SpaceX launches communications satellite, lands booster

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX has launched and landed its second rocket in three days, this time from the U.S. East Coast.The unmanned Falcon — recycled following a February flight — blasted off with a satellite Wednesday evening from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

Vice Pres. Mike Pence pledges that US will go to the moon, Mars and beyond

WASHINGTON — Seated before the grounded space shuttle Discovery, a constellation of Trump administration officials used soaring rhetoric to vow to send Americans back to the moon and then on to Mars.After voicing celestial aspirations, top officials moved to what National Intelligence Director Dan Coats called "a dark side" to space policy.

Spacewalkers install new hand on station's robot arm

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Spacewalking astronauts gave the International Space Station's big robot arm a new hand Thursday.Commander Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei accomplished the job on the first of three NASA spacewalks planned over the next two weeks.The latching mechanism on one end of the 58-foot robot arm malfunctioned in August.

SpaceX releases fail video of all of its rocket explosions

Boom!While we may be used to watching SpaceX successfully land its Falcon 9 rocket boosters on land and sea, the company wasn't always so successful.Elon Musk's company lost many boosters as it tried to figure out how to make a successful landing.On Thursday, Musk posted a compilation video of all those explosions - or as the video jokingly calls them ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly' - with new footage that had never been released.In the description, Musk wrote: "The sordid history of how the @SpaceX Falcon 9, the first fully reusable, orbit-class booster rocket, eventually managed to land in one piece and stay that way ...

NASA's Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft faces fiery finish

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — After a 20-year voyage, NASA's Cassini spacecraft is poised to dive into Saturn this week to become forever one with the exquisite planet.There's no turning back: Friday it careens through the atmosphere and burns up like a meteor in the sky over Saturn.NASA is hoping for scientific dividends up until the end.

SpaceX launches Air Force's super-secret minishuttle

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched the Air Force's super-secret space shuttle on Thursday, a technology tester capable of spending years in orbit.The unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, as schools and businesses boarded up for Hurricane Irma.It's the fifth flight for one of these crewless minishuttles, known as the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.The two Air Force space planes have already logged a combined 5 ½ years in orbit.

SpaceX Dragon delivers scientific bounty to space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX shipment arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday, delivering a bonanza of science experiments.The SpaceX Dragon capsule pulled up following a two-day flight from Cape Canaveral.

Wisconsin cork company helping with NASA project

TREVOR — A southeastern Wisconsin cork company is among more than a dozen manufacturers in the state that are providing parts and products for a NASA venture into space.Cork from Amorim Cork Composites in Trevor will be used in the heat shield on the crew capsule and rocket for the spacecraft that's expected to take humans to deep space and Mars in coming decades, according to the Fond du Lac Reporter ."Cork is a fantastic thermal protector," said Bill Famiglietti, the president of Amorim's North American group. "It's a heat shield so the astronauts .

Bag laced with moon dust sells for $1.8 million at Sotheby's

A bag containing traces of moon dust has sold at auction for $1.8 million.The sale at Sotheby's on Thursday was surrounded by some fallout from a galactic court battle.The collection bag was used by astronaut Neil Armstrong during the first manned mission to the moon in 1969.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk says 1st launch of big new rocket will be risky

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX's chief said Wednesday that the first launch of its big new rocket is risky and stands "a real good chance" of failure.Founder Elon Musk told a space station research conference Wednesday that he wants to set realistic expectations for the flight later this year from Cape Canaveral.

NASA picks 12 new astronauts from crush of applicants

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA chose 12 new astronauts Wednesday from its biggest pool of applicants ever, selecting seven men and five women who could one day fly aboard the nation's next generation of spacecraft.The astronaut class of 2017 includes doctors, scientists, engineers, pilots and military officers from Anchorage to Miami and points in between.

SpaceX launches 1st recycled supply ship

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched its first recycled cargo ship to the International Space Station on Saturday, yet another milestone in its bid to drive down flight costs.After a two-day delay caused by thunderstorms, the unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off carrying a Dragon capsule that made a station delivery nearly three years ago.

Storms delay SpaceX station delivery using recycled capsule

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Stormy weather thwarted SpaceX's effort Thursday to launch its first recycled cargo ship to the International Space Station.A lightning strike within 11 miles of the pad violated launch weather rules.

NASA orders up urgent spacewalking repairs at space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has ordered up urgent spacewalking repairs at the International Space Station.On Tuesday, two astronauts will venture out to replace a data relay box that broke over the weekend.

NASA nixes crew for test flight of new megarocket in 2019

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's new megarocket will launch without astronauts on its test flight, now delayed until 2019 because of technical challenges, the space agency's top leaders said Friday.In February at the request of the White House, NASA began studying the possibility of putting a crew on the first flight.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft flies between Saturn and rings in historic 1st

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's Cassini spacecraft ventured Wednesday into the never-before-explored region between Saturn and its rings.But flight controllers won't know how everything went until Thursday when they are back in touch with the craft.Cassini was out of radio contact with Earth as it became the first spacecraft to enter the gap between Saturn and its rings.

Supply ship named for John Glenn arrives at space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A supply ship bearing John Glenn's name arrived at the International Space Station on Saturday.Astronauts used the station's big robot arm to grab the capsule, as the craft flew 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Germany.

Last adventure ahead for NASA's Cassini spacecraft at Saturn

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's Cassini spacecraft faces one last perilous adventure around Saturn.Cassini swings past Saturn's mega moon Titan early Saturday for a gravity-assisted, orbit-tweaking nudge."That last kiss goodbye," as project manager Earl Maize calls it, will push Cassini onto a path no spacecraft has gone before — into the gap between Saturn and its rings.

John Glenn honored with launch of space station supply ship

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — John Glenn's trailblazing legacy took flight Tuesday as a cargo ship bearing his name rocketed toward the International Space Station.An Atlas rocket provided the late morning lift to orbit, just as it did for Glenn 55 years ago.The commercial cargo ship, dubbed the S.S. John Glenn, holds nearly 7,700 pounds (3,500 kilograms) of food, equipment and research for the space station.