SpaceX launched the third test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday and reached space, as the company pushed development of the mammoth vehicle past new milestones. Elon Musk’s company launched Starship at about 9:25 a.m. ET from its Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas. The rocket flew further than previous tests, with the flight … Read more
SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket is prepared for a third launch from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, on March 13, 2024. Joe Skipper | Reuters Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to launch its third Starship test flight as soon as Thursday morning … Read more
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The experiment was failing. Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian was in a cave in Spain, one outfitted to resemble the surface of a foreign planet, and she knew it was time to pull out. The goal had been to test how three people— Ben Hayoun-Stépanian and two of her doppelgängers—would form a new society in space using … Read more
House and Senate appropriators have released NASA’s final spending bill for the fiscal year 2024, focusing on the Artemis program’s goal of returning astronauts to the Moon. However, there’s still considerable uncertainty surrounding the agency’s plans for bringing back rocky samples from Mars. China’s Plan to Land Astronauts on the Moon NASA was allocated $24.875 … Read more
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander on display at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA Shares of Intuitive Machines jumped 16% in trading Friday after the company’s successful first moon landing. Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C cargo moon lander known as “Odysseus” on Thursday became the first privately developed spacecraft to land on the lunar surface — as well as the first … Read more
The IM-1 lander “Odysseus” in lunar orbit on Feb. 21, 2024. Intuitive Machines A U.S. company has gone to the moon – and into the history books. Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission reached the moon’s surface on Thursday evening, in the first American lunar landing since the Apollo era. The company’s Nova-C cargo lander, named “Odysseus” … Read more
TOKYO — A Japanese flagship H3 rocket lifted off from a space station in southwestern Japan Saturday, successfully reaching its planned trajectory and releasing one of the two payloads in a key second test, overcoming its failed debut launch a year ago and buoying hope for the country to stay competitive in the global space … Read more
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko has broken the world record for the most cumulative time spent in space, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos reported Sunday. The 59-year-old has now spent more than 878 days and 12 hours in space, surpassing fellow Russian Gennady Padalka, who set the previous record of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, and … Read more
An artist’s rendition of the SLIM lunar lander on the moon’s surface. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Japan staked a claim as a national space power on Friday, as its SLIM spacecraft landed on the moon. The country’s SLIM lander launched in September and touched down on the lunar surface around 10:20 a.m. ET, according to … Read more
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Oct. 13, 2023. Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images Elon Musk’s SpaceX smashed its previous annual record for orbital rocket launches, pulling off 96 successful missions in 2023 at a blistering average launch pace … Read more