Space FrontPage

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida early Saturday morning, sending a heavily loaded cargo spacecraft toward the International Space Station before executing a flawless booster landing just minutes later.  The rocket lifted off at 7:41 a.m. EDT (1141 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying Northrop Grumman’s upgraded Cygnus XL resupply freighter on a critical supply mission known as NG-24. The launch marked the 24th commercial resupply mission by Northrop Grumman to support NASA’s orbiting laboratory.

The first humans to journey toward the Moon in more than half a century have safely returned to Earth, marking a major milestone for NASA’s ambitious Artemis program. The four-member crew of the Artemis II test flight splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 5:07 p.m. PDT on Friday, concluding a nearly 10-day deep-space mission. The crew—NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—traveled farther from Earth than any humans in history. At their most distant point, they reached 252,756 miles (406,000 kilometers) from Earth, surpassing the record set during Apollo 13.

The debut launch of the Tianlong-3 rocket, developed by Chinese commercial aerospace firm Space Pioneer, ended in failure early Friday after the vehicle encountered an anomaly during its ascent phase. The rocket lifted off at 12:17 a.m. Eastern (0417 UTC) on April 3 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, specifically from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone. Amateur videos circulating on Chinese social media appeared to show irregularities during the rocket’s climb shortly after liftoff.

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket successfully launched its heaviest-ever payload early Saturday morning, marking a significant milestone in the growing race to build global satellite internet networks. The Atlas V lifted off at 1:46 a.m. EDT (0546 GMT) on April 4 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Riding atop the rocket were 29 satellites destined for Amazon’s low Earth orbit broadband constellation, now known as Amazon Leo.

In a landmark moment for human spaceflight, NASA launched a four-person crew toward the Moon on Wednesday, marking the first crewed lunar mission since the end of the Apollo program more than five decades ago. Riding atop the most powerful operational rocket ever built, the astronauts embarked on a trailblazing journey designed to lay the groundwork for future lunar landings and the construction of a long-term American presence on the Moon.

NASA’s Artemis II mission roared off the pad yesterday, marking the first crewed journey toward the Moon in more than 50 years. From the moment the astronauts suited up to the fiery liftoff and the start of their 10‑day lunar loop, the launch delivered a historic return to deep‑space exploration. 

With the Artemis II launch just days away, NASA has unveiled an ambitious new strategy to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, backed by a planned $20 billion investment over the next seven years.

The U.S. Space Force has reassigned the launch vehicle for its upcoming GPS III-8 satellite mission, opting to move the payload from United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket to SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The decision comes as Vulcan undergoes an ongoing investigation into issues with its solid rocket boosters (SRBs).

Rocket Lab successfully launched a radar imaging satellite for Japanese company Synspective on Friday (March 20), marking another milestone in an ongoing partnership to build a next-generation Earth observation constellation.

Rocket Lab has landed its largest launch contract to date, signing a $190 million agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to carry out a series of hypersonic test missions over the next four years.

NASA officials say they have yet to reestablish communication with the agency’s MAVEN Mars orbiter, more than three months after contact was unexpectedly lost.

NASA is preparing to return astronauts to deep space as the agency moves forward with plans to roll its Artemis II rocket to the launch pad next week, targeting liftoff as early as April 1 for a landmark crewed mission around the Moon.