NASA commits to $7 billion SLS development

NASA managers have formally approved development of the Space Launch System -- SLS -- heavy-lift rocket, the most powerful booster ever attempted and a key element in the agency's long-range plans to send astronauts into deep space. Read More...

SpaceX delays AsiaSat 6 launch for additional troubleshooting

Launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the AsiaSat 6 communications satellite is on hold pending additional work to make sure the booster is not susceptible to even extremely unlikely malfunctions in the wake of a failure that destroyed an experimental rocket .
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New Horizons probe on track for 2015 Pluto flyby

Eight years outbound from Earth, NASA's New Horizons probe passed the orbit of Neptune Monday, in good health and on course for a high-speed dash past enigmatic Pluto and its large moon Charon next summer.
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Russians launched Peruvian nanosat during spacewalk

Space station cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev began a planned six-hour and 15-minute spacewalk Monday, launching a small Peruvian science satellite before pressing ahead with experiment swap outs and maintenance. Read More...

Atlas 5 boosts WorldView-3 remote sensing satellite to orbit

An Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from California and streaked into orbit Wednesday carrying the most powerful remote sensing satellite ever built for the commercial market, a spacecraft capable of zooming in on a baseball field and detecting home plate from 400 miles. Read More...

Final ESA cargo ship docks at space station

The European Space Agency's fifth and final space station cargo ship glided to a smooth automated docking Tuesday after a flawless rendezvous, bringing 7.2 tons of supplies and equipment to the lab complex. Read More...

Rosetta matches orbits with comet in historic first

After a 10-year, 3.7-billion-mile chase, Europe's Rosetta spacecraft finally caught up with its target Wednesday, firing its main engine to precisely match orbits with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Read More...

ESA's Rosetta probe closes in on comet for historic rendezvous

After a 10-year space odyssey highlighted by four velocity-boosting planetary flybys and a pair of asteroid encounters, Europe's $1.7 billion Rosetta spacecraft finally reaches its target Wednesday, matching orbits with an oddball comet in a historic rendezvous. Read More...

SpaceX Falcon 9 launches AsiaSat 8 relay station

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket boosted a powerful communications satellite into orbit early Tuesday after a sky-lighting liftoff from Cape Canaveral, the first of two commercial relay stations the company plans to launch this month.
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Rosetta's comet coming into focus

The European Space Agency's $1.7 billion Rosetta probe, closing in on a comet for a historic rendezvous Wednesday, is sending back sharper and sharper views of its quarry, revealing an intriguing relic of the solar system's birth featuring two distinct lobes. Read More...

Atlas 5 boosts GPS navsat into orbit

Lighting up the night sky, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket boosted a $245 million Global Positioning System navigation satellites into orbit Friday night, the seventh of 12 upgraded navigation beacons joining a globe-spanning constellation.
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