Crew-12 lifted off on Friday 13 February 2026 at 10:15 GMT / 11:15 CET (05:15 ET) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. Initially scheduled on the 11 February, the launch was postponed twice due to forecast weather conditions along the flight path of the Dragon spacecraft.

San Francisco, United States (AFP) Feb 11, 2026
Half of the original founding team at Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI has now departed after two co-founders resigned in rapid succession this week, raising fresh questions about talent retention ahead of an expected initial public offering. The exodus comes at a delicate moment for xAI, which was valued at more than $200 billion when it was integrated with Musk's SpaceX rock

Boulder CO USA (SPX) Feb 13, 2026
What appears to be a single volcanic eruption is often the result of complex processes operating deep beneath the surface, where magma moves, evolves, and changes over long periods of time. To fully understand how volcanoes work, scientists study the volcanic products that erupt at the surface, which can reveal the hidden magmatic systems feeding volcanic activity. New research published r

New York (AFP) Feb 12, 2026
A watched pot never boils and love happens when you least expect it - turns out, the same logic applies to capturing a star as it collapses into a black hole. At least that proved true for one group of researchers whose work took a turn when they accidentally witnessed what appears to be an example of the astronomical unicorn, a "surprise" discovery they detailed in findings published Thurs

Paris, France (AFP) Feb 12, 2026
Surprised astronomers said Thursday they have discovered a star with planets in a bizarre order that defies scientific expectations - and suggests these faraway worlds formed in a manner never seen before. In our Solar System, the four planets closest to the Sun are small and rocky, while the four farther out are gas giants. Scientists had thought this planetary order - rocky first, th

Kourou (AFP) Feb 12, 2026
The most powerful version of Europe's Ariane 6 rocket Thursday carried 32 satellites into space for the Amazon Leo network, which aims to rival Elon Musk's Starlink. The launch from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America, is a first for Amazon Leo. The largest number of satellites ever carried by an Ariane rocket successfully separated and

Cape Canaveral (AFP) Feb 13, 2026
NASA launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on Friday, the latest team to head out on a research expedition to the orbiting laboratory. The US space agency's international Crew-12 lifted off at approximately 5:15 am local time (1015 GMT) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral launch site in Florida, according to a NASA video feed. The astronauts

Image: For Valentine’s Day, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission sends love from space, capturing the heart-shaped oasis of Faiyum, just south of Cairo, Egypt.

Video: 00:02:36

Watch the liftoff of ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot to the International Space Station (ISS), aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre. Sophie flies as mission specialist. The other Crew-12 members are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, respectively commander and pilot of the mission, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev, mission specialist.