Tag: NASA

LIVE: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 Astronauts Speak About Successful Mission

HOUSTON, TX – NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi speak to the media after their successful SpaceX Crew-1 mission.


NASA’s Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Shifts Into New Operational Test Phase

LOS ANGELES—After exceeding all expectations with its initial four test flights, the first ever by an aircraft over the surface of another planet, NASA’s tiny Mars robot helicopter Ingenuity is ready for graduation. The U.S. space agency announced on Friday that Ingenuity is shifting from a pure proof-of-concept, technology demonstration mode to a more ambitious…


SpaceX Making 1st US Crew Splashdown in Dark Since Apollo 8

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—SpaceX this weekend will attempt the first U.S. splashdown of returning astronauts in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot in 1968. Elon Musk’s company is targeting the predawn hours of Sunday to bring back three NASA astronauts and one from Japan, after dangerously high wind scuttled a pair of earlier attempts. The astronauts—only…


SpaceX Rocketship Launches 4 Astronauts on NASA Mission to Space Station

NASA and Elon Musk’s commercial rocket company SpaceX launched a new four-astronaut team on a flight to the International Space Station on Friday, the first crew ever propelled into orbit by a rocket booster recycled from a previous spaceflight. The company’s Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour, also making its second flight, streaked into the darkened pre-dawn…


SpaceX Aims for 3rd Crew Launch Hour Before Friday’s Sunrise

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—SpaceX aimed to launch its third crew a little before sunrise Friday, this time using a recycled capsule and rocket. The four astronauts, representing the United States, Japan, and France, were supposed to fly to the International Space Station on Thursday. But liftoff was delayed because of poor weather offshore. SpaceX’s Dragon capsule…


Astronauts Flying Reused SpaceX Rocket, Capsule for 1st Time

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—For the first time, NASA is putting its trust in a recycled SpaceX rocket and capsule for a crew. Astronaut Megan McArthur takes special pleasure in the reused spacecraft set to soar Thursday morning. In “a fun twist,” she’ll sit in the same seat in the same capsule as her husband, Bob Behnken, did…


NASA Scores Wright Brothers Moment With First Helicopter Flight on Mars

LOS ANGELES—NASA’s miniature robot helicopter Ingenuity performed a successful takeoff and landing on Mars early on Monday, achieving the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft over the surface of another planet, the U.S. space agency said. The twin-rotor whirligig’s debut on the Red Planet marked a 21st-century Wright Brothers moment for NASA, which said…


American, 2 Russians Return to Earth From Space Station

MOSCOW—An American astronaut and two Russians have returned to Earth after six months aboard the International Space Station. A Soyuz space capsule carrying NASA’s Kate Rubins and Russians Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov landed at 0455 GMT (12:55 a.m. EDT) Saturday in the steppes of Kazakhstan. Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos,…


Biden Picks Former Senator Nelson as NASA Chief: White House

WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden has tapped former U.S. senator and astronaut Bill Nelson to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the White House said in a statement on Friday. Nelson, a Democrat from Florida—home to NASA’s Kennedy Space Station in Cape Canaveral—must secure Senate approval to be confirmed in the post. Nelson has long held…


NASA to Test Rocket Engines That Could Eventually Send Humans to the Moon

NASA on Thursday will ignite the engines on a rocket that Boeing built to eventually launch Artemis missions to the moon after a previous test in January was cut short. NASA plans to conduct the engine test during a two-hour window that starts at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) at its Stennis Space Center in…