Three new crew members are set to launch to the International Space Station on a six-hour flight to travel from the launch pad to their destination. Chris Cassidy of NASA, along with Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), are scheduled to launch in their Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur…

NASA is extending its contract with the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy for the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope Science Operations activities at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., for 36 months. The option the agency chose to exercise has a total estimated value of $76 million and extends the period of…

The Planck space mission has released the most accurate and detailed map ever made of the oldest light in the universe, revealing new information about its age, contents and origins. Planck is a European Space Agency mission. NASA contributed mission-enabling technology for both of Planck’s science instruments, and U.S., European and Canadian scientists work together…

More than three weeks after arriving at the International Space Station, the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Dragon spacecraft is ready for the trip back to Earth, now scheduled for March 26. Dragon’s originally scheduled March 25 return date was postponed due to inclement weather developing near its targeted splashdown site in the Pacific Ocean….

The EDGE® Innovation Network announced March 22 that the new EDGE Space Innovation Center is officially open following a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Housed within the General Dynamics’ Seabrook, Md., facility, the 13th and newest EDGE Innovation Center is less than two miles from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. General Dynamics C4 Systems…

NASA has signed a one-year contract option with Jacobs Technology, Inc., of New Orleans to continue manufacturing support and facilities operations at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The one-year contract option begins on May 1. The contract is a performance-based, cost-plus-award-fee, mission services contract with an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity portion. With the exercise…

The Silicon Valley Space Center will develop four scientific payloads to fly on the XCOR Lynx spacecraft, which is currently under construction in Mojave, California. The payloads will fly on missions sponsored by the United States Rocket Academy’s Citizens in Space program. The payloads are part of a cooperative agreement between the Silicon Valley Space…

NASA is expanding its reach to the nation’s growing Spanish-speaking population by holding its first-ever Google+ Hangout en Espanol from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m., EDT, March 28. As part of Science4Girls, a NASA initiative to partner with libraries during National Women’s History Month, participants will be able to learn more about the life and career…

The U.S. Air Force’s second Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO-2) spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, was successfully launched today at 5:21 p.m., EDT, March 19 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The SBIRS program delivers timely, reliable and accurate missile warning and infrared…

CANOGA PARK, Calif. – An Atlas V launch vehicle rose from the pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., March 19 to deliver the second Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous satellite GEO 2 into orbit – thanks to propulsion provided by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and RD AMROSS. The United Launch Alliance Atlas V…