NASA’s Maven, a spacecraft studying Mars, stopped responding six months ago. Mission teams lost contact in December after Maven passed behind Mars and never came back online. Engineers figured out the problem: Maven spun too fast, disrupting its orbit and draining its batteries. Without power, the s
The journey to the International Space Station (ISS) can be unpredictable. The Starliner spacecraft encountered significant issues during its flight last summer. Four of its thrusters failed, leaving astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in a tough spot. Wilmore had to take manual control, but
NASA had a rough year with their lunar missions. Two spacecrafts failed to land properly. The first one missed the moon entirely. The second one landed but then toppled over. It was a big letdown. It was a big risk for NASA. They had bet that private companies could handle moon missions more ch
