Rocket | featured news

NASA is blaming Congress for the need to pay $424 million more to Russia to get U.S. astronauts into space.

The rocket launched earlier this month by North Korea had the capability to travel more than 6,000 miles, meaning this type of rocket could strike the United States, South Korean defense officials said.

The British team behind a project to build a 1,000-mph car have cleared a key hurdle with a successful test of the rocket they hope will push the vehicle well beyond the sound barrier.

A new era in space exploration dawned Tuesday as a slender rocket powered into the dark Florida sky before sunrise, carrying the first private spacecraft bound for the International Space Station. "We're now back on the brink of a new future, a future that embraces the innovation the private sector brings to the table," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "The significance of this day cannot be overstated."

North Korea did not launch its long-range rocket Thursday, but the country reiterated a message that it shouldn’t be punished when it goes ahead with the blast sometime within its stated five-day window.

A joke circulating among officials in Beijing pretty much underlines the bind China is in over North Korea's plans to send a satellite into space. North Korea's young ruler Kim Jong-un phones a Chinese leader to tell him about timing of the planned rocket launch. "When will it be?" asks the Chinese leader. Kim replies: "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four..."

In footage aired on state television, North Korea's new leader vowed to wage war if the country's enemies shot down its long-range rocket.

The design for NASA’s newest rocket harkens back to the giant workhorse liquid rockets of the past, but the destinations will be farther and the rocket more powerful.

An unused pad at the nation's West Coast launch complex is being retrofitted to send up the world's most powerful rocket. Private rocket maker Space Exploration Technologies is spending between $20 million and $30 million to renovate the site that will be home to its Falcon Heavy, the largest rocket since the retired Saturn V that hurled astronauts to the moon.

At least 3 rockets or mortar bombs struck in and around Israel's southern port of Eilat Monday but caused no casualties, Israel Radio reported.