Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashes during test flight

Virgin Galactic's futuristic SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, built to carry adventurous tourists on sub-orbital spaceflights, suffered a catastrophic failure Friday during a rocket-powered test flight high above the Mojave Desert, killing one pilot and injuring another.
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Orbital Sciences assesses Antares failure

A day after an explosion that destroyed an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket carrying a space station cargo ship, company officials said Wednesday they hope to zero in on the likely cause of the mishap within a week or so. Read More...

Atlas 5 boosts GPS navsat into space

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Wednesday and boosted a $245 million Air Force navigation satellite into space, a welcome development after another rocket, also powered by Russian first-stage engines, exploded Tuesday. Read More...

Russian Progress supply ship takes off for station

Nine hours after a spectacular launch failure that destroyed a U.S. supply ship bound for the International Space Station, a Russian Progress cargo ship blasted off from Kazakhstan and successfully docked with the lab complex six hours later Read More...

Antares rocket explodes, destroys station cargo ship

An Orbital Sciences Antares rocket exploded seconds after launch from the Virginia coast Tuesday, erupting in a spectacular fireball and destroying an uncrewed Cygnus cargo ship in a disheartening failure for NASA's commercial space station resupply program.
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Russians stage smooth spacewalk

Two cosmonauts ventured outside the International Space Station Wednesday, jettisoning three no-longer-needed components and carrying out a photo survey of the Russian segment of the lab complex in the year's seventh and final ISS spacewalk. Read More...

Comet Siding Spring's Mars flyby a boon to science

The red planet's brush with Comet Siding Spring Sunday was a close encounter of the best kind for science, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to study a pristine remnant of the solar system's birth 4.6 billion years ago. Read More...

X-37B spaceplane ends secret mission with smooth landing

An unpiloted Air Force spaceplane glided back to Earth Friday after a record stay in orbit, closing out a clandestine military mission with a computer-controlled landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
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Spacewalkers repair station electrical system

Astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry "Butch" Wilmore floated outside the International Space Station Wednesday and, after a bit of trouble with a balky bolt, replaced a broken voltage regulator to restore the lab's electrical grid to normal operation.
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MAVEN healthy, collects initial science data

Initial data from NASA's MAVEN Mars orbiter demonstrates the orbiter's ability to study the red planet's upper atmosphere with the precision required to help map out its structure and evolution.
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NASA clears Boeing, SpaceX to resume commercial crew work

Rescinding a work stoppage in the wake of a bid protest by losing competitor Sierra Nevada, NASA has told Boeing and SpaceX to resume work on commercial crew spacecraft to avoid possible delays ferrying astronauts to and from the space station. Read More...

Mars spacecraft poised for dramatic comet flyby

An international fleet of five Mars orbiters and two rovers will have ringside seats when a mountain-size comet streaks by on Oct. 19, passing within a scant 87,000 miles of the red planet at a blistering 126,000 mph, NASA scientists said Thursday.
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Air Force takes over 2 shuttle processing facilities

Boeing is modifying the Kennedy Space Center's remaining two orbiter processing facilities to service the secret X-37B spaceplane for the Air Force, NASA announced Wednesday.
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NuStar discoveres brilliant 'mighty mouse' pulsar

A NASA space telescope studying X-ray emissions from a nearby galaxy has discovered the brightest pulsar ever detected, the fast-spinning remnant of a collapsed star that shines so intensely it was initially mistaken for a massive black hole.
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Rookie astronauts chalk up smooth spacewalk

Astronauts Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst carried out a smooth six-hour 13-minute spacewalk Tuesday, moving a pump module to long-term storage and installing backup power gear for the space station's robot arm transporter. Read More...

Station spacewalks prelude to major changes

Two U.S. spacewalks this week and next will the stage for a complex series of eight to 10 NASA EVAs and module relocations next year that are needed to prepare the station for dockings by Boeing and SpaceX commercial crew ferry craft.
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