Spacecraft

No mission is too difficult

A newly arrived Russian science lab briefly knocked the International Space Station out of position on July 29 when it accidentally fired its thrusters.

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The collection of samples, which NASA marked as a turning point, will begin in the next two weeks. "We are on the threshold of a new era of planetary science and discovery", said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters.

NASA is returning to sizzling Venus, our closest yet perhaps most overlooked neighbor, after decades of exploring other worlds.

The space agency's new administrator, Bill Nelson, announced two new robotic missions to the solar system's hottest planet, during his first major address to employees on June 2. 

An automated spacecraft docked with China's new space station on May 30 carrying fuel and supplies for its future crew, the Chinese space agency announced.

Its perseverance is rewriting the history of life, and of ice, across the continent

China's probe to Mars touched down on the Red Planet on May 15 to deploy its Zhurong rover, state media reported, a triumph for Beijing's bold space ambitions and a history-making feat for a nation on its first-ever Martian mission.

At the Center for Space Control in Beijing, there was big jubilation when China made a successful landing on Mars early on Saturday.

The landing has taken place blindly for them down to the surface of the planet. The rover is programmed to make the landing on its own.

With rubble from an asteroid tucked inside, a NASA spacecraft fired its engines and began the long journey back to Earth on May 10, leaving the ancient space rock in its rearview mirror.

The trip home for the robotic prospector, Osiris-Rex, will take two years.

SpaceX returned four astronauts from the International Space Station on May 2, making the first U.S. crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot.

The Dragon capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, just before 3 a.m., ending the second astronaut flight for Elon Musk's company.