Three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut splashed down off the Florida coast early Friday, capping a nearly eight-month science and research mission to the International Space Station.

SpaceX conducted its fifth flight test of Starship, its most powerful spacecraft.

With each launch, SpaceX has been discharging tens of thousands of gallons of industrial wastewater into sensitive wetlands. Environmentalists say an increase in launches will only make things worse.

The five-day trip, funded by internet entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, broke several records including the first-ever commercial spacewalk using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule on Polaris Dawn mission.

An internet entrepreneur and a SpaceX engineer have become the first private astronauts to walk in space.

The spacecraft landed in New Mexico early Saturday morning leaving two astronauts behind on the International Space Station. The crew members will return to earth in February aboard a SpaceX craft.

Boeing's troubled Starliner remains docked at the International Space Station as NASA decides it is too risky to bring the astronauts home on the spacecraft. The two astronauts will return in February.

The planned spacewalk — a first for a private mission — will rely on simply opening the spacecraft’s hatch.

A SpaceX rocket has failed for the first time in nearly a decade, leaving the company’s internet satellites in an orbit so low that they're doomed to fall through the atmosphere and burn up.

A helium leak pushed back a planned launch to May 25. Boeing's program that would shuttle astronauts to and from the International Space Station has been plagued with problems.

When a private space traveler said he wanted to take a SpaceX capsule on a mission to improve the aging Hubble telescope, NASA studied the options. Internal emails show concern about the risk.

Launches by commercial space companies are becoming more frequent. Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration licensed 117, an all-time high. But these spaceflight companies aren't paying for all of the FAA's services that they use.

Today, we explore why the government is looking to change that and dig into the larger debate over whether human activity in space is a public or private project.

Related episodes:
Economics in space
Planet Money goes to space
Space economics

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The rocket is the largest ever built. It has yet to complete a full test flight, but the third time might be the charm.

SpaceX has successfully conducted a test launch of its massive Starship rocket in a major success for company, which saw the rocket explode in two previous test flights