NASA, Boeing push back Starliner’s crewed return to June 18

June 12, 2024 3:01 PM

NASA, Boeing push back Starliner’s crewed return to June 18

NASA and Boeing BA.N said they expect to bring Starliner and its first astronaut crew back to Earth from the International Space Station as soon as June 18, later than previously scheduled as mission analysts examine issues that could affect its return. Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft was originally expected to undock on Friday and return to Earth after launching its inaugural crew of two NASA astronauts from Florida on June 5. The mission is a crucial test before the U.S. space agency ca...

Boeing Starliner’s first astronaut crew welcomed aboard space station

September 16, 2024 6:39 PM

Boeing Starliner’s first astronaut crew welcomed aboard space station

Boeing's new Starliner capsule and an inaugural two-member NASA crew safely docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, meeting a key test in proving the vessel's flight-worthiness and sharpening Boeing's competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX. The rendezvous was achieved despite an earlier loss of several guidance-control jet thrusters, some of them due to a helium propulsion leak, which NASA and Boeing said should not compromise the mission. The CST-100 Starliner, with veteran astr...

China’s Chang’e-6 transfers moon samples to spacecraft, set for return to Earth

June 6, 2024 3:32 PM

China’s Chang’e-6 transfers moon samples to spacecraft, set for return to Earth

China's Chang'e-6 probe transferred samples it collected from the moon's far side to a spacecraft in lunar orbit on Thursday, state news agency Xinhua reported. After receiving the samples, the uncrewed spacecraft will fly back to Earth, with an expected landing in China's Inner Mongolia region on June 25. If successful, China will be the first country to ever return lunar matter from the side of the moon that permanently faces away from Earth. The Chang'e-6 probe took off from the moon's far ...

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams makes history on Boeing’s Starliner maiden crewed mission

September 16, 2024 6:40 PM

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams makes history on Boeing’s Starliner maiden crewed mission

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, carrying astronauts Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore, took off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday for a test mission to the International Space Station. Williams, 58, an Indian American astronaut, made history as the first woman to pilot a spacecraft on its maiden mission. This flight also marks her third journey into space. Moments before liftoff, Williams radioed mission control with the message, "Let's go, Calyp...

Venus has more volcanism than previously known, new analysis finds

September 16, 2024 6:41 PM

Venus has more volcanism than previously known, new analysis finds

Venus appears to be more volcanically active than previously known, according to scientists whose new analysis of decades-old radar images has spotted evidence of eruptions at two additional sites on the surface of Earth's inhospitable planetary neighbor. Radar images obtained by NASA's Magellan spacecraft from 1990 to 1992 indicated large lava flows at these two locations in the Venusian northern hemisphere at the time of the observations, the researchers said. These findings, coupled with pre...

NASA launches small climate satellite to study earth’s poles

May 26, 2024 5:23 PM

NASA launches small climate satellite to study earth’s poles

NASA successfully launched the first of a pair of small climate satellites on Saturday from the Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. The mission, dubbed PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment), aims to study heat emissions at the Earth's poles, shedding light on the intricate interplay between these regions and global climate change. The PREFIRE mission consists of two shoebox-sized CubeSats, each equipped with a sophisticated thermal infrared spectrometer ...

White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon

September 16, 2024 3:26 PM

White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon

The White House on Tuesday directed NASA to establish a unified standard of time for the moon and other celestial bodies, as the United States aims to set international norms in space amid a growing lunar race among nations and private companies. The head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), according to a memo seen by Reuters, instructed the space agency to work with other parts of the U.S. government to devise a plan by the end of 2026 for setting what it called ...