Reentry and orbital-manufacturing provider Varda Space Industries is operating two spacecraft in orbit right now, with another expected to launch “in the coming days” and seven more next year. The Los Angeles-area startup, which bills itself as one of just two companies that can currently do commercial reentry from space, successfully launched its latest two…
NASA’s Artemis II crew traveled around the Moon and back and, along the way, captured stunning imagery and scientific observations of our nearest neighbor. NASA is making the full lunar science dataset from their journey available Wednesday to the global science community and the public for further study. More than 800 gigabytes of Artemis II…
Rockets are launching to space on a near-daily basis these days, but short of livestreaming a liftoff from the comfort of your Wi-Fi router, relatively few spectators are in the right place and time to see one with their own eyes. That wasn’t the case Tuesday morning (Oct. 13), when SpaceX launched the CRS-35 mission…
NASA test pilot Nils Larson recently received a top honor from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots for making the first flight of NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft and helping to make its first flight in 2025. Larson received the society’s Iven C. Kincheloe Award for leading the X‑59 through its first flight and safely expanding the flight envelope to…
On Oct. 13, 1773, a French astronomer named Charles Messier discovered the “Whirlpool Galaxy,” also known as Messier 51, or M51. Charles Messier was scanning the sky for objects that could confuse comet hunters when he catalogued the galaxy as M51. However, Messier wasn’t able to see the spiral structure, and he didn’t identify it…
This animated orbital-map view shows the route NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has taken from time of its 2021 landing to Oct. 11, 2026 — the day it broke the off-world driving record previously held by the agency’s Opportunity rover. As of that date, Perseverance has driven over 28 miles (45 kilometers). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Perseverance…
On Oct. 15, 1997, NASA launched the Cassini spacecraft on a mission to explore Saturn and its moons. It lifted off aboard a Titan 4B rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It took almost seven years for the Cassini spacecraft to reach Saturn, with the spacecraft entering orbit around the ringed planet…
NASA is streaming live coverage as it prepares for the launch of the 35th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station for the agency. Watch online at: https://www.nasa.gov/live Loaded with more than 6,300 pounds of supplies, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at…
SpaceX will launch a classified mission for the U.S. Space Force this evening (Oct. 15), and you can watch the action live. A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base today, on California’s beautiful but frequently fog-blanketed central coast, during a four-hour window that opens at 7:44 p.m. EDT…
At 6:33 a.m. EDT, more than 6,300 pounds of scientific investigations and cargo launched to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of the company’s 35th commercial resupply services mission for NASA. The spacecraft lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space…
