CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A private **** ecraft that was supposed to provide a lifeline to NASA's Swift Observatory managed to get close to the sinking telescope and even snap photos two weeks after the rescue was abandoned.
But the three-armed robotic salvager had to turn away because it was low on fuel, according to Katalyst **** e Technologies, which attempted the daring operation.
"We got so close, but so far," Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee told The **** ociated Press this week.
Katalyst's Link **** ecraft got within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of Swift on Tuesday, using its sensors to gather data on the doomed telescope for NASA. The rescue effort had already been called off in August because of Link's own troubles in orbit, but the company wanted the practice for future satellite-servicing missions.
Link went into an uncontrollable spin soon after rocketing to Swift's rescue in July. Flight controllers managed to slow the tumble and stabilize the **** ecraft, using up precious fuel. In the end, there was not enough fuel remaining to boost the aging Swift into a higher, longer-lasting orbit so it could continue observing the cosmos.

#rescue #link #close #telescope

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — ******* eX has pulled off its biggest salvage operation yet, recovering its most recently launched Starship from the Indian Ocean.
Elon Musk's company is now in the process of shipping Starship back to its home base in Texas, a trip expected to take several months. ******* eX shared pictures of the recovery effort near Christmas Island late this week.
Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket in the world — blasted off July 24 from Starbase, Texas. It was the 13th test flight of a full-up Starship, but unlike all the others, it survived the hourlong ******* e-skimming flight and remained floating and intact.
"Congratulations to the entire ******* eX Recovery team for battling through challenging conditions to give our engineers access to a wealth of data to continue rapidly developing Starship," the company said via X.
Starship is how Musk intends to get people and equipment to Mars, where he hopes to build a city. First up, though, is the moon. NASA is counting on Starship as well as Jeff Bezos' Blue Moon lander to return astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2028.

#biggest #flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A South Korean satellite has captured the first pictures of the moon's fresh crash scene caused by a stray ****** eX rocket.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute's Danuri ****** ecraft flew over the impact site soon after the Falcon 9 upper stage inadvertently plowed into the moon on Wednesday. Danuri made multiple passes, snapping photos from lunar orbit that were released by the ****** e agency Thursday.
The terrain is noticeably darker where the rocket hit and carved out a crater, sending dust and rock everywhere. Korean ****** e officials said Danuri gathered before and after shots.
NASA expects its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to fly over the crash site next week to view the aftermath.
Elon Musk's ****** eX launched Danuri from Cape Canaveral in 2022.

#canaveral #korean

AST ****** eMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) is one of the fastest-growing ****** e stocks to buy now. On June 17, AST ****** eMobile announced the successful orbital launch of BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10 from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch is directly relevant to the growth story because the satellites expand the company's direct-to-device broadband constellation, which is designed to connect standard smartphones without extra hardware. AST said the satellites measure about 2,400 square feet and are designed to deliver nearly double the peak data speeds of its first Block 1 BlueBird satellites.
The launch progress also gives context to AST ****** eMobile's first-quarter growth. On May 11, the company reported Q1 2026 revenue of $14.7 million, up from $718,000 a year earlier, driven by gateway deliveries and milestone achievements. The revenue base remains early, but the latest launch keeps AST's commercialization path tied to actual satellite deployment rather than only future network targets.
Copyright: lexaarts / 123RF Stock Photo
AST ****** eMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) is building a ****** e-based cellular broadband network designed to connect standard mobile phones directly to satellites.
While we acknowledge the potential of ASTS as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) stock suffered a substantial pullback over the last week of trading. The company's share price sank 25.1% across a stretch that saw the S&P 500 decline 2.6% and the Nasdaq Composite fall 4.7%.
Rocket Lab's valuation was under pressure this week as investors reacted to Blue Origin's rocket explosion the previous Friday and repositioned ahead of ****** eX's upcoming IPO. The company's stock also saw a substantial pullback in response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May jobs report. Despite this week's big sell-off, Rocket Lab's share price is still up roughly 58% year to date.
Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
Space tech stocks got hit with big sell-offs this week. Investors continued to reduce exposure to the face following the launchpad explosion of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida on May 28. In addition to that pressure, investors reacted negatively to some news about ****** eX's IPO.
SpaceX is set to go public on June 12, and its upcoming public debut has been a huge catalyst for other ****** e tech stocks. While excitement surrounding ****** eX's IPO has helped juice valuations across the ****** e industry, news that Elon Musk's company had lowered its planned IPO range from roughly $2 trillion to $1.77 trillion dampened excitement for ****** e tech stocks this week.

