MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer

SpaceX fired up its newest, biggest rocket in a critical launch pad test Wednesday, advancing toward a long-anticipated test flight possibly in just a week. The Falcon Heavy briefly roared to life for the first time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. All three boosters — 27 engines in all — were tested. The thunderous booms…

Spacewalking astronauts hustled through a lube job and camera swaps outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, their second trip outside in less than a week. Astronaut Mark Vande Hei made fast work of greasing the big robot arm’s new hand. Vande Hei and station commander Randy Bresnik replaced the latching mechanism on one end…

Spacewalking cosmonauts set free the world’s first satellite made almost entirely with a 3-D printer on Thursday. In total, Russians Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazanskiy ended up releasing five nanosatellites by hand. One by one, the tiny craft — no more than 1 to 2 feet in size — tumbled safely away from the International…

SpaceX’s chief said Wednesday that the first launch of its big new rocket is risky and stands “a real good chance” of failure. Founder Elon Musk told a space station research conference Wednesday that he wants to set realistic expectations for the flight later this year from Cape Canaveral. The Falcon Heavy will have three…

Spacewalking astronauts made urgent repairs at the International Space Station on Tuesday, three days after a critical relay box abruptly failed. The 250-mile-high (400-kilometer-high) replacement job fell to commander Peggy Whitson, the world’s most experienced female astronaut. She now ties the record for most spacewalks by an American – 10. Even though a second relay…

NASA says the test flight of its new megarocket will fly without a crew. In February at the request of the White House, NASA began studying the feasibility of putting astronauts on the first flight. After evaluating the cost and risk, the space agency decided against it. NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot informed employees of…

An equipment water leak shortened Friday’s spacewalk by two U.S. astronauts at the International Space Station, but they still managed to replace a faulty electronics box. Despite the initial trouble, it was a milestone moment as Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer floated outside on the station’s 200th spacewalk. The astronauts wasted no time removing the old electronics…

SpaceX launched a top-secret spy satellite for the U.S. government Monday morning and then successfully landed the booster for recycling. The unmanned Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from its NASA-leased pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was SpaceX’s first mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. No details were divulged about the newly launched…

NASA’s spacewalking suits are in short supply, and a replacement is still years away despite the nearly $200 million spent on new technology, the space agency’s inspector general reported Wednesday. A next-generation suit for spacewalking astronauts is needed for future space travel, including trips to Mars. But a lack of a formal plan and destinations…

Astronaut Peggy Whitson has another record under her space belt. Early Monday, the International Space Station commander surpassed the record of 534 days, two hours and 48 minutes for most accumulated time in orbit by an American. That record was set last year by Jeffrey Williams. Whitson already was the world’s most experienced spacewoman and…

Want the world’s best, up-close view of a rocket launch without being right there at the pad? For the first time, cameras will provide live 360-degree video of a rocket heading toward space. NASA will provide the 360 stream Tuesday as an unmanned Atlas rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a capsule full…

The world’s oldest and most experienced spacewoman is getting three extra months in orbit. NASA announced Wednesday that astronaut Peggy Whitson will remain on the International Space Station until September. The 57-year-old astronaut arrived last November and was supposed to return to Earth in June. But under an agreement between NASA and the Russian Space…

SpaceX’s first reused rocket is back in port, five days after launching a satellite. The singed 15-story booster returned atop a barge to Florida’s Port Canaveral on Tuesday. It was the second flight for the Falcon 9’s first-stage core – and a first for SpaceX. Both times, the leftover booster landed upright on an ocean…

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is now halfway between Pluto and its next much, much smaller stop. New Horizons – which reached the milestone this week – is bound for an even more remote object called 2014 MU69. Like Pluto, the object orbits in our solar system’s twilight zone known as the Kuiper Belt, but is…

Spacewalking astronauts carried out an impromptu patch job outside the International Space Station on Thursday, after losing a vital piece of cloth shielding when it floated away. As the drama unfolded, Peggy Whitson set a record for the most spacewalks by a woman – eight – and the most accumulated time spent spacewalking – just…

SpaceX successfully launched and then retrieved its first recycled rocket Thursday, a historic feat and the biggest leap yet in its bid to drive down costs and speed up flights. It was the first time SpaceX founder Elon Musk tried to fly a booster that soared before on an orbital mission. He was at a…

The world’s oldest and most experienced spacewoman, Peggy Whitson, broke another record Thursday as she floated out of the International Space Station to set up a new parking spot. It was the eighth spacewalk of her career, the most ever performed by a woman. Whitson and her spacewalking partner, station commander Shane Kimbrough, ventured out…

Astronauts ventured out on a spacewalk Friday to prep the International Space Station for a new parking spot. NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and France’s Thomas Pesquet emerged early from the orbiting complex, then went their separate ways to accomplish as much as possible 250 miles up. “We are ready to get to work,” Mission Control informed…

For the first time, astronomers have discovered seven Earth-size planets orbiting a single nearby star – and these new worlds could hold life. This cluster of planets is less than 40 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, according to NASA and the Belgian-led research team who announced the discovery Wednesday. The planets circle tightly around…

A navigation error forced SpaceX to delay its shipment to the International Space Station on Wednesday, following an otherwise flawless flight from NASA’s historic moon pad. SpaceX’s supply ship, the Dragon, was less than a mile from the orbiting outpost when a problem cropped up in the GPS system. The approach was aborted, and the…

Christmas gifts arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday, courtesy of Japan. A Japanese cargo ship pulled up at the orbiting lab four days after launching. The capsule — called Kounotori, or white stork — contains nearly 5 tons of food, water, batteries and other supplies. NASA said there also are Christmas presents for…

The most advanced weather satellite ever built rocketed into space Saturday night, part of an $11 billion effort to revolutionize forecasting and save lives. This new GOES-R spacecraft will track U.S. weather as never before: hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, volcanic ash clouds, wildfires, lightning storms, even solar flares. Indeed, about 50 TV meteorologists from around the…

A peek into a distant star-breeding ground has uncovered scenes worthy of a watercolor master. Astronomers on Wednesday released majestic images of pillars of gas and dust in the Carina Nebula, some 7,500 light-years away. The observations were taken by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The pictures rank right with the…

Rocket company Blue Origin has pulled off a double success. The aerospace startup led by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos tested the escape system of its space capsule Wednesday in remote west Texas. Forty-four seconds into the flight, the capsule popped off like a champagne cork, propelled by an escape motor mounted underneath. Not only did the…

On a personal quest to settle Mars, SpaceX founder Elon Musk envisions 1,000 passenger ships flying en masse to the red planet well within the next century, “Battlestar Galactica” style. Musk outlined his zealous plan Tuesday to establish a self-sustaining city on Mars, complete with iron foundries and even pizzerias. He wants to make humans…