Long March rocket lifts military satellite into orbit
China shot an intelligence-gathering Yaogan surveillance satellite into a 750-mile-high orbit Tuesday in a successful launch aboard a Long March 4C rocket. Following standard procedures for military...
View ArticleRussians successfully launch space station resupply ship
Dispatching a freighter filled with food, fuel and supplies to the International Space Station, an unmanned Russian Soyuz booster successfully launched Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Main engine...
View ArticleAtlas 5 rockets to launch next weather satellite series
The next-generation U.S. weather observatories now in development for flights to geostationary orbit will be deployed by United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets, officials announced Thursday. The GOES R...
View ArticleComputer crash doomed Phobos-Grunt
After floating accusations against U.S. military radars, flawed foreign parts and space radiation, Russian space officials have concluded a software glitch caused the failure of the Phobos-Grunt Mars...
View ArticleRussian satellite destroyed despite promise for scientists
Engineers on Sunday intentionally crashed a Russian Express communications satellite stranded in space by an August rocket mishap, declaring the mission a total loss despite efforts by a start-up...
View ArticleDragon circling Earth after flawless predawn blastoff
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket radiantly rose into a serene predawn sky over Florida on Tuesday, successfully launching a privately-owned capsule named Dragon into orbit on a seminal test flight to the...
View ArticleRadiation Belt Storm Probes arrive at Florida launch site
Twin NASA satellites designed to probe and predict changes in Earth's radiation belts arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, ready to begin several months of testing and assembly before...
View ArticleBeidou navigation payload launched by Chinese rocket
China launched another satellite Friday for the Beidou space-based navigation network, continuing the system's expansion after it began trial service in December. Liftoff of the Long March 3C launcher...
View ArticleVIDEO: GRAIL returns views of far side of the moon
NASA released footage Wednesday from one of the agency's twin GRAIL lunar probes, showing the rugged far side of the moon in a time lapse video from a camera built to help educate and inspire U.S....
View ArticleGRAIL lunar gravity mission extended until December
NASA has granted an extension of the GRAIL moon mission until December, allowing scientists to complete a more definitive map of the lunar gravity field from a lower orbit, according to agency...
View ArticleChinese mapping satellite in orbit after weekend launch
A Long March rocket boosted a Chinese mapping satellite into orbit Sunday from the Jiuquan launching base in the Gobi desert, according to state media reports. The Tianhui 1B satellite blasted off at...
View ArticleESA says BepiColombo will stay on budget despite delay
Technicial difficulties with BepiColombo, a joint project between Europe and Japan, will push back its launch to Mercury by 13 months until August 2015, but officials do not expect the postponement to...
View ArticleSuccessful Chinese space launch breaks annual record
Shattering a record for annual Chinese launch activity, a Long March rocket streaked into a predawn sky Thursday and entered orbit with a Beidou navigation satellite. The Long March 3A rocket lifted...
View ArticleAstrium UK picked to build Solar Orbiter spacecraft
The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft, due for launch in early 2017, will be built in Britain under a $400 million contract signed Thursday with Astrium. Artist's concept of Solar...
View ArticleMedvedev threatens criminal penalties for space officials
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has suggested officials should be punished for recent failures in the country's space program. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev speaks with reporters Saturday....
View ArticleSoyuz booster fails in launch of communications satellite
A Soyuz rocket and a Russian military communications satellite crashed in Siberia on Friday, continuing a pesky series of launch mishaps blemishing Russia's space program in the last year. File photo...
View ArticleDecember deadline for stranded Russian Mars probe
Russia has until early December to establish contact with the stranded Phobos-Grunt Mars probe and send it toward the Red Planet, the head of the Russian space ageny said Monday. Phobos-Grunt's mission...
View ArticleRussians now preparing for re-entry of failed Mars probe
Russia's $163 million Phobos-Grunt Mars probe, stranded in low-Earth orbit after a malfunction following launch Nov. 8, is expected to fall back into Earth's atmosphere next month, Russian officials...
View ArticleRussian Mars mission halted by glitch in low Earth orbit
Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission, an audacious effort to retrieve samples from a Martian moon, is stranded in low Earth orbit following a successful liftoff Tuesday from Kazakhstan, according to Russian...
View ArticleIll-fated Mars probe reportedly falls to Earth
A $170 million Russian Mars probe, stranded in low-Earth orbit after a malfunction following launch in November, reportedly fell back into the dense lower atmosphere Sunday, apparently breaking up over...
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