Tag: Space

SpaceX Starship Rocket Prototype Achieves First Safe Landing

SpaceX achieved the first successful touchdown of its prototype Starship rocket during the latest test flight of the next-generation launch vehicle in south Texas on Wednesday, after four previous landing attempts ended in explosions. The feat marked a key milestone for the private rocket company of billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk in its development of…


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 Returns 4 Astronauts to Earth; Rare Night Splashdown

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—SpaceX safely returned four astronauts from the International Space Station on Sunday, making the first U.S. crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot. The Dragon capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, just before 3 a.m., ending the second astronaut flight for Elon Musk’s…


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…


False Alarm: No Space Junk Threat After All to SpaceX Crew

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—SpaceX’s four astronauts had barely settled into orbit last Friday when they were ordered back into their spacesuits because of a potential collision with orbiting junk. It turns out there was no object and no threat, the U.S. Space Command acknowledged Monday. The false alarm is under review. Lt. Col. Erin Dick, a…


Old SpaceX Capsule Delivers New Crew to Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—A recycled SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on Saturday, the third high-flying taxi ride in less than a year for Elon Musk’s company. The Dragon capsule docked autonomously with the orbiting outpost more than 260 miles above the Indian Ocean, a day after launching from NASA’s Kennedy…


Biggest Space Station Crowd in Decade After SpaceX Arrival

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—The International Space Station’s population swelled to 11 on Saturday with the jubilant arrival of SpaceX’s third crew capsule in less than a year. It’s the biggest crowd up there in more than a decade. All of the astronauts—representing the U.S., Russia, Japan and France—managed to squeeze into camera view for a congratulatory…


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…