All posts tagged: spaceflight

‘Trailblazer in human spaceflight’: Astronaut Sunita Williams retires from NASA after 27 years of service

‘Trailblazer in human spaceflight’: Astronaut Sunita Williams retires from NASA after 27 years of service

Published by Parlour News

NASA astronaut Suni Williams has officially retired on December 27, 2025, after a career spanning 27 years, a press release from the agency stated. Sunita Williams is known for completing three missions aboard the International Space Station. (AFP) “Suni Williams has been a trailblazer in human spaceflight, shaping the future of exploration through her leadership aboard the space station and paving the way for commercial missions to low Earth orbit,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said. ALSO READ | ‘India is amazing’: Sunita Williams’s reply when asked how it looked from space | Watch “Her work advancing science and technology has laid the foundation for Artemis missions to the Moon and advancing toward Mars, and her extraordinary achievements will continue to inspire generations to dream big and push the boundaries of what’s possible. Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement, and thank you for your service to NASA and our nation,” he added. Record-breaking spaceflight career Williams logged a total of 608 days in space, the second-highest cumulative time achieved by a NASA astronaut. She is also tied …

SpaceX Fires Up Starship Upper Stage for Ninth Test Flight in Static Fire Trial

SpaceX Fires Up Starship Upper Stage for Ninth Test Flight in Static Fire Trial

Published by Webster

SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft has fired up in another test as the company prepares for its ninth flight. Starship conducted a full-duration static fire of its upper stage at the Starbase facility in South Texas on May 12th. The 171-foot-tall (52-metre) vehicle fired all six of its mighty Raptor engines for the full-duration burn, which took about 60 seconds. This marked the third such static fire for this specific ship, which is now undergoing final checks. SpaceX shared video and images of the trial in a post on X the following day. Starship Nears Ninth Launch as SpaceX Advances Toward Mars-Ready Reusability As per a Space.com report, the static fire is one of the last key milestones before the vehicle’s upcoming launch, though no date has yet been announced. The booster assigned to Flight 9 has already conducted a static fire test, sparking talk it may only be weeks from flight. Fully stacked, Starship stands 403.5 feet, making it the most powerful rocket system ever assembled. Its super-heavy booster and ship upper stage are intended for full reuse, a requirement …

SpaceX Launches 28 Starlink Satellites from Florida: What You Need to Know

SpaceX Launches 28 Starlink Satellites from Florida: What You Need to Know

Published by Webster

SpaceX has expanded its constellation even more by sending another set of Starlink broadband satellites into orbit. At 2:28 a.m., the Falcon 9 rocket rose off Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying 28 Starlink satellites. EDT (0628 GMT) on May 9, the company’s second Starlink launch in a little over six hours. The most recent launch had been the preceding evening from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. SpaceX wants to build the biggest fleet of working satellites in low-Earth orbit; hence, this flight helps to achieve that. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Achieves 11th Reuse as Starlink Network Surpasses 7,300 Satellites in Orbit As per a SpaceX mission report, the Falcon 9’s first stage dropped gently on the autonomous drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean just eight minutes after launch. This particular booster flew for the 11th time, one of the ways SpaceX tries to fly its boosters for as many missions as feasible to reduce the cost of launching. From there, the rocket’s upper stage propelled it farther into low Earth orbit, where …

SpaceX Falcon 9 Successfully Launches 28 Starlink Satellites to Orbit From Florida

SpaceX Falcon 9 Successfully Launches 28 Starlink Satellites to Orbit From Florida

Published by Webster

SpaceX continued its rapid-fire Starlink deployment campaign on Tuesday night (May 6), lofting 28 more internet satellites to orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch itself took place at 9:17 p.m. EDT (0117 GMT on May 7) from Launch Complex-40, marking the company’s 53rd Falcon 9 launch of 2025 and the 36th dedicated Starlink mission this year. The payload offers worldwide internet connectivity by adding to SpaceX’s swiftly expanding array of over 7,200 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit. SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches 28 Starlink Satellites, Booster Lands Smoothly at Sea As per a Space.com report, B1085, the reusable first-stage booster, executed a perfect main engine cut about 2.5 minutes after launch, then stage separation and a retrograde burn to stop its descent. Roughly eight minutes after launch, B1085 successfully landed on the autonomous drone ship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission was the seventh flight for this particular booster, which had previously supported two other Starlink missions. The Falcon 9‘s upper stage continued into orbit and …

SpaceX Launches 23 Starlink Satellites on Falcon 9 Rocket From Cape Canaveral

SpaceX Launches 23 Starlink Satellites on Falcon 9 Rocket From Cape Canaveral

Published by Webster

SpaceX has successfully sent another batch of Starlink satellites into space on Monday, marking its second launch of the day. At 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 GMT on April 29), a brand-new Falcon 9 rocket carried 23 Starlink broadband satellites, including 13 equipped with direct-to-cell capability, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Earlier today, a separate Falcon 9 launched 27 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The rapid double mission highlights SpaceX’s pace in expanding its Internet constellation, which already stands as the largest of its kind ever deployed. Brand-New Falcon 9 Lands After Launching 23 Starlink Satellites to Orbit According to a Space.com report, this launch was significant as it was the first flight for this specific Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage. SpaceX’s boosters see multiple missions, with one record-setting booster achieving 27 flights to date. Despite being brand new, the first stage of the Falcon 9 made a flawless landing approximately eight minutes after launch, gently landing on the “A Shortfall of Gravitas” droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, the …

