File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands in the vertical position at sunset at Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Image: SpaceX SpaceX is preparing to launch 24 Starlink broadband satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base Friday evening on a Falcon 9 rocket launch less than 30 minutes after sunset. The mission dubbed Starlink 17-7 …
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The International Space Station (ISS) has been in orbit for over 26 years, housing astronauts at an altitude of 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. But even at that distance, the space station can’t escape the drag of Earth’s atmosphere as oxygen molecules and other gases collide with it, causing it to lose altitude over time. For the ISS to …
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SpaceX launched a new Earth-observation satellite along with several smaller spacecraft from California on Tuesday (Aug. 26). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying Luxembourg’s National Advanced Optical System (NAOS) spacecraft lifted off on Tuesday at 2:53 p.m. EDT (1853 GMT or 11:53 a.m. PDT local) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base. In addition to NAOS, which …
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For centuries, humans have gazed into the night sky, wondering what lies beyond the planets we know. Each new discovery in the Solar System reshapes our sense of place in the cosmos. Now, astronomers are once again pointing to the possibility of an unseen world – one that may be orbiting far beyond Neptune. This hypothetical body has been given …
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the launch of SpaceX’s 33rd Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-33) mission. Image: SpaceX NASA and SpaceX are preparing to embark on a unique cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon spacecraft set to launch in the predawn hours of …
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SpaceX launched yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit today (Aug. 22). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 Starlink craft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in coastal California today at 1:04 p.m. EDT (1704 GMT; 10:04 a.m. local time). The rocket’s first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes later, touching down in the …
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Russia just sent a mini menagerie to orbit. The Bion-M No. 2 biosatellite launched atop a Soyuz rocket from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today (Aug. 20), rising off the pad at 1:13 p.m. EDT (1713 GMT; 10:13 p.m. local time in Kazakhstan). Onboard are 75 mice and 1,000 fruit flies, along with a variety of microbes, cell cultures …
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SpaceX sent another batch of its Starlink broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit today (Aug. 18), atop a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The launch, at 12:26 p.m. EDT (1626 GMT or 9:26 a.m. PDT local time) on Monday marked the company’s 100th Falcon 9 flight of 2025. It was SpaceX’s 103rd mission …
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A first-of-its-kind satellite recently launched into orbit to monitor Earth’s changing surfaces, detecting movement of the planet’s crust down to fractions of an inch. The satellite packed a giant radar antenna, folded like an umbrella, and it just unfurled the massive, drum-shaped structure through an intricate process that brought it to full bloom. The NISAR mission, a joint effort between …
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While most people witness only the familiar crack of thunder and flash of lightning from storms on Earth, brilliantly-colorful electric fireworks detonate much higher, in the thin air up to 55 miles overhead, easily seen from the ISS. These brief spectacles – blue jets, red sprites, violet halos, ultraviolet rings – are collectively known as transient luminous events, or TLEs. …
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