rocket launches

SpaceX's mega rocket Starship launches for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday.

Science

A 'successful failure': SpaceX's Starship achieves liftoff, loses contact mid-flight

11:25am November 18, 2023

by Geoff Brumfiel

The rocket cleared the launchpad and separated from its booster, surpassing the first attempt. But minutes later, controllers lost contact with the vehicle.

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SpaceX postponed plans to test the world's largest rocket on Monday after noting a frozen pressure valve.

SpaceX scraps Starship launch at the last minute due to frozen valve

10:41am April 17, 2023

by Geoff Brumfiel

The 400-foot-tall, stainless steel Starship could one day shuttle humans to the moon. But getting the rocket to fly is no easy feat, and it'll be 48 hours until the team can try again, SpaceX said.

NASA's new moon rocket lifts off from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. This launch is the first flight test of the Artemis program.

Science

After a night of uncertainty, NASA's Artemis moon rocket takes to the skies

9:41am November 16, 2022

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

NASA's Artemis moon rocket has finally launched after months of setbacks, from fuel leaks to hurricanes. If successful, the mission signals a big step toward returning humans to the moon.

The Artemis 1 moon rocket and the Orion spacecraft are sitting poised on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Science

NASA's Artemis moon rocket is just hours from launch. Here's where to watch

8:33pm November 15, 2022

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The space agency has been trying for months to send its giant moon rocket on its first test flight. The goal is to send a crew capsule, with no astronauts on board, around the moon and back.

The United Arab Emirates' Hope probe will launch from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan and will reach Mars in February 2021.

Science

It's A Good Time To Head To Mars

6:56pm July 16, 2020

by Joe Palca

NASA is sending a six-wheeled rover to Mars to look for signs of microbial life stored in the rocks at Jezero crater. The rover is also the first step in bringing samples of Martian rock to Earth.

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A Russian resupply rocket launched Thursday morning from Kazakhstan. The flight initially went as planned, but the rocket broke up in the atmosphere about six minutes after it took off.

Russian Supply Rocket Breaks Apart En Route To Space Station

5:59pm December 01, 2016

by Rebecca Hersher

The unmanned rocket stopped transmitting data about six minutes after it took off from Kazakhstan and never made it to space. This is the third botched launch of a Russian spacecraft in two years.

An artist's depiction of the new GOES-R satellite.

New Satellite Provides Weather Forecasts For The Final Frontier

11:07am November 18, 2016

by Rae Ellen Bichell

The GOES-R satellite is scheduled to enter orbit Saturday. It'll sit 22,000 miles above the Americas, monitoring weather on the planet — and in space.

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People watch a news report at a railway station in Seoul on Feb. 3. North Korea launched a long-range rocket Sunday local time, defying international criticism.

World News

North Korea Launches Long-Range Rocket

11:16pm February 06, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Pyongyang says its launch is for an "observation satellite," but many nations view the launch as a concealed long-range missile test. So far, there has been no damage to boats or planes in the area.

A view from west Orlando shows an Atlas V rocket flying into sunlight, creating a unique light show last month in Orlando, Fla.

Atlas Rocket Lifts Off In Florida, Delivering A Spectacular Sky Show

11:42am October 02, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The exhaust plume left by the booster, which was carrying a Mexican satellite into orbit, left some strange and interesting patterns in the morning sky.

A Proton-M rocket shown in 2013. The same type of rocket malfunctioned in mid-flight on Saturday and crashed over Siberia carrying a Mexican communications satellite.

Unmanned Russian Rocket Burns Up Carrying Mexican Satellite

1:56pm May 16, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The launch is the latest in a string of failures for the Proton-M rocket, a workhorse for the International Launch Services, a joint Russia-American satellite carrier business.