Spaceflight Insider

  • AMOS-17 flight atop SpaceX Falcon 9 delayed indefinitely

    Jason RhianAugust 4th CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The flight of Spacecom's AMOS-17 telecommunications satellite has been postponed indefinitely according to a tweet posted by the Air Force Space Command on Aug. 3. This delay comes shortly after SpaceX, the launch service provider, had announced an issue with the rocket and the need for additional testing.

  • NASA releases report on weather satellite failure

    Laurel KornfeldAugust 2nd A NASA board assigned to investigate the April 2018 failure of an infrared-detecting instrument on board a next-generation weather satellite has released its report. The malfunction has been attributed to a pipe blockage that prevented the flow of needed coolant.

  • Suspect valve delays AMOS-17 launch

    Jason RhianAugust 1st CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- With several tropical disturbances bearing down on the Sunshine State, an issue with the AMOS-17 Falcon 9 has caused the satellite's launch to be delayed.

  • Bridenstine selects new director of Goddard Space Flight Center

    Joe LatrellAugust 1st Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has been assigned a new acting director by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine as the previous head of the Center has opted to move on.

  • Spacecom’s faith in SpaceX remains solid in lead up to AMOS-17 launch

    Jason RhianAugust 1st CAPE CANAVERAL, FLa. -- SpaceX might be based out of California, but the NewSpace company is making its presence known in Florida. An upcoming flight could serve as a renewal of sorts for a relationship with one of the company's clients.

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

    Derek RichardsonJuly 31st Two orbits after launching from Kazakhstan, Russia’s Progress MS-12 cargo spacecraft rendezvoused and docked with the International Space Station.

  • Here’s looking at Euclid: NASA provides crucial parts for ESA dark energy mission

    Jim SharkeyJuly 31st Dark energy and dark matter are two of the biggest mysteries facing modern astronomy. Scheduled to launch in 2022, the European Space Agency's Euclid spacecraft has been designed investigate these invisible phenomena that scientist think make up a majority of our universe. A team of NASA engineers recently delivered crucial components for one on the spacecraft's science instruments.

  • Challenges and triumphs mark TESS’ first year on orbit

    Joe LatrellJuly 30th NASA’S Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) recently celebrated one year of operational status with the discovery of one of the smallest exoplanets found to date. For those working on the project, its discoveries are just a small part of the mission's success.

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

    Laurel KornfeldJuly 29th 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 Days after threading the needle with weather to launch, SpaceX’s CRS-18 Dragon spacecraft rendezvoused and berthed with the International Space Station.

  • Gallery: CRS-18 another check in the ‘Win Box’ for SpaceX

    Derek RichardsonJuly 25th CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with the CRS-18 Dragon on the capsule's third flight to the International Space Station on Thursday, July 25. In many ways it marked a repeat performance for the NewSpace company.

  • CRS-18 Falcon and Dragon brave storms to begin 18th ISS flight

    Cullen DesforgesJuly 25th CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Expedition 60 crew on board the International Space Station can expect to get some fresh supplies, needed hardware and - slime - in the next few days. This odd payload mix was sent on its way thanks to two venerable pieces of space hardware which were brought to bear by the NewSpace titan - SpaceX.

  • Doubters, difficulty and distance – Apollo 11’s LRR experiment

    Jason RhianJuly 18th To hear Moon landing conspiracy theorists tell it, the U.S. never sent men to the Moon during the Apollo Program of the 60s and 70s. A recent SpaceFlight Insider interview about a remote facility suggests otherwise.

  • SpaceX’s ‘Starhopper’ catches fire in recent test

    Cullen DesforgesJuly 17th A test of SpaceX's 'Starhopper' rocket appears to not have gone entirely as planned. Several outlets are reporting that things didn't go as planned.

  • ULA Delta IV with GPS III SV02 launch delayed

    Jason RhianJuly 17th CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The flight of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Medium+ (4,2) rocket tasked with sending the GPS III SV02 satellite to orbit has been delayed.

  • Was Apollo 11 faked? USSR: ‘Nyet’

    Jason RhianJuly 16th Anyone who has ever had a disagreement with anyone else can expect their 'opponent' to paint them as the worst person on the planet and to point out every failure, every falsehood (real or imagined) you've ever had or uttered. In terms of lunar conspiracy theorists this consideration, seems to have eluded them. There were people who would have loved to have proved Apollos 11-17 were faked - a whole nation's worth.

