Tag: Space Launch System
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Rocket Report: Lightning strikes in China; Starship launch on deck
Welcome to Edition 9.04 of the Rocket Report! We’ve had to wait an extra week for SpaceX to get its 13th Starship test flight off the ground. A last-second abort on July 16 led engineers to roll the booster back to its hangar in South Texas to swap out engines. Starship is now back on…
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NASA Names Four-Astronaut Crew for Artemis III Docking Mission with SpaceX and Blue Origin Landers
NASA has selected three American astronauts and one European astronaut to fly on Artemis III, a landmark mission scheduled for late 2027 that will conduct the first in-space docking demonstrations between NASA’s Orion spacecraft and lunar landers developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the crew during a ceremony in Houston…
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Artemis III’s remaining solid rocket booster segments shipped from Utah to Florida
While there is some uncertainty regarding timelines and landers, the Artemis III mission — currently scheduled for the summer of 2027 — is being prepared for launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Northrop Grumman began shipping all eight remaining solid rocket booster segments for the mission’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Utah…
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NASA chose the right crew to launch a new era of human space exploration
HOUSTON—Their mission is complete. The four people who flew beyond the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II mission are back home in Houston with their families. But the lessons from Artemis II are just beginning to be told. There are tangible, objective takeaways from the nine-day mission. How did NASA’s Space Launch System rocket perform? Nearly…
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Launch preview: NASA to launch Artemis 2, its first Moon-bound mission with astronauts since 1972
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft stand at Launch Complex 39B on Tuesday, March 31, ahead of the planned launch of Artemis 2. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now For the first time in more than 53 years, NASA is preparing to send humans beyond low Earth orbit. As soon as Wednesday evening, four astronauts…
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‘Let’s go!’ NASA launches humanity’s first moon voyage in nearly 54 years
NASA’s Space Launch System rises from its Florida launch pad, sending the Artemis 2 crew into orbit. (NASA via YouTube) After years of postponements and close to $100 billion in spending, NASA has launched the first mission to send astronauts around the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The 10-day Artemis 2 mission began today…
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Artemis II returns humanity to the Moon with launch on Wednesday evening
At 23:35 UTC on Dec. 16, 1972, the Apollo 17 command module, America, successfully completed its trans-Earth injection burn, sending it and its crew of NASA astronauts Gene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans on a return trajectory back to Earth. The moment marked the final time a crewed Apollo spacecraft was in orbit around…
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NASA returns its SLS rocket back to the launch pad ahead of planned April flight of Artemis 2
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft photographed during the final hour of its four-mile journey to the launch pad on Friday, March 20, 2026. Image: John Pisani/Spaceflight Now Update March 20, 12 p.m. EDT (1600 UTC): NASA confirmed completion of the Space Launch System rocket’s rollout. NASA’s Moon rocket returned to the launch…
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NASA ready for another shot at launching Artemis 2 moon mission
Technicians and engineers perform prelaunch work on the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft inside the Vehicle Assembly Building on Feb. 26, 2026. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now NASA plans to haul its Artemis 2 moon rocket back out to its seaside launch pad next week to ready the huge booster for blastoff as early…
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NASA Selects ULA’s Centaur 5 as Upper Stage for SLS Starting With Artemis 4
NASA has selected United Launch Alliance’s Centaur 5 upper stage for use on its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket beginning with the Artemis 4 mission, currently scheduled to launch no earlier than early 2028, according to contract documents released by the agency. Centaur 5 was originally developed as the upper stage for United Launch Alliance’s…