On Sept. 28, 2024, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia. Launching the Crew Dragon with two unoccupied seats is part of the agency’s decision to return the Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft uncrewed demonstrating the flexibility of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
In a crucial milestone for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner launched into the Florida Space Coast skies at 10:52 a.m. EDT on June 5, 2024. The agency now has a second vehicle to send astronauts from American soil to and from the International Space Station. With two agency astronauts aboard, the Crew Flight Test (CFT) lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off on March 3, 2024, with three Americans and one Russian for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Ongoing research aboard the orbital laboratory is designed to benefit humans living on and off the Earth. What is learned in orbit also will help NASA prepare for long-term operations on and around the Moon and eventual exploration of Mars.
During 2023, 72 rockets launched into the skies regularly rumbling windows along Florida’s Space Coast proving, again, that NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station have been established as America’s premier multi-user spaceport. The new record shattered the previous number set only last year during which 57 rockets lifted off.
A rocket thundering into space is a familiar sight for residents of Florida’s Space Coast. In the past two years, more than once a week windows rattle as launch vehicles send satellites to orbit and spacecraft on missions beyond Earth. However, those who were outside on a recent evening witnessed a rare spectacle. A spacecraft streaked across the night sky as four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere.
Four astronaut specialists, four space agencies, four nations launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for a long-term mission aboard the International Space Station. It’s an effort emblematic of America’s growing effort to involve global participation in space exploration. The Crew-7 commander is NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli. Joining her are European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Russia.
When NASA’s Kennedy Space Center became operational in the summer of 1962, very few woman held jobs beyond secretarial or housekeeping positions. Today, they serve in leadership posts, engineering jobs and other key roles alongside their male counterparts. Retired spaceport engineer and NASA astronaut Nicole Stott spoke to employees at the Florida spaceport inspiring women to take full advantages of opportunities now offered.
After a nearly six-month science mission aboard the International Space Station, the Crew-5 astronauts returned to Earth splashing down off the coast of Tampa, Florida at 9:02 p.m. EST on March 11, 2023. The Crew Dragon spacecraft autonomously undocked and departed the orbiting laboratory returning the four crew members and time-sensitive research samples.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has launched another diverse crew of astronauts for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. The company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off into the pre-dawn sky from Launch Complex 39A at NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center on March 2, 2023. The Crew-6 mission includes two NASA astronauts: mission commander Stephen Bowen and pilot Woody Hoburg. They were joined by mission specialists Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia.
Capped by the highly successful Artemis I mission, 2022 was a landmark year for NASA. Groundbreaking research continued in Earth orbit, a new human-rated spacecraft circled the Moon, robotic exploration of Mars reached important milestones and the agency’s newest telescope revealed never-before seen images of the universe.