News Archive / Missions

• NASA broadcast celebrates Spitzer telescope’s accomplishments

  Laurel KornfeldJanuary 24th, 2020

  In a live broadcast on Wednesday, January 22, NASA celebrated 16 years of incredible accomplishments by the Spitzer Space Telescope, one of its four "Great Observatories" in space.

• Spitzer telescope to be decommissioned after 16 years

  Laurel KornfeldJanuary 20th, 2020

  NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which has studied the universe in infrared light since its launch in August of 2003, will be decommissioned on Thursday, January 30, 2020.

• SpaceX, NASA monitoring weather ahead of in-flight abort test.

  Sean CostelloJanuary 19th, 2020

  CAPE CANAVERAL. Fla. — As the sun rises and the shorelines of the Space Coast communities fill with eager spectators, SpaceX and NASA engineers have their attention focused on the early Sunday morning weather systems.

• CRS-19 Dragon wet and waiting for next mission

  Cullen DesforgesJanuary 7th, 2020

  After spending nearly a month berthed to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule left the Station and splashed down marking the successful completion of its mission.

• OFT: What went wrong?

  Jim SiegelDecember 21st, 2019

  NASA and Boeing don't seem to know what exactly prevented the OFT Starliner from completing its primary mission objective.

• Boeing’s Starliner capsule begins much-delayed first flight: UPDATE

  Cullen DesforgesDecember 20th, 2019

  CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – After almost a year of continued delays, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner has finally launched. It is the culmination of years of development, but there’s still a ways to go before astronauts will be soaring aloft in the vehicle.

• Launch of JCSAT-18 / Kacific-1 furthers SpaceX’s reusability program

  SpaceFlight InsiderDecember 18th, 2019

  SpaceX's domination of the launch services market continues with Monday's launch of a Boeing-built satellite for SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. and Kacific Broadband Satellites.

• New Horizons science instrument detects slowing of solar wind

  Laurel KornfeldDecember 12th, 2019

  NASA's New Horizons mission has caught 'wind' of the ragged edges of our Solar System.

• NASA completes SLS core stage in preparation for Artemis 1 mission

  Curt GodwinDecember 10th, 2019

  Boeing completes milestone in 15-year-long effort to reignite crewed deep space missions.

• This Bud’s for you! SpaceX sends ‘King of Beers’ to orbit on CRS-19

  Jim SiegelDecember 5th, 2019

  Propellant? Check. Science experiments? Check. Hardware? Check. Budweiser? Checkity-check!

• Two centaur missions proposed to NASA’s Discovery program

  Laurel KornfeldNovember 22nd, 2019

  NASA is considering two Discovery Program missions that would head to the deepest regions of our solar system to study far flung bodies that reside there.

• Virgin Galactic begins Astronaut Readiness Program

  Cullen DesforgesNovember 21st, 2019

  The commercial space industry is one step closer toward achieving its goal of sending paying customers to suborbit.

• New Horizons’ second target is formally named Arrokoth

  Laurel KornfeldNovember 15th, 2019

  The double-lobed Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) located one billion miles beyond Pluto and visited by the New Horizons spacecraft on January 1, 2019, has been officially named Arrokoth, which means sky in the Native American Powhatan/Algonquian language.

• Boeing completes test of hyper-critical pad abort system

  Jim SiegelNovember 4th, 2019

  With SpaceX steamrolling ahead toward achieving the goal of sending U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station, Boeing took a step of its own today toward accomplishing the same feat.

• NASA funds study of possible Pluto orbiter

  Laurel KornfeldNovember 4th, 2019

  There's no doubt that NASA's New Horizons mission crushed it. This has emboldened the space agency to take their exploration of the far reaches of our solar system to the next level.

• Critical tests for Boeing and SpaceX’s crewed efforts slated for next week

  Jason RhianNovember 1st, 2019

  If things go according to plan next week, NASA, Boeing and SpaceX will check key systems that are required to keep astronauts safe on their way to orbit. If these last checks can be completed, the agency could finally regain a capability it lost almost a decade ago.

• New Horizons team releases images of Pluto’s far side

  Laurel KornfeldOctober 30th, 2019

  More than four years after New Horizons' historic July 2015 Pluto flyby, mission scientists have released detailed images of Pluto's far side, which the spacecraft was able to image only in low resolution on approach and following departure.

• U.S. Air Force’s secretive X-37B shuttle returns under cover of night

  Cullen DesforgesOctober 28th, 2019

  MERRITT ISLAND, FL – After a record-breaking 780 days on orbit the United States Air Force’s secretive space plane, the X-37B, touched down on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 27, 2019.

• NASA to send VIPER to prowl Moon’s South Pole

  Jason RhianOctober 28th, 2019

  If humanity is going to establish a long-term presence on the Moon, it's going to need water. This precious substance can be found on the lunar surface and a newly-announced robotic explorer is being readied to seek out significant concentrations of ice. If all goes according to plan, this mission marka critical first step for planned crewed missions.

• Passengers on upcoming VG flights will get pins for spiffy new uniforms

  Jason RhianOctober 27th, 2019

  When Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo takes to the skies with paying customers, those flying onboard the will be awarded pins by the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) upon their return. This, however, will not be the apparel that will mark their voyage. Recent events suggest that Virgin Galactic is about to open its operational doors.