China launches yet more classified Yaogan reconnaissance satellites to orbit

China has added more satellites to its Yaogan remote sensing collection. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China on Wednesday (Dec. 14) at 1:25 p.m. EST (1815 GMT; or 12:25 a.m. Beijing time on Dec. 15).  The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) declared (opens in new tab) the launch to be a success within an hour of launch, revealing that the payload for the mission was a Yaogan 36 spacecraft.  Related: China launches mysterious Shiyan-20C satellite to orbit (video) As…

Read More

Rocket issue delays SpaceX launch of NASA water-watching satellite to Friday

SpaceX has delayed the launch of a NASA water-monitoring satellite to Friday (Dec. 16) to allow more time to investigate an issue with its Falcon 9 rocket. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite had been scheduled to lift off atop a Falcon 9 on Thursday (Dec. 15) at 6:46 a.m. EST (1146 GMT). But SpaceX is now targeting a Friday launch, at that same early hour. “After SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket went vertical on the pad at Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base…

Read More

Soyuz spacecraft leak at space station cancels spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts

A sizable coolant leak from one of Russia’s Soyuz crew spacecraft docked to the International Space Station forced cosmonauts to cancel a spacewalk as flight controllers on the ground worked to troubleshoot the problem. The leak, which was traced back to the coolant system for the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, was first detected on Wednesday (Dec. 14) at 7:45 p.m. EST (0045 GMT on Dec. 15), about an hour and 40 minutes before Expedition 68 crewmates Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin of the Russian federal space corporation Roscosmos were scheduled to…

Read More

60 years ago today, a spacecraft zipped past planet Venus for the 1st time ever

Human-built spacecraft have been exploring other planets for a full 60 years. On Dec. 14, 1962, a NASA spacecraft called Mariner 2 flew past Venus in the first-ever planetary flyby. The maneuver gave the spacecraft 42 minutes to observe what scientists now consider Earth‘s hellish twin — whose hidden surface at the time was thought to be lush, tropical jungle or swamp. Data from Mariner 2 instead showed that even the night side of Venus was scorching, with surface temperatures as hot as 421 degrees Fahrenheit (216 degrees Celsius), according…

Read More

Artemis 1 / Orion Splashdown!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fnlGkZ-Wy0 Splashdown off the Baja Coast near Guadalupe Island targeted for 11:39 a.m. CST (12:39 p.m. EST) on Sunday, Dec. 11 Thanks for watching – why not support this channel and help us grow. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCakgsb0w7QB0VHdnCc-OVEA/join Subscribe For More Videos Like This: http://www.youtube.com/user/ouramazingspace?sub_confirmation=1 See my latest videos : https://www.youtube.com/user/ouramazingspace/videos Bringing you the BEST Space and Astronomy videos online. Showcasing videos and images from the likes of NASA,ESA,Hubble etc. Join me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spaceisamazing Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmazingSpace2 Music by Kevin Macleod http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/

Read More

NASA’s Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft reaches port in San Diego

NASA’s Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft has made it back to terra firma. Orion reached Naval Base San Diego on Tuesday (Dec. 13) aboard the USS Portland, the U.S. Navy recovery ship that fished the capsule out of the Pacific Ocean on Sunday (Dec. 11) following its successful splashdown. The spacecraft will be offloaded from the Portland on Wednesday (Dec. 14) and will then begin an overland trek to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, KSC officials said via Twitter on Tuesday (opens in new tab). In photos: 10 greatest…

Read More

‘High on Life’ launches you into space with potty-mouth guns and interplanetary bounty hunting

A potty-mouthed space-themed game has industry watchers abuzz. Helped along by a co-creator of Rick and Morty, new space game High On Life launched today (Dec. 13) for Steam, Xbox Series X | S and Xbox One for $59.99. The game is already bringing in high reviews, despite its adult content. It has 9 out of 10 stars on Steam and attention from big gaming sites like our sister website, PC Gamer (opens in new tab). “High On Life takes all of our creativity and weird ideas and delivers something…

Read More