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We have liftoff! At 5:55 a.m. EDT (09:55 UTC), a Rocket Lab Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand, carrying the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft.  

Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed Cygnus spacecraft now is scheduled to depart the International Space Station at 7:05 a.m. Tuesday, June 28, more than four months after delivering 8,300 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo to the orbiting laboratory for NASA. The release of Cygnus is being delayed one hour to better …

Live coverage has begun of the launch of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand, where the launch will take place, and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. CAPSTONE serves as a pathfinder for the orbit planned …

The weather forecast for Tuesday, June 28, is 75% favorable for launch of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket. The instantaneous launch opportunity is at 5:55 a.m. EDT (09:55 UTC) with liftoff from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of …

A U.S. resupply ship is being prepared for its departure from the International Space Station on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, the Expedition 67 crew continued its space gardening and human research activities today to promote mission success and improve health on Earth. NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins spent Monday wrapping up cargo operations inside …

Northrup Grumman 17 (NG-17) Cygnus Reboost: On Saturday June 25th, the ISS successfully performed a reboost using Cygnus Delta Velocity (∆V) Engine (DVE) starting at 17:27 GMT with a posigrade burn duration of 5 min and 1 sec resulting in a ∆V of 0.3 m/s and a delta altitude (∆H) of 0.54 km. The Cygnus …

Over the weekend, teams successfully conducted a test of the thrust vector control system on each of the twin solid rocket boosters of the Space Launch System for Artemis I while the rocket remains at Launch Pad 39B. The test was a follow-on to the wet dress rehearsal test campaign, which was completed last week. …

One of the James Webb Space Telescope's four primary scientific instruments, known as the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph instrument (NIRISS), has concluded its postlaunch preparations and is now ready for science. The last NIRISS mode to be checked off before the instrument was declared ready to begin scientific operations was the Single Object Slitless …

NASA, Rocket Lab, and Advanced Space are targeting June 28 for the launch of the CAPSTONE mission. The instantaneous launch opportunity is at 5:55 a.m. EDT (09:55 UTC). Live coverage will begin at 5 a.m. EDT on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app. CAPSTONE’s trajectory design means that the spacecraft will arrive at …

NASA, Rocket Lab, and Advanced Space are standing down from the June 27 launch attempt for the CAPSTONE mission to the Moon to allow Rocket Lab to perform final systems checks. Teams are evaluating weather and other factors to determine the date of the next launch attempt. The next launch opportunity within the current period …