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Blue Origin launched its huge New Glenn rocket Thursday with a pair of NASA spacecraft destined for Mars. It was only the second flight of the rocket that Jeff Bezos' company and NASA are counting on to get people and supplies to the moon. The 321-foot (98-meter) New Glenn blasted into the afternoon sky from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, sending NASA's twin Mars orbiters on a drawn-out journey to the red planet. Liftoff was stalled four days by lousy local weather as well as solar storms strong enough to paint the skies with auroras as far south as Florida. In a remarkable first, Blue Origin recovered the booster following its separation from the upper stage and the Mars orbiters, an essential step to recycle and slash costs similar to SpaceX. Company employees cheered wildly as the booster landed upright on a barge 375 miles (600 kilometers) offshore. An ecstatic Bezos watched the action from Launch Control. Next stop, moon! company employees chanted following the successful
A successful model rocket launching test was conducted in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district, marking the first time a payload was launched via a rocket from the state, officials said. The test conducted on Saturday by the Astronautical Society of India in association with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) saw the model rocket ascend 1.12 km at 5:14:33 PM, a complete success. ISRO scientist Abhishek Singh, who was present at the test site, said, "The rocket was launched at 5:14 PM and 33 seconds, which went up to a height of 1.1 km. After this, a small satellite (payload) came out. As soon as it fell down to 5 metres, its parachute activated and the satellite landed within 400 metres on the ground." The 15 kg rocket also descended safely. This test was part of IN-SPACe Model Rocketry/CANSAT India Student Competition 2024-25 and a prelude to a larger event in October-November, where around 900 ...
A privately owned lunar lander touched down on the moon with a drill, drone and rovers for NASA and other customers Thursday, but quickly ran into trouble and may have fallen over. Intuitive Machines said it was uncertain whether its Athena lander was upright near the moon's south pole standing 15 feet (4.7 meters) tall or lying sideways like its first spacecraft from a year ago. Controllers rushed to turn off some of the lander's equipment to conserve power while trying to determine what went wrong. It was the second moon landing this week by a Texas company under NASA's commercial lunar delivery programme. Sunday's touchdown was a complete success. The company's newest Athena lander dropped out of lunar orbit as planned. The hourlong descent appeared to go well until the final approach when the laser navigation system began acting up. It took a while for Mission Control to confirm touchdown. We're on the surface, reported mission director and co-founder Tim Crain. A few minutes