Space

A satellite made an uncontrolled return to Earth Wednesday, re-entering the atmosphere over the north Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Hawaii, according to the the European Space Agency. The agency saidERS-2, which weighs about as much as an adult male rhinoceros, crashed through the atmosphere at 5:17 p.m. UTC. The agency was unable to predict exactly when and where the …

The Odysseus lunar lander fired its main engine for six minutes and 48 seconds Wednesday, putting the spacecraft into a 57-mile-high orbit around the moon and setting the stage for a landing try Thursday, the first for a U.S. spacecraft in more than 50 years. “Odysseus is now closer to the moon than the end-to-end distance driving across Space City, …

SpaceX launched its 16th Falcon 9 rocket so far this year Tuesday, putting a powerful Indonesian communications satellite into orbit. Using a first stage making its 17th flight, the Falcon 9 blasted off from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 3:11 p.m. EST. The first stage boosted the rocket out of the thick lower atmosphere …

A spectacular new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a likely new star forming in the Milky Way’s Scorpius constellation. The telescope, which is jointly operated by NASA and the European Space Agency, glimpsed the likely star forming about 5,900 light-years from Earth, the agencies said in a news release. The region where the star appears to be forming …

Lighting up the deep overnight sky, a Falcon 9 rocket thundered away from Florida early Thursday, boosting a commercially built robotic lander on a flight to the moon. If successful, it will become the first American spacecraft to reach the lunar surface in more than 50 years. It was SpaceX’s second flight in less than eight hours, following the launch …

A NASA mission that was retired in 2022 has helped scientists detect water on the surface of two asteroids. Researchers from the Southwest Research Institute were able to use data from the retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, a joint project between NASA scientists and the German Space Agency at DLR, to discover the water molecules, according to a news …

SpaceX was forced to delay the planned early Wednesday launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a commercially built robotic moon lander after engineers noted unusual temperature readings prior to loading the probe with liquid methane fuel. The company said the launch team planned to make another attempt Thursday, at 1:05 a.m. EST, to send Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander toward …

A commercially chartered Crew Dragon spacecraft plunged into the atmosphere and splashed down off the east coast of Florida Friday, bringing four private astronauts back to Earth after an extended stay aboard the International Space Station. With commander Michael López-Alegría and Italian co-pilot Walter Villadei monitoring cockpit displays, flanked by Swedish flier Marcus Wandt and Turkey’s Alper Gezeravci, the Crew …

SpaceX launched an environmental research satellite for NASA early Thursday, a nearly $1 billion spacecraft that survived multiple cancellation threats and is now poised to shed new light on climate change and the complex interplay of heat-trapping carbon, aerosols and sea life on global scales. The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission — PACE — “will dramatically advance our understanding …

Wrapping up the third fully commercial visit to the International Space Station, a four-man crew sponsored by Houston-based Axiom Space undocked from the outpost early Wednesday and settled in for a marathon 47-hour free flight to re-entry and splashdown Friday off the Florida coast. Strapped into a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, commander Michael López-Alegría, Italian co-pilot Walter Villadei, Swedish flier …