SpaceX Crew Dragon 'Endeavour' Launches Four Astronauts to Space Station

Four astronauts aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour launch. (SpaceX)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Four astronauts launched aboard a reusable SpaceX Crew Dragon early Friday from America's Space Coast to begin a nearly six month stay aboard the International Space Station.

This SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the second operational commercial crewed space launch. It also marks the third time Americans have launched into space from the U.S. in last 11 months.

Riding a top a Falcon 9 rocket, the crew dragon Endeavour lifted off at 5:49:02 a.m. EDT, from the Kennedy Space Center. The Falcon 9's instantaneous launch time occurred as the space station orbited 258 miles high above the Indian Ocean.

The candle stick rocket soared up the east coast of the United States. Nearly three minutes after launch, Falcon's spent first stage separated and the second stage immediately took over.

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Flies Higher During Second Flight

Mars helicopter Ingenuity begins its second flight on April 22. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA flew for a second time the first powered aircraft on Mars Thursday demonstrating that humans can control flight within the planet's ultra thin atmosphere.

The tissue box-size Mars helicopter Ingenuity transmitted a few images during its flight to its host, the Perseverance rover. Located 215 feet away, Perseverance transmitted the final commands from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory one hour before the flight.

At an exact moment, the copter's twin rotor blades were spun up to 2,537 rpm. A final system's check was performed as the blades cut through Mars' ultra thin atmosphere.

Likened to the Wright Brothers first powered flight, Ingenuity took off from the Martian surface at 5:33 a.m. EDT, and stayed aloft for 51.9 seconds. The controlled flight flew a distance of seven feet and up to an altitude of 16 feet.

“The helicopter came to a stop, hovered in place, and made turns to point its camera in different directions,” Ingenuity’s chief pilot Håvard Grip said on Thursday. “Then it headed back to the center of the airfield to land."

Wings in Space: Columbia Launches the Space Shuttle Era

The first space shuttle flight lifts-off on April 12, 1981. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A new era of human spaceflight began in April 1981, as two NASA astronauts lifted-off aboard the first reusable winged spacecraft to set sail on the ocean of space.

Nothing is more associated with the 1980s as the space shuttle. In fact, Columbia's maiden launch was the first video ever played when MTV launched four months later.

Astronauts John W. Young and Robert L. Crippen served as the flight crew for the first space shuttle flight. Launched on April 12, 1981, the historic mission of shuttle Columbia allowed NASA to begin

Young was a veteran of two Gemini and two Apollo space missions, and Crippen was a rookie who had supported the Skylab missions. Each trained for nearly four years in preparation for this flight.

It was Young who was working the surface of the Moon in 1972 when NASA informed him that the space shuttle was approved for development. “The country needs that shuttle mighty bad,” Young replied.

NASA Astronaut, Two Russians Launch on 'Fast-Track' to Space Station

A Russian Soyuz 2.1a lifts-off with a new crew bound for the space station. (NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts lifted-off from Kazakhstan on Friday on a fast trip to reach the International Space Station.

American Mark T. Vande Hei and Russian's Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov are scheduled to spend nearly six months in space.

Lift-off of the Soyuz 2.1a rocket occurred on time at 3:42:40.9 a.m. EDT (12:42 p.m. local), from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Nine minutes later, the crewed Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft arrived in an initial orbit.

SpaceX Announces all-Civilian Crew for Orbital Flight

SpaceX will add a dome window to their Crew Dragon. (SpaceX)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Four non-astronauts were introduced to the public on Tuesday as the first all-civilian space crew selected to spend three days in Earth orbit this autumn.

Businessman and jet pilot Jared "Rook" Isaacman will lead the rookie crew. A physician's assistant Hayley Arceneaux, geoscientist and pilot Dr. Sian Proctor, and former Air Force airman Chris Sembroski round out the crew.

Dr. Proctor, 51, will become the first woman of color to pilot an American space flight. She will be only the third American woman to pilot a space craft.

The crew is scheduled to lift-off a top reflown Falcon 9 booster on September 15 aboard the Crew Dragon known as Resilience. The Inspiration 4 crew will lift-off from historic launch pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center.

NASA Sets Target Date for Mars Helicopter Flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA announced on Tuesday a target date for the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet.

The small helicopter known as Ingenuity is expected to lift-off from the surface of Mars no earlier than Thursday, April 8. The copter remains attached to the belly of NASA’s new rover Perseverance, receiving electricity, warmth, and a ride to its launch zone.

NASA will have only one month to perform a series of flights once the copter is dropped from the rover’s belly. It’s deployment next week will start a 30 day clock on how long the team will have to fly the craft.

Deployment of the helicopter will take six days, four hours to complete. The tissue box-size aircraft will be cut loose on day six and drop five inches onto the Martian surface.

NASA's Martian Helicopter 'Ingenuity' Nears its First Flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A small helicopter attached to the NASA rover Perseverance will soon take flight to conduct the first flight of an aircraft on another world.

The drone-style helicopter known as Ingenuity will provide the Red Planet with a first of its kind air show the first week of April. During a 30-day window, engineers hope to perform up to five flight tests -- each building on the previous flight.

At $85 million, the Ingenuity program is an investment in understanding aviation in the very thin Martian atmosphere. The planet's surface pressure is only .088% that of Earth's, and this may make it difficult to provide the necessary lift in order to fly.

"When the Wright Brothers flew for the first time, they flew an experimental aircraft," Ingenuity's chief pilot Håvard Grip explained. "In the same way, the Mars helicopter is designed to show we can fly a powered helicopter flight in the Martian atmosphere."

NASA to Conduct the First Martian Air Show

Controlled from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, Ingenuity will be lowered from the belly of Perseverance. Signals from Earth will then detach the copter and it will drop a few inches to the Martian surface and land on its four legs.

Exclusive Interview: Space Shuttle Discovery Pilot Col. Eric Boe

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA astronaut Col. Eric A. Boe, who piloted the final flight of space shuttle Discovery ten years ago this week, recalls the exciting 13-day mission to service the International Space Station.

The 133rd space shuttle flight delivered tons of supplies, including water, fuel, and oxygen to the orbital laboratory. Discovery's six-person crew also left the Leonardo multi-purpose module docked to the station.

On March 9, 2011, Boe and mission commander Steven Lindsay piloted Discovery to a safe landing at the Kennedy Space Center. In total, Discovery spent a combined 365 days in space; orbited the Earth 5,830 times, and traveled a distance of 148,221,675 miles during 39 flights.

In an exclusive interview with this aerospace journalist, the former U.S. Air Force fighter and test pilot discusses his feelings related to the space flight. From the emotions of the mission to his piloting time around the space station.

Eric Boe: From a CAP Student to NASA Astronaut

Eric Boe's career in aviation began as he joined the Civil Air Patrol which is an auxiliary of the Air Force.