An Atlas 5 rocket carrying astronauts for the first time was fueled for blastoff Monday night to boost Boeing’s long-delayed Starliner crew ferry ship into orbit for its first piloted test flight. But trouble with a valve in the rocket’s upper stage forced mission managers to order a scrub just two hours before takeoff. It was a frustrating disappointment for …

In 2020, NASA’s Perseverance rover launched for Mars with a stowaway: a tiny drone, created by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The drone, named Ingenuity, was likened to a Wright Brothers’ plane on Mars, making the first flight on another planet. The entire drone had to be very light, because Mars has only 1% of the atmosphere of …

Massive floods in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state killed at least 60 people and another 101 were reported missing, according to Sunday’s toll from local authorities. At least 155 people were injured, while damage from the rains forced more than 80,000 people from their homes. Approximately 15,000 took refuge in schools, gymnasiums and other temporary shelters. The floods …