Tag: Falcon 9 Upgrade

  • SpaceX ready to return to the space station

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    A Falcon 9 rocket sits on its launch pad this week awaiting liftoff Friday at 2043 GMT (4:43 p.m. EDT). Credit: SpaceX Ground crews loaded time-critical experiments, including 20 mice to help scientists study muscle atrophy, into SpaceX’s commercial Dragon cargo capsule Thursday, a day before a launch planned from Cape Canaveral toward the International…

  • Falcon 9 grounded again after last-second abort

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    The Falcon 9 rocket’s nine first stage engines start up moments before the countdown aborted Sunday. Credit: SpaceX A commercial communications satellite stayed on Earth after a last-second launch abort Sunday, the third time in five days that SpaceX has scrubbed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. Sunday’s countdown got closer…

  • SpaceX launch aborted in final minutes

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    SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launch Thursday aborted less than two minutes before liftoff. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX kept an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket on the ground Thursday after running into a problem loading super-cold liquid propellants into the launcher’s fuel tanks, postponing blastoff of a commercial communications satellite for the second day in a row. The California-based…

  • Commercial Falcon 9 launch delayed to Thursday

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    Credit: SpaceX SpaceX called off the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday to make sure the booster’s supply of super-chilled cryogenic liquid oxygen is cold enough to support the delivery of the 5.8-ton SES 9 commercial communications satellite to an orbit nearly 25,000 miles above Earth. The launch company said…

  • SES says SpaceX will launch its satellite in late February

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    The Falcon 9 rocket’s last launch from Cape Canaveral was in December. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s next launch from Cape Canaveral is set for Feb. 24, when a Falcon 9 rocket will carry a commercial television broadcasting satellite aloft for Luxembourg-based SES, the payload’s owner announced Monday. The flight from SpaceX’s Complex 40 launch pad will…

  • Falcon 9 upgrade receives blessing from U.S. Air Force

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    SpaceX’s upgraded Falcon 9 rocket has flown one time, hauling 11 Orbcomm communications satellites into low Earth orbit in this Dec. 21 liftoff from Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX The U.S. Air Force on Monday certified the latest version of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, featuring higher-thrust engines, enlarged fuel tanks and a super-chilled propellant mixture, for…

  • SpaceX rocket landing applauded, but experts say implications TBD

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    STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Photo credit: SpaceX The successful launch and landing by the first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Monday was a significant step toward achieving reusability and, eventually, lowering launch costs, but turning that success into operational reality poses a significant challenge for company founder Elon Musk, space…

  • Round-trip rocket flight gives SpaceX a trifecta of successes

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    The Falcon 9’s ascent and descent tracks are seen in this long exposure photo taken just south of the launch and landing locations. Photo credit: SpaceX Flying through the sky at supersonic speed, a Falcon 9 rocket stage descended to a historic landing at Cape Canaveral on Monday, returning to the spaceport minutes after boosting…

  • Falcon 9’s return-to-flight launch delayed 24 hours

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    Photo credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now SpaceX called off a try Sunday to launch a package of Orbcomm communications satellites from Cape Canaveral, eyeing a better chance to land the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster Monday, according to Elon Musk, the company’s billionaire founder. Launch crews were preparing for liftoff Sunday evening, but Musk tweeted…

  • Falcon 9’s return-to-flight launch delayed 24 hours

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    Photo credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now SpaceX called off a try Sunday to launch a package of Orbcomm communications satellites from Cape Canaveral, eyeing a better chance to land the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster Monday, according to Elon Musk, the company’s billionaire founder. Launch crews were preparing for liftoff Sunday evening, but Musk tweeted…