  • SpaceX reveals cause of Crew Dragon explosion

    Jason RhianJuly 15th SpaceX held a test of the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft on April 20, 2019 which ended with an explosion at the NewSpace firm's Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Today, SpaceX released what it believes to have caused the accident during a briefing earlier this afternoon.

  • Proof of Apollo 11 landing hard as ‘rock’

    Joe LatrellJuly 15th JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas -- When asked why they believe the Apollo 11 Moon landings were faked, conspiracy theorists point to the lack of stars in the photos taken by the astronauts, incongruous shadows and other bits of data from that mission. Some evidence that counters their claims isn't so fragile, in fact - it's written in stone.

  • Spektr-RG telescope launched atop Proton-M rocket

    Patrick AttwellJuly 14th The second Proton launch of 2019 took to the skies above the Baikonur Cosmodrome today with the Spektr-RG telescope for the Russian and German space agencies. It marked the start of a mission some 24 years in the making.

  • New technique can spot failing bridges from orbit

    Jim SharkeyJuly 13th 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 Sensing.

  • NASA officials at Glenn Symposium address recent leadership overhaul

    Michael ColeJuly 12th 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.

    The Range

  • VP Pence reinforces lunar convictions at Apollo 11 celebration

    July 21st
    KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Vice President Mike Pence paid a visit to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, July 19 at the center’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building. His appearance came at a time when the agency both remembered past achievements and worked toward restoring along-lost capability.

  • Mars 2020 rover makes ‘pit stop’ at JPL

    July 19th
    The launch window for NASA's Mars 2020 rover opens in just under a year, and engineers at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have been hard at work assembling the vehicle in the clean room of JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. As one might imagine getting a vehicle prepped for such a massive undertaking - is a group effort.

  • Virginia Tech celebrates the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11

    July 17th
    BLACKSBURG, Va. -- “The Real McCoy”, that’s what astronaut Michael Collins wrote on the cover of the Apollo 11 flight plan on display at the "Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11 presentation at Virginia Tech." That is a great way to describe this collection of memorabilia and artifacts. The flight plan, which outlined all aspects of the mission, was just a small part of the presentation however.

  • Private astronauts to be included on Space Mirror Memorial

    July 16th
    There can be little doubt that the age of commercial space flight is here. A recent announcement made by the Astronaut Memorial Foundation has shown that another, more somber, milestone in this new age has been reached.

  • Launch of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 mission delayed

    July 14th
    A prestigious mission the India Space Research Organisation is planning on sending to the Moon did not fly today. What was described as a "technical snag" has placed the mission on hold - with no new launch date announced.

  • MRO captures photo of Curiosity rover from Martian orbit

    July 13th
    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.

  • Anomaly pushes Atlas launch back again

    July 11th
    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- The launch of a ULA Atlas V rocket with the fifth AEHF satellite will have to wait a little longer before its flight.

  • Alan Parsons Live Project set to sing Apollo 11’s praises

    July 11th
    COCOA, Fla. -- With the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing just around the corner, the Alan Parsons Live Project will put on a concert to honor the occasion. SpaceFlight Insider spoke with Parsons to get his take on the mission and how he is working to honor its memory.

  • Falcon Eye 1 spacecraft lost in Vega mishap

    July 10th
    It appears a European Space Agency (ESA) rocket has encountered a failure which has resulted in the loss of the Falcon Eye 1 satellite that it had been tasked with sending to orbit.

  • NASA’s IXPE mission marks another win in SpaceX’s contract column

    July 9th
    KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- SpaceX keeps racking up contractual wins. The most recent to be announced was for a NASA mission, one that serves to demonstrate that the company's 74 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy flights - has not gone unnoticed.

  • Meteoric – Roscosmos launches satellite to observe

    July 5th
    Meteors normally crash to Earth, but the Meteor-M No. 2-2 satellite did the exact opposite when it soared away from Earth and on its way to Sun-synchronous orbit.

  • Mars 2020 rover get rock-zapping SuperCam

    July 4th
    With its scheduled launch date just over a year away, work on NASA's Mars 2020 rover continues apace. In recent weeks, the rover has received MastCam-Z, its legs and wheels and its main robotic arm. and now one of the "big guns" of its scientific suite has been added to the rover.

  • Gallery: Ascent Abort 2 paves way for Artemis lunar program

    July 2nd

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

    June 29th
    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

    June 28th
    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.

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