detailed images of Pluto’s surface returned by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015 have found evidence that the dwarf planet’s subsurface ocean may have been around since Pluto’s formation over four billion years ago.

  • New Horizons parallax experiment observes an alien sky

    June 14th
    NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, now over 4.3 billion miles (6.9 billion km) from Earth, successfully imaged two nearby stars displaced from the locations in the sky where they are seen from Earth in its April stellar parallax experiment.

  • President Trump delivers remarks after Demo-2 launch

    June 6th
        President Donald J. Trump gave a speech inside of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building after the successful launch of astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

  • SOFIA data sheds new light on endurance of Pluto’s atmosphere

    June 1st
    Data captured by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), an airborne observatory that studied Pluto’s atmospheric hazes just two weeks before New Horizons‘ 2015 flyby, indicates the hazes in Pluto’s atmosphere are regularly replenished.

  • NASA researcher provides overview of science on the ISS

    May 29th
    Research conducted on board the International Space Station (ISS) encompasses numerous science fields, such as biology and biotechnology, human research, the physical sciences, technological demonstrations, Earth and space science, and public education, noted Brandon Redell of NASA’s ISS Integration Office at the Johnson Space Center.

  • Weather not favoring backup Demo-2 launch dates

    May 28th
    Yesterday’s attempt to launch NASA’s and SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station was plagued by weather issues that ultimately caused the attempt to be scrubbed. There remains the potential for weather complicate Saturday’s and Sunday’s launch attempts.

  • Meet Crew Dragon: narrated tour of design features, design history

    May 26th
    Crew Dragon capsule, about to fly atop a Falcon 9 as part of the Demo-2 mission with two humans aboard, is a great advance in the field of spacecraft design.

  • SpaceX to test sun visors on Starlink satellites

    May 19th
    SpaceX will test sun visors on one of their Starlink satellites on their next launch, currently planned for early June.

  • Astronaut Douglas Hurley to serve as Demo-2 spacecraft commander

    May 8th
      NASA astronaut Douglas Gerald Hurley flew on the last crewed mission to launch from American soil 11 years ago, and fittingly, will serve as spacecraft commander of Crew Dragon Demo-2, the first crewed flight to resume launches from the US.

  • James Webb Space Telescope to unlock wonders of the Universe.

    May 8th
    The James Webb Space Telescope will work to further uncover the mysteries of the Universe after it launches in 2021 from the Guiana Space Center aboard an Ariane 5 rocket

  • Astronaut Bob Behnken will be one of two-person crew on Crew Dragon Demo-2 launch

    May 6th
    When NASA’s Crew Dragon Demo-2 launches astronauts from American soil for the first time since 2011, astronaut Robert L. “Bob” Behnken will ride on the spacecraft as the mission’s joint operations commander.

  • SpaceX completes final testing milestone before first crewed launch

    May 3rd
    SpaceX successfully completed its 27th test of the Mark 3 Parachute for the Crew Dragon capsule, fulfilling the final testing requirement for NASA certification and review of the parachute system. The test comes following several successful milestones, including January’s in flight Abort test.

  • Booster B1051 in port following Starlink-6 flight

    April 26th
    Booster B1051.4 returned to Port Canaveral on April 26, sailing into port slightly delayed relative to previous returns but looking good on the deck of the autonomous drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY).

  • 30 years since the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope

    April 24th
    Thirty years ago today, the Hubble Space Telescope took to the skies aboard STS-31 and Space Shuttle Discovery.

  • New Horizons conducts parallax experiment; team searches for KBOs

    April 24th
    More than five billion miles from Earth and over 14 years past launch, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is conducting an experiment measuring the distance to two nearby stars while mission scientists are using Earth-based telescopes to search for new Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) for the spacecraft to study.

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