Spaceflight - News About Space Travel and Exploration

The International Space Station, photographed by Expedition 56 crewmembers from a Soyuz spacecraft in October 2018. NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel and Ricky Arnold and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev executed a flyaround of the orbiting laboratory to take pictures of the station before returning home after spending 197 days in space.

Small air leak on space station traced to Russian service module

By Mike Wall

Investigators have traced the source of the leak to the "main work area" of the Zvezda Service Module, the heart of the Russian part of the station, NASA officials announced today (Sept. 29).

From left, Mission Specialist Shannon Walker, Pilot Victor Glover, Crew Dragon Commander Michael Hopkins – all NASA astronauts – and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut and Mission Specialist Soichi Noguchi are seated in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft during crew equipment interface training.

SpaceX's next astronaut launch for NASA pushed back to Oct. 31

By Mike Wall

The target launch date for SpaceX's Crew-1 mission has been pushed from Oct. 23 to early Halloween morning (Oct. 31), to ease traffic issues aboard the orbiting lab.

An artist's depiction of astronauts walking on the moon as part of NASA's Artemis program.

We now know exactly how much radiation astronauts will face on the moon

By Mike Wall

We finally know what kind of radiation environment future moonwalkers will be stepping into.

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will be voting in the 2020 presidential election from space after launching Oct. 14 to the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will vote from space

By Chelsea Gohd

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will vote in the upcoming presidential election from space.

An artist's illustration of an Artemis landing craft at the lunar south pole.

US faces tight timeline for 2024 moon landing, NASA chief tells Senate

By Elizabeth Howell

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says the landing system and rocket for Artemis need to be ready next year for the agency to achieve a crewed moon landing in 2024.

World Space Week 2020: Join the UN satellite celebration next week

By Doris Elin Urrutia

World Space Week is held each year from Oct. 4 to Oct. 10, and this year's programming will focus on satellites.

The Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 became the first artificial satellite on October 4, 1957.

63 years after Sputnik, satellites are now woven into the fabric of daily life

By Elizabeth Howell

Sputnik's pioneering flight 63 years ago this week in 1957 had a deep resonance on Americans. Today, the culture and technology of satellites continues to impact people around the world.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 Starlink internet satellites stands atop Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida during a Sept. 28, 2020 launch attempt.

SpaceX delays next Starlink satellite fleet launch due to bad weather

By Tariq Malik

SpaceX postponed the launch of a new fleet of Starlink internet satellites today (Sept. 28) due to bad weather at the mission's Florida launch site.

SpaceX will launch 60 new Starlink internet satellites from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Sept. 28, 2020.Shown here: A different Falcon launches the Starlink 11 mission on Sept. 3 from the same pad.

Watch SpaceX launch 60 new Starlink internet satellites into orbit today

By Amy Thompson

SpaceX will launch 60 Starlink satellites into orbit today (Sept. 28) and you can watch it live here.

Northrop Grumman's Cygnus NG-13 cargo resupply spacecraft, with its shiny, cymbal-shaped solar arrays, is pictured in the grasp of the Canadarm2 robot arm on the International Space Station just before the vessel's departure on May 11, 2020. The NG-14 cargo ship will launch to the space station on Sept. 29, 2020.

NASA launching new space toilet and more to space station this week

By Chelsea Gohd

A private cargo spacecraft will lift off from Virginia on Tuesday (Sept. 29), carrying nearly 8,000 lbs. (3,629 kilograms) of supplies to the International Space Station — including a new toilet.

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying the NROL-44 spy satellites stands atop Pad 37 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida ahead of a planned launch on Sept. 27, 2020.

You can watch a US spy satellite launch on a giant Delta IV Heavy rocket overnight tonight. Here's how.

By Amy Thompson

Liftoff is scheduled for 12:10 a.m. EDT (0410 GMT) on Sunday (Sept. 27).

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the GPS III-SV03 mission for the U.S. Space Force on June 30, 2020.

Space Force OKs used SpaceX rockets for upcoming GPS satellite launches

By Mike Wall

It's a first for national-security missions.

NASA's new space toilet for the International Space Station undergoes testing at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

NASA's new $23 million space toilet is ready for launch

By Samantha Mathewson

The bathroom on the International Space System is getting a major upgrade with a new, high-tech, compact space toilet to be delivered next week.

SpaceX's first vacuum Raptor engine blazes during a test in September 2020, in this screengrab from a SpaceX video.

SpaceX fires up in-space version of Starship's Raptor engine for 1st time (video)

By Mike Wall

The first vacuum Raptor — the in-space version of Starship's Raptor engine — blazed up in a debut test at SpaceX's development facility in McGregor, Texas.

NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence works at the space shuttle Discovery's aft flight deck during the STS-114 mission, on July 28, 2005.

Shuttle astronaut Wendy Lawrence talks spacesuits, Mir and learning Russian in 'Virtual Astronaut' webcast Friday

By Elizabeth Howell

Lawrence's lecture on "The Virtual Astronaut" live event series will stream live Friday (Sept. 25) at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT).

This artist’s concept shows NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending toward asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid’s surface.

NASA gearing up for epic asteroid-sampling maneuver next month

By Mike Wall

The OSIRIS-REx probe is scheduled to pull off NASA's first-ever asteroid-sampling operation on Oct. 20, snagging precious dirt and gravel from a carbon-rich space rock called Bennu.

CAPSTONE will be the first cubesat to fly in Earth-moon space, settling into a near rectilinear halo orbit around the moon.

Tiny cubesat launching next year to blaze trail for NASA moon-orbiting space station

By Leonard David

A high-tech pioneer for NASA's moon-orbiting Gateway space station is being readied for liftoff early next year.

A simulated view of the type that Estée Lauder is paying NASA to produce aboard the International Space Station. Ten bottles of the cosmetics company's Advanced Night Repair serum will be photographed in Earth orbit.

Estée Lauder paying NASA for skincare photoshoot on space station

By Robert Z. Pearlman

Such deals are not unprecedented.

An artist's depiction of the Enceladus Orbilander mission concept.

Where to next in the outer solar system? Scientists have big ideas to explore icy moons and more.

By Meghan Bartels

If you had a few billion dollars and some of the most talented space scientists and engineers in the world, where would you go?

Blue Origin's New Shepard space capsule and rocket on the pad at the company's West Texas Launch Site in January 2019. The same rocket will launch the NS-13 mission in September 2020.

Blue Origin scrubs New Shepard rocket launch due to power glitch

By Hanneke Weitering

Blue Origin has delayed the planned launch of its New Shepard rocket from West Texas today (Sept. 24), citing a power glitch.