Space Archives - WPTF-AM

NASA pushes back astronaut flights to the moon again

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA has announced more delays in sending astronauts back to the moon more than 50 years after Apollo. Administrator Bill Nelson said Thursday that the next mission in the Artemis program is now targeted for April 2026. The lunar fly-around with four astronauts had been planned for September 2025. Officials said the investigation into heat shield damage from the capsule’s initial test flight two years ago took time and other spacecraft improvements are still needed. This means a moon landing by two other astronauts is off until at least 2027. Astronauts last walked on the moon in December 1972 during Apollo 17.… Continue Reading

NASA spacecraft rockets toward Jupiter’s moon Europa in search of the right conditions for life

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft has blasted off on a quest to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa and reveal whether its hidden ocean might hold the keys to life. SpaceX launched the Europa Clipper on Monday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. It will take 5 1/2 years for Clipper to reach Jupiter. Once there, the spacecraft will orbit the giant gas planet, sneaking close to Europa during dozens of flybys. The $5.2 billion mission won’t search for life but rather the conditions necessary for it. Scientists are almost certain a vast, deep ocean exists beneath Europa’s icy crust.… Continue Reading

In an engineering feat, mechanical SpaceX arms catch Starship rocket booster back at the launch pad

SpaceX has launched its enormous Starship rocket on its boldest test flight yet, catching it with mechanical arms back at the pad. This fifth try involved grabbing the returning booster at the Texas pad. Towering almost 400 feet, the empty Starship blasted off Sunday from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. It arced over the Gulf of Mexico like the four Starships before it that ended up being destroyed. This latest test flight aimed to bring the first-stage booster back to land seven minutes after liftoff. The launch tower sports monstrous metal arms, dubbed chopsticks, that caught the descending 232-foot booster.… Continue Reading