Interplanetary Life 2026 - March of the Robots explored some of NASA's most important robotic exploration missions. These robots are delivering groundbreaking science and demonstrating technological innovation, but ultimately, they are lighting the way for human exploration, for interplanetary life... human life. Dr Jason Rhodes, Chief Scientist, JPL and Roman JPL Lead Scientist iLife 2026 experts and leaders covered some of NASA's most important robotic exploration missions,

CRS-35 Resupply Mission Launches Today In spaceflight, the stars seem to have aligned for Crew-13. Today, October 13, a SpaceX resupply mission lifted off for the International Space Station, where the crew has been orbiting Earth, launching less than two weeks earlier. At 6:33 am EDT this morning, from SLC-40 on Cape Canaveral SFS in Florida, the SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off and put on a brilliant display in the pre-dawn sky. During stage separation, the sky erupted into the

Crew-13 launches from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Credit Spacepoint/Victoria Jean Buckman. After a nearly three-week delay caused by the discovery of a leak in the Crew Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system, followed by an unfavorable weather forecast on launch day, it seemed that luck might finally be on Crew-13’s side. Could it have something to do with SpaceX launching NASA’s first mission to carry the “13” designation in more

Yesterday marks a promising step forward with the successful launch of the Nancy Grace Roman telescope on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:26 am EDT.

NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies now work to re-orient the mission to attempt a rendezvous and perform proximity operations. What Happened The mission to boost Swift began on July 3 and was intended to prevent the 22 year-old observatory from entering a decaying orbit that would eventually cause it to burn up in our atmosphere later this fall. By mid July, NASA was already reporting attitude control issues with LINK, the servicing spacecraft developed by Katalyst Space.

Roman Space Telescope's Focal Plane. 18 saltine sized detectors. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Countdown to Possible In just a few short weeks, on August 30th, NASA will launch its newest Flagship Mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket from Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39A. The Roman Space Telescope is an exponential step into the future, building upon the legacy of the Hubble Telescope and its namesake, Dr. Edwin Hubble. In 1924, Dr. Hubble proved Andromeda, the nearest major

The impact of sudden darkness is a thing to behold, but what effect can this dramatic change have on our atmosphere? Could the Moon’s cold, dark shadow passing across the daytime sky become a natural laboratory for scientific study? The Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP) offers spectacular high-altitude views while collecting valuable atmospheric data. These observations improve atmospheric models, helping scientists better understand weather systems

Launch Date Set: No Earlier Than September 12, 2026 The SpaceX Crew-13 members are pictured in their pressure suits seated inside a mockup Dragon spacecraft during a preflight training session at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, California. From left are, Roscosmos Sergey Teteryatnikov, NASA astronauts Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk. Credit: SpaceX From Johnson Space Center in Houston earlier this week, Crew-1

Technicians and engineers inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida rotate the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to vertical Thursday, June 25, 2026, using precision handling hardware. Credit: NASA/Sydney Rohde (Rocz) What if we could map the universe with unprecedented precision and speed? What if an observatory could accomplish in a single month what would take the Hubble Space Telescope nearly a century to survey? Th

Starship 13 launches on a Buck Moon. Credit: Fabian Ramirez Lucky, good fortune, yes, after years of preparation. Starship 13 represents a significant step forward from Starship Integrated Flight Test 1 (IFT-1). Those who witnessed IFT-1 remember holding their breath as she hesitated, three engines failing to ignite, then ever slowly climbing above a 400 foot cloud of dust and debris. When IFT-1 emerged, a noticeable sigh of relief followed immediately by awe rippled thr

SpaceX Launches Northrop Grumman's Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV-1) SpaceX launched MRV-1 on Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on July 20, 2026. Photo Credit: Spacepoint/John Winkopp The Launch On July 20, 2026 SpaceX successfully launched the MRV-1 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Falcon 9 rocket with booster B1069 flying its final 32nd mission lifted off at 5:15 pm EDT from SLC-40 carrying Northrop Grumman's Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV-1)

STS-135: A Conversation With History In July, 2011, the space shuttle Atlantis marked the end of an era with its final flight, the STS-135 mission, the end of NASA's 30-year Space Shuttle Program. This July NASA commemorates that occasion by bringing together the last crew to pilot Atlantis here at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Pictured above, former crew of STS-135 right to left: Mike Leinbach- Launch Director, Christopher Ferguson- Commander, Doug Hurley- Pilot, Sandra

Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket launched Katalyst Space’s LINK spacecraft, supporting a mission to boost NASA’S Swift Observatory. (Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman)

Saving The Swift Observatory During a media event at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on June 17th, 2026 the teams from across NASA, Katalyst Space and Northrop Grumman came together to discuss the challenges and accomplishments surrounding the critical and time sensitive mission to save the $500 million dollar Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory from a decaying orbit. What makes this observatory unique? Swift was built to hunt some of the universe’s most powerful explosions: gamma-

The next step in a lifetime of work exploring the unknown. A Legacy to Build Upon On October 15th, 1997 a NASA Flagship mission launched aboard a Titan IV-B rocket from Cape Canaveral on a 7 year cruise to Saturn. That mission was Cassini-Huygens. When Cassini reached Saturn it was only the 4th spacecraft to travel as far as Saturn and the first to orbit the planet. The mission, was by all accounts a significant success in robotic planetary exploration. In fact, given the

Although MAVEN's mission has ended, its scientific contributions will continue to unlock the mysteries of Mars and shape future exploration for years to come.

