Tag: Launch
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Payloads revealed for next flight of X-37B military spaceplane
The X-37B spacecraft is encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing inside a processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: U.S. Space Force The next flight of the U.S. military’s reusable X-37B spaceplane — scheduled for liftoff May 16 from Cape Canaveral — will carry more experiments into orbit than any…
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NASA plans to launch first two Gateway elements on same rocket
Artist’s illustration of the Gateway space station in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA Aiming to reduce risk and costs, NASA has decided to launch the first two modules of the Gateway station in lunar orbit on the same heavy-lift rocket in 2023, rather than fly them on separate rockets and dock them together in deep space,…
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SpaceX test-fires Raptor engine on Starship test rocket
Video credit: SPadre / YouTube A test-firing of a Raptor engine on the latest in a series of Starship test rockets Tuesday night in Texas moved SpaceX closer to performing a low-altitude “hop” to gather data on the vehicle’s launch and landing characteristics. The single methane-fueled Raptor engine on the bottom of the Starship…
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China’s first Long March 5B rocket launches on crew capsule test flight
A Chinese Long March 5B rocket climbs into space Tuesday. Credit: CCTV Flying without astronauts on a demonstration flight in Earth orbit, a test model of a next-generation Chinese crew capsule lifted off Tuesday on top of a heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket, the same launcher configuration that will loft segments of China’s planned space…
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Virgin Orbit’s first launch could happen later this month
Virgin Orbit’s carrier jet, named Cosmic Girl, takes off April 12 from the Mojave Air and Space Port with the LauncherOne rocket under its left wing. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News Virgin Orbit could attempt its first orbital test launch later this month over the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles, capping a development program…
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China to debut new version of powerful Long March 5 rocket this week
A view of the next-generation Chinese crew spacecraft during pre-launch processing. Credit: CCTV A prototype for China’s next-generation human-rated spacecraft — flying on a test flight without astronauts — is scheduled to ride a new version of the country’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket into orbit this week. The Long March 5B rocket could take…
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SpaceX to debut satellite-dimming sunshade on Starlink launch next month
SpaceX plans to debut a new sunshade structure on its future Starlink satellites. Credit: SpaceX A new sunshade, or visor, designed to reduce the brightness of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband Internet satellites will debut on the company’s next launch, a measure intended to alleviate astronomers’ concerns about impacts on observations through ground-based telescopes, SpaceX founder Elon…
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Falcon Heavy set for design validation milestone before late 2020 launch
A Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on June 25, 2019. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky The U.S. Space Force expects to complete design validation on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket by July, ahead of the launch of the military’s first high-priority national security mission on the heavy-lifter late this year.…
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Starship prototype clears cryogenic pressure test
SpaceX founder Elon Musk said a prototype for the company’s planned Starship launch vehicle passed a cryogenic proof test Sunday night in South Texas, clearing the way for teams to install a Raptor engine this week for a test-firing. The Starship test vehicle, designated SN4, was loaded with super-cold liquid nitrogen Sunday night in a…
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Soyuz launches from Kazakhstan with space station supply ship
A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with the 75h Progress supply ship for the International Space Station. Credit: Roscosmos A Soyuz rocket decorated to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe fired into space Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, sending a Progress…