Dying star resembles a billowing crystal ball in new telescope photo

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A dying star has never looked so lovely.
The Gemini North Telescope atop Hawaii’s tallest peak, Mauna Kea, captured the star in its last gasps. The image was released Thursday by the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, which operates the telescope.
It’s actually a binary star system 1,500 light-years away, nicknamed the Crystal Ball Nebula because of the milky white, spherical cloud around it. A light-year is almost 6 trillion miles.
This cloud of gas forms when a star sheds its outer layers near the end of its life. The exposed stellar core heats the cloud to tens of thousands of degrees, giving it an ethereal glow.
Scientists believe one of the planetary nebula’s two orbiting stars — once bigger than our sun — gave up the ghost.

https://www.yahoo.com/news...

Apollo vs. Artemis: What to know about NASA's return to the moon

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Apollo moonshots are a tough act to follow, even after all this time.
As four astronauts get set to blast off on humanity’s first trip to the moon in more than half a century, comparisons between Apollo and NASA’s new Artemis program are inevitable.
The world's first lunar visitors orbited the moon on Apollo 8. The Artemis II crew will play it safe and zip around the moon in an out-and-back slingshot.
Another key difference: Artemis reflects more of society, with a woman, person of color a

Meet the Artemis crew in NASA's first astronaut mission to the moon in more than a half-century

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The four astronauts making NASA’s next lunar leap bear little resemblance to the Apollo era.
The Americans who blazed the trail to the moon more than half a century ago were white men chosen for their military test pilot experience. This first Artemis crew includes a woman, a person of color and a Canadian, products of a more diversified astronaut corps.
None of them were alive during NASA’s storied Apollo program that sent 24 astronauts to the moon including 12 moon

February finale: ***** eX wraps up month with three Starlink launches this week

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In what has become hardly a leap for the company, ***** eX concluded its Starlink satellite launches for February 2026 with a trio of flights this week.
On Tuesday (Feb. 24) at 6:04 p.m. EST (2304 GMT), a Falcon 9 lifted the first 29 satellites into low Earth orbit from ***** e Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral ***** e Force Station in Florida. The next day, 25 more Starlink units were sent ***** e

Four new astronauts arrive at the International **** e Station to replace NASA's evacuated crew

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The International **** e Station returned to full strength with Saturday’s arrival of four new astronauts to replace colleagues who bailed early because of health concerns.
SpaceX delivered the U.S., French and Russian astronauts a day after launching them from Cape Canaveral.
Last month’s medical evacuation was NASA’s first in 65 years of human **** eflight. One of four astronauts launched by **** eX last summer suffered what officials described as a serious health

SpaceX, NASA mission arrives at ISS, relieving bare-bones astronaut crew

A ****** eX capsule carrying four astronauts arrived at the International ****** e Station on Saturday, bringing the orbiting laboratory back to full staff a month after a previous crew made an emergency exit due to a medical concern, leaving behind a skeleton crew.
The mission, called Crew-12, lifted off at around 5:17 a.m. ET Friday from Cape Canaveral ****** e Force Station in Florida. The ****** ecraft spent more than 30 hours free-flying through ****** e, slowly making its way to an ideal docking position with th

