Astronomy, Rocket | featured news

NASA is blaming Congress for the need to pay $424 million more to Russia to get U.S. astronauts into space.

A new era in space exploration dawned Tuesday as a slender rocket powered into the dark Florida sky before sunrise, carrying the first private spacecraft bound for the International Space Station. "We're now back on the brink of a new future, a future that embraces the innovation the private sector brings to the table," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "The significance of this day cannot be overstated."

The design for NASA’s newest rocket harkens back to the giant workhorse liquid rockets of the past, but the destinations will be farther and the rocket more powerful.

An unused pad at the nation's West Coast launch complex is being retrofitted to send up the world's most powerful rocket. Private rocket maker Space Exploration Technologies is spending between $20 million and $30 million to renovate the site that will be home to its Falcon Heavy, the largest rocket since the retired Saturn V that hurled astronauts to the moon.

A South Korean space rocket carrying a scientific satellite exploded two minutes into its flight in the second failure in two tries to put a payload in orbit, dealing a major setback to the country's space program.

The Ares I-X, a prototype of NASA’s next-generation Ares I rocket, zipped off the launching pad after weather delays.

Viewers didn't see the plume of dust that was supposed to arise after a rocket smacked into a crater. But scientists are hopeful they'll get enough data to determine if water is present on the moon.