Tag: European Space Agency
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Shuttle engine delivered to Orion service module assembly site
Orion’s service module engine undergoes vibration testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA A former space shuttle orbital maneuvering system engine has been delivered to Germany for attachment to the European-built service module destined to steer NASA’s next Orion spacecraft on a course around the moon on an uncrewed test flight in…
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Europe’s new Mars orbiter gives first taste of science data
The first ExoMars stereo reconstruction of a small area in a region called Noctis Labyrinthus. The image gives an altitude map of the region with a resolution of less than 20 meters (66 feet). The images used to make the 3D profile were taken on Nov. 22, 2016, and are among the first to be…
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ESA says doomed Mars lander succumbed to bad altitude reading
Artist’s concept of the Schiaparelli lander inside its scorched heat shield. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab One second of faulty data led to the destruction of a European spacecraft on final descent to Mars last month, officials said Wednesday. An unexplained error in the Schiaparelli lander’s Inertial Measurement Unit, or IMU, fed incorrect data into the craft’s…
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Slow-motion replays and dramatic images from Thursday’s Ariane 5 flight
Don’t miss riveting slow-motion video of Thursday’s blastoff of four European navigation satellite satellites captured by high-speed cameras at the Ariane 5 rocket’s jungle launch pad, plus dramatic up-close snapshots showing the launcher’s climb into the sky on 2.9 million pounds of ground-shaking thrust. The 165-foot-tall (50-meter) rocket took off at 1306 GMT (8:06 a.m.…
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Soyuz docking boosts station crew size back to six
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Two days after launch from Kazakhstan, a Russian Soyuz ferry ship glided to a smooth docking with the International Space Station Saturday, bringing a veteran cosmonaut, a Frenchman making his first flight and NASA’s most experienced female astronaut to the lab complex. With commander Oleg Novitskiy at the…
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Europe’s satellite navigation fleet gets big boost from Ariane 5 rocket
Europe’s Galileo navigation program turned to the workhorse Ariane 5 rocket for a heavy lift Thursday, delivering four new satellites to orbit on the launcher’s 75th successful flight in a row and pushing the growing fleet closer to global coverage. The four satellites, built in Germany with navigation payloads from Britain, arrived in an orbit…
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Photos: Station crew suits up, blasts off on Soyuz rocket
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, French-born European Space Agency flight engineer Thomas Pesquet and veteran NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson put on their Sokol spacesuits, boarded their Soyuz capsule and blasted into orbit Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio began a two-day pursuit of the International Space Station at 2020 GMT (3:20 p.m. EST)…
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Live coverage: Ariane 5 lifts off on its first Galileo launch
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with four Galileo navigation satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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Live coverage: Soyuz crew capsule arrives at space station
Live coverage of the Expedition 50 mission on the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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Soyuz takes off, heads for space station
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The Soyuz rocket lifted off at 2020 GMT (3:20 p.m. EST) Thursday. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls By the light of a waning moon, a Russian rocket carrying a veteran cosmonaut, a French flight engineer making his first flight and America’s most experienced female astronaut blasted off and streaked smoothly…