Tag: Launch
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SpaceX test-fires rocket for next Starlink mission; launch date under review
Nine Merlin engines on the first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired for several seconds at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) Monday during a prelaunch static fire test. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now Just one day after a mission from a nearby launch pad, SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Monday at…
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Photos: SpaceX purposely fails rocket to test crew capsule safety system
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Jan. 21 with additional photos. Credit: Katie Darby SpaceX simulated an in-flight emergency Sunday to verify the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft has the capability to catapult itself away from a failing Falcon 9 rocket. The in-flight abort test demonstrated the human-rated capsule can safely and rapidly fly away from a Falcon 9 rocket…
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SpaceX will trigger an intentional rocket failure to prove crew capsule’s safety
Illustration of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 rocket during the company’s uncrewed In-Flight Abort Test for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. This demonstration test of Crew Dragon’s launch escape capabilities is designed to provide valuable data toward NASA certifying SpaceX’s crew transportation system for carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX…
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Live coverage: SpaceX successfully performs Crew Dragon abort test
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon In-Flight Abort Test from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. [tabby title=”NASA TV”] [tabby title=”SpaceX Webcast”] [tabbyending] NASA TV coverage of the SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test begins around 15 minutes prior to liftoff,…
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Video: Preview of dramatic Crew Dragon In-Flight Abort Test
SpaceX’s final planned Crew Dragon test flight before astronauts ride the commercial spaceship into orbit is scheduled for Saturday, when an unpiloted crew capsule will fire off the top of a Falcon 9 rocket shortly after launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to test the craft’s in-flight emergency escape capability. This video illustrates…
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SpaceX’s brisk Starlink launch cadence to continue next week
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Jan. 17 with new launch date of Jan. 21. Updated Jan. 18 with Crew Dragon abort test delay to Jan. 19. File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket inside the company’s hangar at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett SpaceX plans to launch its next group of Starlink broadband…
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SpaceX test-fires rocket ahead of Crew Dragon in-flight abort test
Credit: Steven Young / Spaceflight Now SpaceX fired up nine Merlin main engines at the bottom of a previously-flown Falcon 9 booster Saturday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, running the rocket through a practice countdown before a scheduled liftoff Jan. 18 with a Crew Dragon capsule to test the human-rated ship’s high-altitude abort capability. The…
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ULA completes fueling test on next Delta 4-Heavy rocket
A United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket stands at pad 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a wet dress rehearsal. Credit: Dane Drefke / United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance engineers filled a Delta 4-Heavy rocket with super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants Friday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station during a…
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First SLS core stage departs factory
The SLS core stage is powered by four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 main engines. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now The heart of NASA’s first flight-ready Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket emerged from its factory in New Orleans Wednesday morning for a barge trip to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for an eight-minute test-firing of…
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SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites, tests design change for astronomers
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaks downrange to the northeast from Cape Canaveral Monday night with 60 Starlink satellites for the company’s planned global Internet network. Credit: SpaceX Sixty more satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink global Internet network streaked into orbit Monday night from Cape Canaveral, including one spacecraft to test an experimental dark coating to address…