News Archive / Missions

• Progress MS-12 makes fast-track flight to ISS

  Derek RichardsonJuly 31st, 2019

  Two orbits after launching from Kazakhstan, Russia’s Progress MS-12 cargo spacecraft rendezvoused and docked with the International Space Station.

• I have the power! Mars 2020 rover completes critical milestone

  Laurel KornfeldJuly 29th, 2019

  With just one year to go before the Mars 2020 rover's scheduled launch, work is commencing on the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) that will serve as the rover's power source.

• CRS-18 Dragon arrives at ISS with new docking adapter

  Derek RichardsonJuly 27th, 2019

  Days after threading the needle with weather to launch, SpaceX’s CRS-18 Dragon spacecraft rendezvoused and berthed with the International Space Station.

• Conference keeps focus on Pluto following New Horizons flyby

  Laurel KornfeldJuly 23rd, 2019

  LAUREL, MD. -- A four-day science conference organized by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), Universities Space Research Association (USRA), and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) held July 14-18 focused on findings obtained by the New Horizons spacecraft as it flew by the Pluto system in 2015 and Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule in 2019.

• OneWeb and Airbus open facility for mass production of communication satellites

  Laurel KornfeldJuly 23rd, 2019

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- OneWeb Satellites, a joint-venture company started by OneWeb and Airbus in 2016, has opened the first facility that will mass produce communication satellites, with the goal of providing broadband Internet access worldwide.

• ISRO joins exclusive club with launch of Chandrayaan-2 mission

  Jason RhianJuly 22nd, 2019

  A GSLV Mk III rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SLP today, carrying the Chandrayaan-2. It places the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) into the 'big leagues' of space flight organizations.

• From Lunar to LEO, MS-13 trio blasts off toward ISS

  Jason RhianJuly 20th, 2019

  Fifty years is a long time. In the past half-century NASA has gone from launching men to the Moon to being dependent on the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, for access to low-Earth orbit. The latest flight under the agreement took place 50 years to the day NASA achieved what was once believed to be impossible.

• MRO captures photo of Curiosity rover from Martian orbit

  Laurel KornfeldJuly 13th, 2019

  NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured an image of the Curiosity rover in a photo of Mount Sharp's Woodland Bay region taken from orbit on May 31, 2019.

• New technique can spot failing bridges from orbit

  Jim SharkeyJuly 13th, 2019

  Bridges are a critical but vulnerable component of transportation infrastructure. Age, structural damage or design flaws can result in a bridge collapse. A group of researchers, led by  Pietro Milillo, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), have developed a new technique to examine bridges for sign of decay using satellite data. The team's study was recently published in the journal Remote Se...

• NASA officials at Glenn Symposium address recent leadership overhaul

  Michael ColeJuly 12th, 2019

  CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The reassignment of long-time NASA Associate Administrator for Human Explorations and Operations, Bill Gerstenmaier, came as a shock to most everyone in the space flight community. Such was made clear at the Glenn Symposium which was held July 10-12.

• Report: Major shakeup at NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate

  Patrick AttwellJuly 10th, 2019

  NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate has undergone a significant change in leadership. According to a tweet posted by Marcia Smith of Space Policy Online, the changes involved two key personnel either being replaced - or relieved.

• Virgin Galactic merges with Social Capital Hedosophia

  Cullen DesforgesJuly 10th, 2019

  In an unprecedented move for the commercial space flight industry, Virgin Galactic (VG) and Social Capital Hedosophia (SCH) have announced a merger which is expected to become effective once the transaction closes this year.

• Voyager team working to keep 42-year-old probes operational

  Laurel KornfeldJuly 9th, 2019

  To keep NASA’s Voyager probes, launched 42 years ago to study the solar system’s gas giant planets, operational in interstellar space for as long as possible, mission scientists are making tough decisions to propel the spacecraft even further.

• SLS Artemis 1 core stage nearing completion

  Scott JohnsonJuly 7th, 2019

  NEW ORLEANS, La. - The core stage (CS-1) for the first flight (Artemis 1 (formerly Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1)) of NASA's next super-heavy lift launch vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS), is nearing completion at the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans.

• Spitzer and Hubble identify atmospheric composition of “sub-Neptune” exoplanet

  Laurel KornfeldJuly 6th, 2019

  Scientists have identified the atmospheric composition of an exoplanet larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune by studying it with both the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes.

• Orion spacecraft progressing toward Artemis 1 flight

  Michael ColeJuly 4th, 2019

  PLUM BROOK, Ohio -- NASA is making important strides with the Orion spacecraft in preparation for the Artemis 1 mission, the next step in the agency's effort to return humans to the Moon.

• AA-2 test next step in NASA’s long-lived Orion testing program

  Jason RhianJuly 2nd, 2019

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Should NASA's Orion spacecraft encounter a problem when it is used to send astronauts to the Moon one day, the system tasked with keeping them safe has proven it can do so. The test was dubbed - Ascent Abort 2.

• Rocket Lab’s Electron launches seven small satellites from New Zealand

  Laurel KornfeldJune 29th, 2019

  Rocket Lab, a private American company that manufactures and launches small satellites, put seven satellites via its Electron vehicle during a launch from New Zealand.

• Forget Mars, NASA considering sending a helicopter to one of Saturn’s moons

  Laurel KornfeldJune 29th, 2019

  NASA announced plans to send a flying rotorcraft to Saturn's moon Titan to study its surface and atmosphere for signs of past and possibly present forms of microbial life.

• Is Mars undergoing Global Warming? Data from Curiosity suggests it might be

  Laurel KornfeldJune 28th, 2019

  Using its Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) tunable laser spectrometer, NASA's Curiosity rover has detected the highest concentration of methane  ever found in the Martian atmosphere, in the Teal Ridge region of Gale Crater.