China issues space policy white paper
Posted: Fri, Dec 30 6:49 AM ET (1149 GMT)
The Chinese government published on Thursday a white paper describing that country's five-year plan for spaceflight, including development of new launch vehicles and...

GRAIL spacecraft ready to enter lunar orbit
Posted: Fri, Dec 30 6:40 AM ET (1140 GMT)
Two NASA spacecraft launched in December are ready to enter lunar orbit this weekend, project officials confirmed this week. The twin Gravity Recovery And Interior...

Soyuz launches six Globalstar satellites
Posted: Thu, Dec 29 7:37 AM ET (1237 GMT)
Less than a week after one Soyuz rocket failed, another successfully placed six Globalstar satellites into orbit on Wednesday. The Soyuz 2-1a rocket lifted...

China activates satellite navigation system
Posted: Wed, Dec 28 6:51 AM ET (1151 GMT)
China turned on this week the first phase of its own satellite navigation system that will eventually compete with GPS and other such systems. The...

Proton launch delayed to January
Posted: Mon, Dec 26 10:39 PM ET (0339 GMT)
The launch of a European communications satellite scheduled for this week has been delayed until mid-January because of a problem discovered Monday with its...

Russian satellite fails to reach orbit
Posted: Fri, Dec 23 12:47 PM ET (1747 GMT)
A Russian communications satellite failed to reach orbit Friday after the failure of the upper stage of its Soyuz rocket, the latest in a string...

Soyuz docks with the ISS
Posted: Fri, Dec 23 12:37 PM ET (1737 GMT)
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying three people docked with the International Space Station Friday morning, restoring the station to normal six-person operations. The Soyuz TMA-...

China launches remote sensing satellite
Posted: Fri, Dec 23 12:03 PM ET (1703 GMT)
A Chinese rocket placed a high-resolution remote sensing satellite into orbit on Thursday. The Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite...

Soyuz launched to ISS
Posted: Wed, Dec 21 11:06 AM ET (1606 GMT)
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying ISS crewmembers from Europe, Russia, and the United States lifted off Wednesday from Baikonur. The Soyuz rocket carrying the Soyuz TMA-...

Kepler discovers first Earth-sized planets around Sun-like stars
Posted: Wed, Dec 21 10:53 AM ET (1553 GMT)
Astronomers announced Tuesday the discovery of the first planets similar in size to the Earth around a Sun-like star. The planets, designated Kepler-20e...