Who's up for a late-night rocket launch? A rocket from Florida is scheduled to lift off Tuesday night.
Using its Falcon 9, ****** eX plans to send a Lockheed Martin-built GPS satellite into orbit.
Though rockets here launch from NASA's Kennedy ****** e Center or Cape Canaveral ****** e Force Station, people from Volusia County can sometimes see this phenomenon.
Weather permitting and depending on cloud cover and trajectory, a rocket launch from Florida’s ****** e Coast could be visible as far north as Jacksonville Beach and as far south as West Palm Beach.
When there’s a launch window in t

Their eyes were watching. Some knew something was wrong. Others were slow to realize. Soon everyone came to grief.
Forty years ago ***** e Shuttle Challenger climbed into the clear amid blue skies over Cape Canaveral. The nation’s youth watched on TVs across the nation and from school playgrounds across Central Florida.
Christa McAuliffe was to be the first teacher in ***** e.
But the streak of the rocket’s plume did not look right.
“We definitely didn’t know what happened at the time, but you could feel the energy of the teachers,” said Elizabeth Wisner Stroz, now 51, then an 11-year-old

Their eyes were watching. Some knew something was wrong. Others were slow to realize. Soon everyone came to grief.
Forty years ago **** e Shuttle Challenger climbed into the clear amid blue skies over Cape Canaveral. The nation’s youth watched on TVs across the nation and from school playgrounds across Central Florida.
Christa McAuliffe was to be the first teacher in **** e.
But the streak of the rocket’s plume did not look right.
“We definitely didn’t know what happened at the time, but you could feel the energy of the teachers,” said Elizabeth Wisner Stroz, now 51, then an 11-year-old in

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The moon and sun share top billing in 2026.
Kicking off the year’s cosmic wonders is the moon, drawing the first astronauts to visit in more than 50 years as well as a caravan of robotic lunar landers including Jeff Bezos’ new supersized Blue Moon. A supermoon looms on Jan. 3 and an astronomical blue moon is on the books for May.
The sun will also generate buzz with a ring-of-fire eclipse at the bottom of the world in February and a total solar eclipse at the top of the world in August. Expect more auroras in unexpected places, though perhaps not as frequently as

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A telescope in Chile has captured a stunning new picture of a grand and graceful cosmic ******* erfly.
The National Science Foundation’s NoirLab released the picture Wednesday.
Snapped last month by the Gemini South telescope, the aptly named ******* erfly Nebula is 2,500 to 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. A single light-year is 6 trillion miles.
At the heart of this bipolar nebula is a white dwarf star that cast aside its outer layers of gas long ago. The discarded gas forms the ******* erflylike wings billowing from the aging star, whose h

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists have detected what they believe to be lightning on Mars by eavesdropping on the whirling wind recorded by NASA's Perseverance rover.
The crackling of electrical discharges was captured by a microphone on the rover, a French-led team reported Wednesday.
The researchers documented 55 instances of what they call “mini lightning” over two Martian years, primarily during dust storms and dust devils. Almost all occurred on the windiest Martian sols, or days, during dust storms and dust devils.
Just inches (centimeters) in size, the electrical arcs occurred w

Space Coast hits 100th launch of 2025 as pace accelerates

The Brief
The ***** e Coast logged its 100th launch of the year with ***** eX’s latest Starlink mission, reflecting a rapidly growing flight cadence.
Experts say reusable rockets are driving the surge, with some boosters flying up to 30 times.
As more companies enter the market, officials expect even more launches and job growth across Florida.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The ***** e Coast is on track for a record-setting year, with Thursday night’s ***** eX mission marking the 100th launch from Florida in 2025.

https://www.yahoo.c

Florida's 99th orbital rocket launch of the year is in the books, courtesy of another **** eX Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral **** e Force Station.
The Falcon 9 rocket launched at 7:12 p.m. on the Starlink 6-94 mission, illuminating the clear nighttime **** e Coast sky.
Cape Canaveral: Is there a launch today? Upcoming **** eX, Blue Origin, ULA launch schedule at Cape Canaveral
For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral **** e Force Station and NASA's Kennedy **** e Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Another easy way: Click here to sign up for our weekly **** e news