Skip to main content

Spacecraft

Space trackers and trailblazers reunite to celebrate Australia's starring role in lunar history

It's been six decades since NASA first touched down in outback WA, and it's given current and former residents of Carnarvon plenty of reasons to celebrate.
A large rocket and satellite dish point upwards into the evening sky.

Chinese Space Pioneer's Sky Dragon 3 rocket detonates following accidental launch

What began as a static test of a new "Sky Dragon 3" rocket by a private Chinese space company ended in a fiery explosion following the rocket's accidental launch. 
A plume of smoke and fire rises from a hillside where a rocket fell and detonated.

Two astronauts are waiting on the International Space Station. Here's why NASA can't say when they're going home

It's now three weeks in space and counting for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, as NASA and Boeing troubleshoot problems with their space capsule. Three potential landing dates have so far been called off, and their flight home is now on hold.
A spacecraft is blasting off from a launchpad with loads of smoke underneath

How space infrastructure is shaping and changing wars

It might sound like science fiction but wars involving space are already becoming a reality with conflicts like Ukraine showing how important infrastructure in orbit can be on the ground.
A man in a room with television screens and computer monitors behind him during a television interview.
Duration: 4 minutes 23 seconds

Mechanical failures postpone Boeing Starliner's return to Earth, with no date set for astronauts' flight home

The space capsule's first crewed flight has experienced five failures of its 28 manoeuvring thrusters, five leaks of helium and a slow-moving propellant valve that signal unfixed issues from past flights.
Updated
A conical capsule space capsule above the Earth approaches the camera.

Boeing launches NASA astronauts to space aboard its Starliner capsule after years of delays

A pair of NASA test pilots blasted off aboard Boeing's Starliner capsule for the International Space Station, belatedly joining SpaceX as a second taxi service for the US space agency.
Updated
A rocket is launched to space in a big cloud of smoke from a location with palm trees and blue skies

Footage of Chinese lunar lander successfully touching down on the Moon

The uncrewed spacecraft, the Chang'e-6, touched down on the dark side of the moon.
Grainy footage of the lunar surface with Chinese news graphics overlayed on it.
Duration: 40 seconds

Footage shows China's spacecraft landing on far side of the Moon

Footage of China's uncrewed spacecraft landing on the far side of the Moon has been released by Chinese media. 
Grainy footage of the lunar surface with Chinese news graphics overlayed on it.

China lands spacecraft on far side of Moon

The Chinese lander will use a mechanical arm and a drill to gather up to 2 kilograms of surface and underground material from the Moon to send back to Earth.
A large spacecraft in between four large telephone poles.

Chinese astronauts beat their record for longest spacewalk

Chinese astronauts have completed 16 spacewalks since 2008, the Chinese manned spaced agency says. 
Two astronauts float in the atmosphere with earth seen below.

North Korea's latest military satellite was a litmus test for Russian influence — then it exploded

North Korea has tried and failed to launch a military satellite into space — a move that had threatened to violate United Nations conventions and further inflame tensions in the region.
Updated
White rocket launching amid plume of orange smoke.

Could increasing satellite 'noise' pose problems for the Square Kilometre Array?

By 2030, the world's largest radio telescope will be operational in remote Western Australia, but by then tens of thousands of satellites will be orbiting Earth, blanketing it with radio noise.
Updated
An aerial view of the SKA-Low being built

Ed Dwight, first African American candidate for space travel, takes off 60 years later

Ed Dwight was in the same class as Apollo 11's Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, but NASA did not select black astronauts until 1978. On Sunday, aged 90, he finally experienced zero gravity.
A man in a blue flightsuit emerges from a space capsule with his arms raised.

Will the next big conflict be fought in space? This is how the world is preparing for star wars

Satellites are under threat like never before and more countries are preparing for wars in space. So, what exactly is going on above the atmosphere? And should we be worried?
Satellite floating in space.

Everyone has an opinion about Pine Gap, but no-one wants to talk about it

Journalist Alex Barwick has lived in Alice Springs for 16 years but she's only recently dared to investigate Pine Gap, the ultra-secretive US spy base in her own backyard. 
Updated
A woman sits at an outdoor table in the outback with sheets of papers in front of her and a hill in the background..

This tiny Aboriginal community is looking to the future as a rocket launch site, but one elder is concerned about the past

A tiny Aboriginal community and former mission town in South Australia launches jobs and dreams as a rocket site, but one elder is concerned the burgeoning industry could destroy significant sites and dreaming stories.
Close up of woman wearing black beanie looking at camera, another woman in background blurred, wearing glasses

Boeing's Starliner capsule faces lengthy delays as technical issues postpone flight by at least 10 days

Boeing badly needs a space win for its Starliner venture, a years-delayed program with more than $US1 billion in cost overruns.
Updated
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams prepare for the flight. 

NASA sends software update 24 billion kilometres to restore communication with Voyager 1

Humanity's most distant spacecraft — which fell silent in November — is once again sending status reports after NASA engineers working with a two-day communication delay devised a software fix for a failed computer chip.
Updated
An artist's impression of the Voyager spacecraft in space

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter sends last message from Mars to Earth

The helicopter, called Ingenuity, has transmitted its final message to Earth and will now serve as an immobile data-gathering unit on the red planet's surface, the space agency says.
Illustration of NASA's Ingenuity helicopter with Perseverance in background

First Australian-made orbital rocket set to launch in Queensland 

The 'Eris' rocket is awaiting final approval from the Australian Space Agency, as it prepares to blast off from a small North Queensland town.
Australian Made Rocket, Ready for Launch: A rocket on a crane leans diagonally.
Duration: 1 minute 48 seconds

Pointed towards the sky, this Australian-first rocket is set to blast a small town into the global spotlight

It's taken the Gilmour brothers nearly 10 years to build and design a locally made orbital rocket. Space enthusiasts are set to flock to north Queensland to see it lift off.
A rocket on scaffolding is lifted up on a launch pad.

Australia's first locally-made orbital rocket goes vertical for the first time

Gilmour Space Technologies is readying the 'Eris' rocket for launch next month. The vessel has been put vertical for the first time on the launchpad in north Queensland.
Video shows a large rocket being rolled onto a launch pad horizontally and then stood up
Duration: 43 seconds

Astronauts share view of total solar eclipse from International Space Station

After millions of people looked up to the sky to view Monday's total solar eclipse, NASA has shared incredible images of what the event looked like for those in space.  
Updated
The earth with a black shadow over it.

NASA looks to create unified time standard for the Moon amid renewed lunar race

The White House directs the space agency to create a time standard by 2026, as it sets the stage for future Mars missions and growing lunar competition. 
A supermoon behind a statue of an eagle on a concrete pole.

A space station once crashed on this country. Now another one is helping preserve its most precious asset

Les Schultz remembers the day America's first space station, Skylab, crashed near WA's south coast. Now, he has another reason to tip his head skywards, as a plan to reduce the impacts of climate change takes flight.
ABC Landline: A group of Indigenous people stand among red gums.
Duration: 7 minutes 14 seconds