SpaceX

The returning Soyuz MS-23/69S crew (clockwise from upper left): NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, flight engineer Dmitri Petelin and commander Sergey Prokopyev. Image: NASA. Outgoing space station commander Sergei Prokopyev and his two Soyuz crewmates, co-pilot Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, packed up Tuesday for a fiery plunge back to Earth early Wednesday to close out a yearlong stay in orbit, the longest flight in U.S. space history. When the trio launched in September 2022, they expected to spend six months aboard the International Space Station, the normal tour of duty for a long-duration crew. But a coolant leak disabled their Soyuz MS-22/68S ferry ship last December, prompting the Russians to launch a replacement — Soyuz MS-23/69S — last February. That meant Prokopyev, Pet...

The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft descends under its parachute in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two Russian cosmonauts undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth early Wednesday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out an unexpected yearlong stay in space, the longest single flight in U.S. space history. With Soyuz MS-69/23S commander Sergey Prokopyev monitoring cockpit displays, flanked on the left by co-pilot Dmitri Petelin and on the right by NASA flight engineer Frank Rubio, the Russian ferry ship undocked from the space station’s multi-port Prichal module at 3:54 a.m. EDT. After backing a safe distance away from the lab and waiting to reach the precise point in space to beg...

Updated (7:35 p.m. EDT (2335 UTC): Adding NASA confirmation of delay. Artist’s illustration of the Psyche spacecraft and its destination. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission is being delayed a week due to allow “verifications” of parameters used by the spacecraft’s thrusters, the space agency confirmed Thursday. Liftoff on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is now scheduled for no earlier than Oct. 12. “The change allows the NASA team to complete verifications of the parameters used to control the Psyche spacecraft’s nitrogen cold gas thrusters,” NASA said in a blog post that confirmed the delay, five hours after Spaceflight Now first reported it. “The parameters were recently adjusted in response to updated, warmer temperature predictions for these thrusters.” ...

Update 7:45 p.m. EDT (2345 UTC): SpaceX has scrubbed tonight’s planned Starlink launch and rescheduled for Friday night at 11:38 p.m. EDT (0338 UTC). The company was keeping watch on the weather in the booster recovery zone, where seas had been churned up by Hurricane Lee. Also, as of 7:45 p.m. EDT (2345 UTC) the Falcon 9 was not upright at the launch pad. Live coverage will start here about one hour before launch SpaceX hopes to launch its 65th orbital mission of the year shortly after midnight tonight, but it’s keeping an eye on the hurricane-churned ocean in the booster recovery zone. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral with 22 satellites for the Starlink network is scheduled for 12:03 a.m. EDT (0403 UTC). The 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station placed t...

Starship 25 is lifted atop Super Heavy booster by the launch pad ‘chopsticks’. Image: SpaceX. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Friday the conclusion its mishap investigation into the first integrated test flight of SpaceX’s reusable Starship launch vehicle. It stressed SpaceX has 63 corrective actions that need to be taken before Starship can make a second test flight. “SpaceX must implement all corrective actions that impact public safety and apply for and receive a license modification from the FAA that addresses all safety, environmental and other applicable regulatory requirements prior to the next Starship launch,” the FAA said in a statement. The announcement came days after SpaceX completed stacking its Starship vehicle (S25) on top of a Super Heavy Booster (B9). ...