Tag: Falcon 9
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Air Force releases new target dates for upcoming military launches
File photo of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket on its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: United Launch Alliance Managers have pushed back the next flight of United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4-Heavy rocket from a launch pad in California until no sooner than early December, and the first launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy…
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SpaceX launch delayed to Sunday night
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT) with SpaceX’s confirmation of the one-day delay. File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on its launch pad. Credit: SpaceX A commercial communications satellite set for launch from Florida’s Space Coast on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to beam broadband and television signals across the Asia-Pacific…
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Falcon 9 booster fires up as astronauts visit SpaceX Fleet
SpaceX has successfully static fired its latest Falcon 9 booster ahead of what was to be a weekend launch – prior to a 24 hour slip to allow for additional checkouts – from Cape Canaveral. The test was conducted as SpaceX’s astronaut corp was visiting the company’s fleet of ships at Port Canaveral. SpaceX is…
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Hotfire test keeps SpaceX on schedule for weekend launch
A plume of exhaust erupted from the Falcon 9’s launch pad as the rocket test-fired its engines at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) Wednesday. Credit: William Harwood/CBS News A brief test-firing of a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday morning kept SpaceX on track for a launch Saturday night from Cape Canaveral with a communications satellite to…
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Iridium NEXT-8 launch date dependent on satellite manufacturing, availability
Iridium Communications is nearing the end of its two-year campaign with SpaceX to place 75 Iridium NEXT communication satellites into orbit. The company has launched 65 of those satellites to date, with the final 10 scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, before the end of the year. The…
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Spaceflight preps for first launch of unique orbiting satellite deployers
Artist’s illustration of the SSO-A mission’s free flyers separating from the upper stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: Spaceflight Engineers working for Spaceflight, a Seattle-based launch services company, are in the final steps of preparing for the first launch of new robotic free flyers carrying more than 70 small government and commercial satellites into…
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SpaceX’s astronaut walkway installed on Florida launch pad
SpaceX’s crew access arm is in its retracted position at launch pad 39A after installation Monday. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now The walkway astronauts will use to board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule before missions to the International Space Station was added to historic launch pad 39A on Monday. A crane erected at the seaside…
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Crew walkway arrives at launch pad 39A in Florida
The crew access arm on the deck of launch pad 39A awaits its installation. Photo: Ken Kremer/spaceupclose.com. The access arm astronauts will transit when boarding SpaceX’s Crew Dragon commercial capsule has arrived at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photos of the access arm shared on social media show it arrived…
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NASA signs off on SpaceX’s “load-and-go” procedure for crew launches
A prototype of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule completed a pad abort test at Cape Canaveral in May 2015. Credit: SpaceX The NASA manager overseeing development of Boeing and SpaceX’s commercial crew ferry ships says the space agency has approved SpaceX’s proposal to strap in astronauts atop Falcon 9 rockets, then fuel the launchers in the…
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Photos: Previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket blasts off with Merah Putih satellite
A Falcon 9 rocket booster which first flew in May took off for the second time Tuesday from Cape Canaveral carrying the Indonesian Merah Putih communications satellite. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) launcher lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad at 1:18 a.m. EDT (0518 GMT) Tuesday on SpaceX’s 15th mission of the year. Turning…