News Archive / Missions
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Astronauts install new batteries outside the International Space Station
Derek RichardsonMarch 23rd, 2019Two NASA astronauts ventured outside the 20-year-old International Space Station to replace aging nickel-hydrogen batteries with fresh lithium-ion units.
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First flight of Boeing Starliner spacecraft could slip again
Jason RhianMarch 21st, 2019KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- It is being reported that Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, which is being producing as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), has encountered another delay. If accurate, this latest delay could see the mission pushed back by almost half a year.
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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx discovers surprises on asteroid Bennu
Jim SharkeyMarch 20th, 2019NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has taken images of asteroid Bennu that show particle plumes erupting from a surface more rugged than previously expected.
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Scientists speculate about the origins of Ultima Thule’s surface features
Laurel KornfeldMarch 20th, 2019The first primordial contact binary object ever studied up close, Ultima Thule continues to puzzle scientists with its strange shape.
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With Crew Dragon’s first flight complete, where’s Boeing’s Starliner?
Jason RhianMarch 19th, 2019In a video promoting Boeing's Starliner spacecraft the words "Your Ride Is Here" are prominently-placed. The statement suggests Starliner is prepped and ready to send crews to the ISS - but is it?
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Soyuz MS-12 trio launches toward ISS, joins Expedition 59 crew
Michael ColeMarch 14th, 2019Cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch launched in their Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft to travel to the ISS for a six-month stay.
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Opportunity rover captured beautiful panoramic images before being felled by dust storm
Laurel KornfeldMarch 14th, 2019Before a planet-wide dust storm silenced it forever, NASA's Opportunity Mars rover captured panoramic images from its location in Endeavour Crater.
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Crew of aborted Soyuz launch ready to fly again on Soyuz MS-12
Michael ColeMarch 12th, 2019NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin are about to get a second chance to fly to the International Space Station.
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New 3D images show detailed view of Ultima Thule
Laurel KornfeldMarch 9th, 2019Scientists on NASA's New Horizons team have created a 3D image of Ultima Thule by combining pictures of the object taken from a variety of angles.
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Historic Crew Dragon flight concludes with Atlantic splashdown
Derek RichardsonMarch 8th, 2019The Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission came to an end with a successful splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean not far from where its journey began six days ago.
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Weak, localized magnetic fields cause variations in lunar surface brightness
Laurel KornfeldMarch 8th, 2019The Moon has small, localized magnetic fields that deflect solar wind, producing patterns of light and dark swirls on the lunar surface.
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Rock and a hard place: InSight experiment encounters setback
Jim SharkeyMarch 7th, 2019Even successful robotic missions can encounter obstacles. This appears to be the case with NASA's Mars InSight lander and its self-hammering "mole."
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Beresheet lunar lander takes selfie on trek to Moon
Derek RichardsonMarch 6th, 2019The privately-developed Israeli lunar lander named Beresheet that launched last month atop a Falcon 9 rocket for a voyage to the Moon has taken a selfie.
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Collision likely factor in creation of tiny Neptunian moon
Michael McCabeMarch 6th, 2019A moon orbiting Neptune that was discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope in 2013 finally has an origin theory, according to NASA.
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ISS astronauts assemble tools for robotic refueling demo
Derek RichardsonMarch 5th, 2019If humans are ever to settle the Solar System sustainably, a number of technologies will need to be perfected, including in-space refueling.
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Hubble Space Telescope encounters another camera problem
Derek RichardsonMarch 4th, 2019Just six weeks after recovering from an anomaly with one camera, an error was detected in another camera aboard NASA’s 29-year-old Hubble Space Telescope.
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‘New era in spaceflight’: Crew Dragon docks with space station
Derek RichardsonMarch 3rd, 2019For the first time since the end of the Space Shuttle program, a U.S. spacecraft designed to fly humans has docked with the International Space Station.
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New Horizons data indicates small Kuiper Belt Objects are rare
Laurel KornfeldMarch 3rd, 2019The relatively small number of craters NASA's New Horizons spacecraft found on Pluto's moon Charon indicates very small objects are rare in the Kuiper Belt.
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Scientists studying role galactic collisions have in star formation
Laurel KornfeldMarch 2nd, 2019Scientists working on a survey over the last 10 years are trying to understand why some galactic mergers trigger star formation while others shut it down.
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Papers present evidence for super Earth in the outer solar system
Laurel KornfeldMarch 1st, 2019Two new academic papers present new evidence that a large, as yet undiscovered planet is lurking in the outer solar system.