A first-of-its-kind robotic servicing mission aimed at preserving NASA's Swift Observatory is advancing toward launch as the highly anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope makes its way to Kennedy Space Center to prepare for its own mission.

In the private sector, completing a major project ahead of schedule and under budget is cause for celebration. For most organizations, simply delivering on time and on budget is considered the baseline expectation. However, for a select few high-performing teams, exceeding those targets has become the new standard. NASA has just demonstrated exactly that level of excellence. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman recently announced that the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will l

Psyche, a NASA Discovery Mission, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A on October 13th, 2023. Psyche's mission will investigate a rare and also the largest M-type asteroid within our solar system for the first time and execute multiple technology demonstrations as it travels to its destination. NASA's Discovery Mission Psyche launches aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy: Credit: John WInkopp Psyche 16 a metallic asteroid resides in the as

At 6:50PM EDT, May 15th, 2026, NASA's Commercial Resupply Mission, SpaceX CRS-34 lifted off from LC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX Commercial Resupply Mission (CRS-34) from the NASA Causeway. Credit: Spacepoint/John Winkopp This launch marks the 57th successful NASA CRS Mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the 34th successful SpaceX CRS Mission. This mission was the sixth flight of the Falcon 9 Booster as well as the sixth flight for the Drag

Today, April 11, 2026, at 7:41am EST, NASA's Commercial Resupply Services 24 (NG-24) mission successfully launched Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL spacecraft. Cygnus XL was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) in Florida. SpaceX Falcon 9 Launching the Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL. Credit: Spacepoint This launch marks the 23rd successful Northrop Grumman commercial resupply launch for NASA. It also marks the seco

Artemis II Launches from Kennedy Space Center Historic Pad 39B. Credit: Spacepoint/John Winkopp The Artemis II mission; launch aboard NASAs' Space Launch System (SLS), orbit the Moon and return safely to Earth off the coast of San Diego, California, and set a few records. Total maximum mission duration 10 days. On April 1st, 2026, four humans risked everything to become the first astronauts since Apollo to crew a human spaceflight mission to the Moon. Simultaneously, they a

Mars, the Red Planet. The subject of numerous novels, well into the thousands, and movies well into the hundreds and counting. Most people could probably name at least one Mars novel or movie. One of the more famous classic movies, War of the Worlds, was released in 1953 and inspired by the H.G. Wells book, War of the Worlds, published in 1898. The classic wasn't about Mars per se; it went further, centering on a Martian invasion of Earth. An interesting illustration of fasci

The LISA spacecraft constellation. The triple spacecraft following Earth's orbit around the Sun. Credit: Simon Barke If someone told you NASA was building a giant space laser the size of the Sun, you'd probably wonder when the agency decided to go full "Star Wars" on everybody. Oh, and the European Space Agency (ESA) is in on it too, so I guess it's an international Death Star. Just kidding! But weirdly enough, not about the whole giant space laser the size of the Sun thing

Nobel Prize in Physics Winners; Barry Barish, Kip Thorne and Rainier Weiss We don't know yet whether or not the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize conferred on Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne is an example of work, as the Nobel Prize describes, the "greatest benefit to mankind," but we do know their achievement was the first direct detection of a gravitational wave in history. The proof that Einstein was right. The three were awarded the Nobel in Physics "for decisive contrib

On October 14th, 2024, Europa Clipper, a NASA Flagship mission, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket. This Falcon Heavy marked the 11th launch of the world’s most powerful operational rocket, but this launch marked the first time a NASA Flagship planetary science mission had launched using reusable side boosters. SpaceX Falcon Heavy on Launch Pad 39A NASA Flagship Mission Europa Clipper. Credit Spacepoint Those side boosters (B1064 and B1065) last launched the NASA

7:02 AM Central Time, November 18th, Starship Integrated Test Flight 2 (IFT-2) lifted off from Pad 1, Starbase, Texas. Starship's IFT-2 booster engines ignited at T-3 seconds and the largest most powerful rocket in the world lifted off the pad at T+0. A stark contrast to Starship Integrated Flight Test 1 (IFT-1) when Starship sat on the orbital launch mount a harrowing 8 seconds before liftoff. This time was noticeably different, sudden, deliberate. Starship IFT-2 Lifts of

The scope and scale is unprecedented. Never has the world seen a Rocket this size. The access is undeniable. Never has a rocket company been this transparent and never has the average person been afforded the opportunity to be this close to a launch vehicle on any given day. Starship Integrated Flight Test 1 (IFT-1) Ready for Test Flight. Credit: Spacepoint As Starbase sits on a narrow strip of private land surrounded by a federally protected wildlife refuge, the contras

The hazy golden atmosphere of Titan, target of the NASA New Frontiers Mission - Dragonfly. Credit: NASA Saturn's Largest Moon Saturn, roughly 886 million miles from the Sun, orbits our star with 293 moons, more than any other planet in our solar system. One of those moons has captured scientists' attention above all others. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is larger than Earth's moon, larger than the planet Mercury, and slightly smaller than Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon. Ti

Apollo 11 July 16th, 1969, Apollo 11 Lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39B. Credit: NASA The Apollo program started with a sense of urgency and commitment rarely seen. The mission was clear, the date was decisive and the definition of success was unambiguous. "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." - President John F. Kennedy On July 16th,