Tag: Falcon 9
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SpaceX conducts Falcon 9 Static Fire ahead of key ISS mission
SpaceX has conducted a Static Fire of its Falcon 9 v1.1 on Friday, a key milestone ahead of Sunday’s planned launch of the CRS-7/SpX-7 Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission will help restock the orbital outpost with vital supplies, highlighted by an investigation into high Total Organic Carbon (TOC) levels in the…
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SpaceX aims for another rocket landing experiment Sunday
Artist’s concept of a Falcon 9 booster after landing on SpaceX’s ocean-going platform. Credit: Jon Ross Keeping with its mantra of fly, fix and fly again, SpaceX says its engineers have resolved an engine valve problem that kept one of its Falcon 9 boosters from successfully touching down on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean…
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World launch markets look toward rocket reusability
What was once thought to be a pipe dream of having a reusable system of rocket and rocket components to reduce the overall cost of spaceflight is now gaining significant traction, as SpaceX leads the way toward a fully reusable first stage, while the United Launch Alliance and the European Space Agency move toward reusability…
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SpaceX Augments and Upgrades Drone Ship Armada
SpaceX’s aspirations towards recovering launched Falcon 9 first stages are continuing to focus on ocean based landings, ahead of realizing the goal of returning the cores back to land. With continual refinements to the approach, SpaceX have welcomed new and improved Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships (ASDS), one of which has been sighted taking a cruise…
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Jason 3 satellite shipped to Vandenberg for SpaceX launch
Artist’s concept of the Jason 3 satellite in orbit. Credit: Thales Alenia Space-D. Ducros An international oceanography satellite arrived at its California launch base from a factory in France on Thursday for fueling, testing and other final preps before its scheduled Aug. 8 blastoff on a Falcon 9 rocket. Packed inside a specialized shipping container,…
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Video: Falcon 9 nose shroud falls back to Earth
SpaceX has released another jaw-dropping video from a camera fastened to a piece of a Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing, showing the nose cone spinning through space after its separation on a recent launch. The on-board video likely came from a satellite launch earlier this year. SpaceX did not disclose which mission produced the stunning…
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Launch of U.S.-French oceanography satellite postponed
The Jason 3 satellite inside a clean room at its Thales Alenia Space factory in Cannes. Credit: CNES/Thales Alenia Space The launch of a U.S.-French oceanography satellite from California has been postponed from July 22 after engineers discovered contamination in one of the spacecraft’s thrusters at its factory in France. NOAA announced the launch slip…
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SpaceX cleared to launch U.S. national security satellites
File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch. Credit: SpaceX The U.S. Air Force announced Tuesday that SpaceX is now eligible to compete for launches of U.S. national security satellites, closing a tumultuous chapter in the U.S. rocket industry and ending the Pentagon’s sole reliance on United Launch Alliance to haul military payloads into…
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SpaceX gets certified to launch NASA science missions
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX NASA has formally certified SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to launch all but the space agency’s most costly robotic science missions, beginning with a a U.S.-French oceanography satellite set for liftoff from California in July. NASA’s Launch Services Program, which…
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ULA, SpaceX face off in landmark Air Force launch competition
Artist’s concept of a GPS 3 satellite. Credit: Lockheed Martin The U.S. Air Force has identified the launch of a next-generation GPS navigation satellite for the first in a series of competitive rocket procurements between United Launch Alliance and SpaceX, service officials announced Wednesday. The Air Force released a draft request for proposals Wednesday for…