Copernical Team
Fuel leak interrupts launch countdown of NASA moon rocket (Update)
NASA began fueling its new moon rocket early Monday for liftoff on a test flight to put a crew capsule into lunar orbit for the first time in 50 years.
Thunderstorms delayed the fueling operation by an hour. The threat of lightning diminished enough to allow the launch team to proceed with loading the rocket's tanks.
NASA fuels moon rocket for liftoff on 1st test flight
NASA began fueling its new moon rocket early Monday for liftoff on a test flight to put a crew capsule into lunar orbit for the first time in 50 years.
Thunderstorms delayed the fueling operation by an hour. The threat of lightning diminished enough to allow the launch team to proceed with loading the rocket's tanks.
NASA shoots for the Moon, on its way to Mars
NASA's most powerful rocket yet is set to blast off Monday on the maiden voyage of a mission to take humans back to the Moon, and eventually to Mars.
Fifty years after the last Apollo mission, the space program called Artemis is to get under way with the blast off of the uncrewed 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at 8:33 am (1233 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Webb inspects the heart of the Phantom Galaxy
New images of the spectacular Phantom Galaxy, M74, showcase the power of space observatories working together in multiple wavelengths. In this case, data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope compliment each other to provide a comprehensive view of the galaxy.
NASA moon rocket on track for launch despite lightning hits
NASA's new moon rocket remained on track to blast off on a crucial test flight Monday, despite a series of lightning strikes at the launch pad.
The 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket is the most powerful ever built by NASA. It's poised to send an empty crew capsule into lunar orbit, a half-century after NASA's Apollo program, which landed 12 astronauts on the moon.
NASA awards contract to demonstrate trash compacting system for ISS
NASA has awarded a contract to Sierra Nevada Corporation of Madison, Wisconsin, to develop and demonstrate a microgravity-compactible Trash Compaction and Processing System (TCPS) Phase B, for the International Space Station (ISS). This contract provides firm-fixed-price core requirements and indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, firm-fixed-price task orders, along with additional optio
A decade in the making, NASA's Artemis 1 launch is first step back to the moon
When NASA's Artemis I mission lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, it will mark a major step forward for the space agency that will have been 12 years in the making. The uncrewed test flight is the first for NASA's Space Launch System, which is paired with the Orion capsule, to ensure it can eventually deliver astronauts safely back to Earth. The launch i
Green light for the return to the Moon
On 22 August 2022, NASA gave the green light for the first launch window of Artemis I. From a technical point of view, the signs are good for the first flight of the new SLS heavy-lift launch vehicle with the Orion spacecraft on board. The Artemis I mission is scheduled to last 42 days and - if the launch is successful on 29 August - return to Earth on 10 October. The Orion spacecraft, whose ser
Glenn's legacy of testing spacecraft spans from Apollo to Artemis
In early 2020, NASA's Glenn Research Center achieved a major milestone for the Artemis Program by verifying that the systems on NASA's new Orion spacecraft functioned in a simulated space environment. Project manager Nicole Smith explained, "We like to say, 'we test like we fly." The center began testing spacecraft as they fly over 50 years earlier while preparing the Centaur stage to transport
China conducts spaceplane flight test
On Friday, China carried out a key flight test of its reusable suborbital spaceplane, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's leading space contractor. The State-owned company said in a news release that the spaceplane started its own propulsion system and then conducted a vertical liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi