Tag: Space Exploration

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 28 Starlink satellites, aces droneship booster landing (photos)

NeRD

SpaceX continues its steady pace of Starlink launches, ever growing the company’s orbital internet constellation. A Falcon 9 rocket launched SpaceX‘s Starlink 6-74 mission Thursday night, April 24, out of Florida’s Space Coast. Liftoff occurred at 9:52 p.m. ET (0152 GMT, April 25) from Launch Complex-40 (LC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Stacked 28-tall inside the Falcon 9 fairing, the newest additions to SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation headed toward low Earth orbit (LEO), powered by the Falcon 9’s nine first-stage Merlin engines. A closeup shot of the Falcon 9’s first-stage…

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Happy 35th birthday, Hubble Telescope! 10 times the iconic observatory blew astronomers’ minds (photos)

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For 35 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has served as humanity’s tireless eye in the sky, capturing breathtaking views of the cosmos and transforming our understanding of the universe. The school-bus-sized observatory launched on April 24, 1990 and overcame early setbacks to become one of the most scientifically productive instruments in history. From its vantage point 320 miles (515 kilometers) above Earth, the telescope has sent home more than 1.6 million observations contributing to over 21,000 scientific papers. The Hubble Telescope‘s legacy lies not just in its iconic visuals, but…

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Aging gracefully: The Hubble Telescope is in ‘excellent technical condition’ on its 35th birthday, its chief scientist says

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The Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating its 35th anniversary in space today, but even as a senior citizen in the spacecraft population, it is showing no sign of slowing down. “Hubble is more scientifically productive now than ever before, which is kind of mind-blowing,” Jennifer Wiseman, the Senior Project Scientist for Hubble at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told Space.com. Launched in 1990 by NASA and operated jointly with the European Space Agency, the Hubble Space Telescope was a dream brought to reality. All of a sudden, scientists could harness…

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Rocket Lab introduces line of customizable solar arrays for satellites

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Rocket Lab is showing that’s about more than just rockets. The California-based company has introduced a family of customizable solar arrays, designed to fit the changing needs of customer satellites. Rocket Lab is offering the new Standardized Array, or STARRAY, line as an alternative to save first- or one-time satellite manufacturers the time of designing and testing their own solar arrays from ground, up. The line was introduced earlier this month, at the 40th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “Customers can choose from a range of pre-engineered solar array…

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Fixing the Hubble Space Telescope: A timeline of NASA’s shuttle servicing missions

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The Hubble Space Telescope is a masterwork of engineering and human ingenuity. Hubble is comparable in size and weight to a large school bus, but its contributions to science and astronomy could fill libraries. Not only is Hubble one of Earth’s premium sources for absolutely incredible, out-of-this-world imagery, it is also a testament to human curiosity and determination. The telescope has been in operation for over 30 years, undergone a total of five servicing missions and delivered nearly 250 terabytes of data in contributions to our understanding of the universe.…

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Happy Earth Day 2025! Write your name in NASA satellite images and celebrate our planet (video)

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Happy Earth Day! April 22 is traditionally known as Earth Day, the occasion where we pause as temporary travelers on our ‘blue marble‘ to honor and respect our precious planetary home and its immeasurable beauty, allowing for greater appreciation of this distinctive world’s bounty of resources. This yearly reflective holiday was first founded as Earth Day on April 22, 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, when 20 million Americans united as a concerned force to bring attention to the vital importance of recognizing key environmental issues facing our fragile “third…

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Watch SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule arrive at the ISS today

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NASA’s SpaceX 32nd Commercial Resupply Services Rendezvous and Docking – YouTube Watch On A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) this morning (April 22), and you can watch the orbital rendezvous live. Elon Musk‘s company launched its 32nd robotic resupply mission to the ISS for NASA early Monday morning (April 21), sending a Dragon freighter aloft from Florida’s Space Coast. If all goes according to plan, the Dragon’s off-Earth chase will end this morning around 8:20 a.m. EDT (1220 GMT), when the…

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SpaceX launches European reentry capsule on ‘Bandwagon-3’ rideshare mission

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SpaceX just sent a pioneering European capsule to the final frontier. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today (April 21) at 8:48 p.m. EDT (0048 GMT on April 22), on a rideshare mission that SpaceX calls Bandwagon-3. Among the payloads riding the Falcon 9 is Phoenix 1, a reentry capsule built by German company Atmos Space Cargo. If all goes to plan, Phoenix 1 will come back to Earth soon, splashing down in the Atlantic about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) off the…

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SpaceX launches its 32nd Dragon cargo mission to the ISS for NASA

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SpaceX launched its 32nd cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) early Monday morning (April 21), carrying more than 3 tons of supplies and scientific hardware to the orbiting laboratory for NASA. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the uncrewed Cargo Dragon spacecraft lifted off Monday at 4:15 a.m. EDT (0815 GMT) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Known as CRS-32 (or SpX-32), the mission is the 12th flight under NASA’s second Commercial Resupply Services contract with SpaceX. The first stage of a SpaceX…

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SpaceX launching Dragon cargo capsule to ISS early April 21: Watch it live

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NASA’s SpaceX 32nd Commercial Resupply Services Launch – YouTube Watch On SpaceX will launch its next robotic resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) early Monday morning (April 21), and you can watch the action live. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with an uncrewed Dragon cargo capsule is scheduled to lift off on Monday at 4:15 a.m. EDT (0815 GMT) from the historic Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. You can watch the launch live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the agency.…

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