Falcon 9 Launches 28 Starlink Satellites, Scores Droneship Landing for 23rd Time

Falcon 9 Launches 28 Starlink Satellites, Scores Droneship Landing for 23rd Time

Published by Webster

SpaceX added to its growing Starlink mega-constellation with a launch to orbit and booster recovery. A Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex-40 at 9:52 p.m. EDT (0152 GMT on April 25), carrying 28 new satellites into low Earth orbit. The spacecraft were stacked vertically inside the rocket’s nose cone, where they sat on the Falcon 9’s nine first-stage Merlin engine stack that blasted them into the sky over Florida’s Space Coast. Falcon 9 Booster Lands on Droneship as 28 Starlink Satellites Reach Orbit According to a SpaceX mission update, the Falcon 9’s first stage, booster B1069, separated from the upper stage about 2.5 minutes after launch. Roughly six minutes later, it executed a precise landing on the autonomous droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This marked the 23rd successful flight for B1069 and the 19th time it supported a Starlink mission. The rocket’s second stage continued on its course, deploying the 28 satellites into low Earth orbit one hour into the mission. These satellites come as new …

SpaceX Sends Europe’s First Reentry Capsule into Orbit on Bandwagon-3 Rideshare Mission

SpaceX Sends Europe’s First Reentry Capsule into Orbit on Bandwagon-3 Rideshare Mission

Published by Webster

A Falcon 9 rocket soared into space from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on April 21 at 8:48 p.m. EDT (0048 GMT, April 22), carrying multiple payloads on SpaceX’s latest rideshare mission, Bandwagon-3. Among the diverse cargo onboard was Phoenix 1, a European-built reentry capsule developed by the German company Atmos Space Cargo. History will be made here in European aerospace with this launch, as Phoenix 1 becomes the first capsule from Europe intending to return from space and splash down on Earth after just one orbit, barely 1,200 miles offshore of Brazil. Phoenix 1 Debuts as Europe’s First Private Reentry Capsule on SpaceX Bandwagon-3 Flight According to Atmos Space Cargo, this mission is the first-ever atmospheric reentry attempt of a European private entity. Phoenix 1 is meant to test out essential technologies, including the company’s inflatable heat shield needed to return high-value cargo from space safely, the company noted. “Our mission is to revolutionise space logistics by enabling groundbreaking advancements in microgravity research, in-orbit manufacturing, defence applications, and life sciences,” says the firm’s website. …

Emily Ratajkowski, Amy Schumer and more celebs slam Blue Origin launch: ‘Destroying the planet’ | Hollywood

Emily Ratajkowski, Amy Schumer and more celebs slam Blue Origin launch: ‘Destroying the planet’ | Hollywood

Published by Parlour News

Blue Origin has come under fire after its star-studded crew, including Lauren Sanchez and Katy Perry, launched into space for an 11-minute excursion on Monday. Amid the buzz around the historic spaceflight that marked the first all-female space crew in over 60 years, A-list celebrities like Emily Ratajkowski and Amy Schumer took to social media to slam the aerospace company and its crew for “destroying the planet” and wasting resources on a commercial trip to space. Emily Ratajkowski, Olivia Wilde, Olivia Munn, Amy Schumer slam Blue Origin star-studded spaceflight(Getty Images) Emily Ratajkowski accuses Blue Origin of ‘destroying the planet’ “That space mission this morning? That’s end time s**t. Like, this is beyond parody,” Ratajkowski said in a video shared on her TikTok account. “That you care about Mother Earth, and it’s about Mother Earth, and you’re going up in a spaceship that is built and paid for by a company that’s singlehandedly destroying the planet?” The 33-year-old model urged her 2.7 million followers on the platform to “look at the state of the world” and …

NASA’s Jonny Kim Heads to Space With Russian Crew on Soyuz MS-27

NASA’s Jonny Kim Heads to Space With Russian Crew on Soyuz MS-27

Published by Webster

On April 8, 2025, an American-Russian crew launched a combined spaceflight mission early Tuesday. The Soyuz MS-27 was launched from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome. NASA astronaut Dr. Jonny Kim, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and doctor, along with Russian cosmonauts Alexey Zubritsky and Sergey Ryzhikov are the part of the crew. In what will be Kim’s maiden voyage, the spacecraft blasted off on a Soyuz 2.1a rocket at 1:47 a.m. EDT and will spend eight months on board the ISS. Soyuz MS-27 docks after brief orbital journey According to NASA’s official launch briefing, the Soyuz MS-27 capsule is scheduled to finish a two-orbit approach before docking with the ISS’s Prichal module at around 5:04 a.m. EDT. The crew will join Commander Alexey Ovchinin’s Expedition 72 after a successful docking and hatch opening. Currently, a combination of Japanese, American and Russian astronauts are stationed there. Expanded crew to support multiple mission objectives As outlined by Roscosmos and NASA mission updates, the three new arrivals, namely, Ryzhikov, Zubritsky, and Kim, will support various science experiments, maintenance tasks, and …

NASA Plans Another Starliner Test Flight Amid Propulsion System Challenges

NASA Plans Another Starliner Test Flight Amid Propulsion System Challenges

Published by Webster

NASA is considering another test flight for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft before it is used for routine crew rotation missions to the International Space Station. The agency’s commercial crew program manager, Steve Stich, stated that modifications to the spacecraft are being assessed, particularly in the propulsion system, which faced issues during its Crew Flight Test mission. Reports says helium leaks and thruster failures were detected. It lead to changes that must be validated before the vehicle carries astronauts on scheduled missions. Boeing has reportedly been working on solutions, with engineers testing new seals and propulsion components to prevent further complications. Challenges with Starliner’s Propulsion System According to reports, as per NASA, most of the anomalies from the Crew Flight Test have been addressed, though challenges remain with the propulsion system. The helium leaks and thruster failures encountered on the previous mission required astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to stay aboard the station longer than planned. Stich told reporters that the next flight will focus on verifying the improvements, ensuring that Starliner can safely transport …