SpaceX

File (Aug. 6, 2024) — Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft, with its prominent cymbal-shaped UltraFlex solar arrays, is pictured awaiting its capture by the Canadarm2 robotic arm commanded by Expedition 71 Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick of NASA. The maneuver marked the 50th free-flying capture for the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Image: NASA Northrop Grumman’s new Cygnus XL spacecraft will no longer dock with the International Space Station Wednesday morning as originally planned. In a blog post Tuesday evening, NASA announced that two, orbit-raising burns of the spacecraft’s main engine “stopped earlier than planned.” The agency didn’t state how much of the planned burns were able to be performed prior to the premature shutdowns. NASA also didn’t indicate what may have caused the engine to n...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sept. 14, 2025, to begin the NG-23 mission. This was the first launch of a Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL spacecraft. Image: John Pisani / Spaceflight Now Northrop Grumman’s first Cygnus XL vehicle was jettisoned on its way to the International Space Station following a pre-sunset launch from Cape Canaveral Sunday evening. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket thundered off the pad at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at 6:11 a.m. EDT (2211). About 8 minutes after taking off, the booster shook the Space Coast with a sonic boom as it touched down at Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This was just the fourth flight for this booster with the tail number B1094. It previously lau...

Technicians use a crane to lift Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft’s pressurized cargo module out of the shipping container on Thursday, July 10, 2025, inside the Space Systems Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The new extended Cygnus capsule, scheduled to launch no earlier than Sept. 14, 2025, will carry supplies, food, and scientific experiments for crew members at the International Space Station as part of the company’s 23rd cargo resupply mission. Image: NASA / Cory S. Huston The next cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station is launching Sunday and will feature a new iteration of the Cygnus spacecraft from Northrop Grumman. The mission, NASA’s NG-23, is the latest flight fulfilling NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract with Northro...

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaks across the sky on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, to begin the Nusantara Lima mission. Image: John Pisani / Spaceflight Now Update Sept. 11, 10:44 p.m. EDT: SpaceX successfully deployed the Nusantara Lima satellite Update Sept. 10, 5:55 p.m. EDT: SpaceX scrubbed the mission, targeting no earlier than Sept. 11. SpaceX succeeded in launching a communications satellite from an Indonesian company following three days of mission scrubs. Possible technical issues got in the way of a launch attempt Wednesday evening after back-to-back days of weather delays on Monday and Tuesday. Less than 30 minutes after liftoff, the Nusantara Lima (N5) satellite was deployed into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. It’s the latest satellite from Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN). SpaceX w...

NASA has certified a new lander flight training course using helicopters, marking a key milestone in crew training for Artemis missions to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will explore the lunar South Pole, paving the way for human exploration farther into the solar system, including Mars.  The mountains in northern Colorado offer similar visual illusions and flight environments to the Moon. NASA partnered with the Colorado Army National Guard at the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site near Gypsum, Colorado, to develop the foundational flight training course. “Artemis astronauts who will land on the Moon will need to master crew coordination and communication with one another,” said Paul Felker, acting deputy director of flight operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center ...