SpaceX recovered the Starship upper stage, Ship 42, by catching it with the launch‑tower’s chopstick arms on Saturday, marking the first time an orbital rocket’s upper stage has returned to its launch site. The vehicle launched Friday on Flight 15, carrying 26 Starlink V3 satellites, three of which filmed the heat shield and confirmed its condition for re‑entry, allowing controllers to skip a splash‑down contingency. After 14 orbits, Ship 42 fired its engines, re‑entered and was secured by the tower. [...]

On the night of November 15‑16, Mars and Jupiter will appear within just over one degree of each other in the constellation Leo, creating a striking visual “appulse” for observers in the United States. The planets rise around midnight, framed by the blue‑white star Regulus, which lies about 79 light‑years away. Although the two worlds are actually separated by more than 368 million miles, their close alignment occurs only once every 2‑2.5 years and will not be repeated until July 2029. [...]

Astronomers have identified the source of mysterious radio pulses in the binary system GPM J071507−114153, located about 5,000 light‑years away. The system consists of a rapidly spinning white dwarf and a sun‑like companion. Using the Murchison Widefield Array, MeerKAT, and Keck Observatory, researchers confirmed that the pulses originate near the white dwarf, the first clear evidence of this in a long‑period transient (LPT). The discovery also revealed stellar flares on the companion and a magnetic prominence, offering new [...]

Rocket Lab will launch its 100th mission, an Electron rocket carrying a private Japanese Earth‑observing satellite, from its New Zealand site on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 12:30 a.m. EST. Dubbed “The Mountain God Rises,” the launch marks the fastest time any commercial small‑lift rocket has reached 100 flights, surpassing SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Rocket Lab highlights a 96 % reliability rate across 99 launches and celebrates the milestone with a special black‑and‑gold livery on the first stage. The payload, an iQPS synthetic‑aperture‑radar satellite, [...]

SpaceX lifted off on its 15th Starship test flight from Starbase, Texas, at 5:47 p.m. ET on Nov. 13, propelling the Super Heavy booster and Ship upper stage with 18 million pounds of thrust from 33 Raptor 3 engines. After a nominal ascent, the booster performed main‑engine cutoff and the Ship hot‑staged, separating 2.5 minutes after launch. Super Heavy reoriented for a planned tower “chopstick” catch but instead executed a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico six and a half minutes after [...]

The California Science Center opened its new Samuel Oschin Air & Space Center on Nov. 13, unveiling the retired space shuttle Endeavour, nearly 200 feet tall, in a dedicated exhibit. Visitors can view the shuttle from below, inside the cockpit, and from a replica launch tower with a transparent floor. Interactive displays include a landing simulator and shuttle artifacts. The center, free to the public, requires online reservations during the opening period. The launch‑tower experience offers a [...]

Rocket Lab will launch its 100th mission, “The Mountain God Rises,” on November 14 from its New Zealand site. An Electron rocket will carry a private Japanese Earth‑observing satellite for iQPS, deploying a synthetic‑aperture‑radar payload into low Earth orbit. The launch, scheduled for 12:30 a.m. EST, will be streamed live by Rocket Lab and Space.com. Rocket Lab claims a 96 % reliability rate across 99 flights, noting this milestone is the fastest for a commercial small‑lift rocket. [...]