Space

For nearly a decade, SpaceX stood alone in its ability to recover rocket boosters after a launch and reuse them on subsequent missions.

NEW YORK — The space between stars just got a little sweeter.

China successfully recaptured the first stage of a rocket after a launch on Friday in a breakthrough for the country’s space program, state media said.

China’s Tianwen-2 space probe has beamed back the first photo of an asteroid that some astronomers think might have once been part of the moon. The mission aims to return a sample to Earth.

The announcement is the latest in a stream of funding contracts NASA has awarded private companies in its effort to establish a permanent presence on the moon.

NASA on Tuesday plans to launch a mission to save its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. A spacecraft is expected to push the telescope into a stable orbit so it doesn’t fall into the atmosphere.

NASA’s push to return to the moon and historic levels of investment in the private space sector have fueled a commercial space race distinct from any seen in the past.

A radio telescope project known as the Deep Synoptic Array is moving forward. It aims to detect radio waves emitted by stars, planets, galaxies and other celestial objects.

As SpaceX and other companies race to launch data centers into space, a startup called Star Catcher Industries wants to create a network of spacecraft that could beam them extra power.

NASA ordered five astronauts aboard the International Space Station to shelter in a SpaceX spacecraft and prepare for potential ​evacuation as a Russian crew attempted to fix a worsening air leak.