Tag: Launch
-
SpaceX readies upgraded Starlink satellites for launch
Artist’s illustration of a Starlink satellite. Credit: SpaceX New satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network set for launch Monday from Cape Canaveral will debut several performance and safety upgrades, but they do not include changes to reduce the brightness of the satellites, a modification SpaceX says it will introduce on future Starlink craft to mitigate their…
-
Next three-man Soyuz crew training to have space station to themselves
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy prepares for a spacewalk training session at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston. Credit: NASA/James Blair The next three-man crew to launch on a Soyuz rocket — comprising two Russian cosmonauts and a veteran NASA astronaut — is training to have the International Space Station to themselves after their arrival at…
-
Watch the static fire of the Falcon 9 being readied for Starlink mission
A Falcon 9 rocket fires its nine Merlin first stage engines at Cape Canaveral’s launch pad 40 Nov. 5, 2019, as part of a routine pre-launch test. The successful static fire clears the way for the launch of 60 Starlink satellites, currently scheduled for Nov. 11. Live coverage like this is made possible by the…
-
SpaceX to reuse payload fairing for first time on Nov. 11 launch
SpaceX retrieved two halves of the payload fairing from a Falcon Heavy launch April 11 . Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX A SpaceX launch set for Nov. 11 will mark the first Falcon 9 mission to use a payload fairing from a previous flight, the company announced Tuesday, shortly after SpaceX engineers at Cape Canaveral test-fired the…
-
Live coverage: SpaceX test-fires Falcon 9 rocket for Starlink launch
Live coverage of SpaceX’s preparations for the next Falcon 9 rocket launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission will launch SpaceX’s second batch of Starlink broadband satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Credit: Spaceflight Now Check here for live updates on SpaceX launch preparations.
-
Another Beidou satellite launched by China
A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the Xichang space center Monday with a Beidou navigation satellite. Credit: Xinhua A Chinese Long March 3B rocket successfully carried a new Beidou navigation satellite into orbit Monday, continuing a brisk launch cadence at the country’s launch sites. The Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the…
-
Chinese mapping satellite launches on Long March 4B rocket
A Chinese Long March 4B rocket lifted off Sunday with four satellites on-board. Credit: Xinhua An Earth observation satellite designed to collect three-dimensional mapping imagery rode a Long March 4B rocket into orbit Sunday with three smaller spacecraft, including one to test an innovative French-made iodine thruster, and another satellite built for Sudan. Hailed as…
-
China on pace to resume Long March 5 launches by end of year
File photo of the second Long March 5 rocket before its ill-fated launch in July 2017. Credit: Xinhua Components for China’s third Long March 5 rocket arrived at the country’s southern launch base this week as teams prepare for the first flight of the heavy-lift launcher since a 2017 mission ended in failure. The return-to-flight…
-
Solid rocket motor test-fired for Atlas 5 debut next year
A new solid rocket motor built by Northrop Grumman has aced its final test-firing before a scheduled debut on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight next year. Northrop Grumman’s GEM 63 solid rocket motor will replace the Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ-60A solid-fueled booster that has flown on Atlas 5 rockets since 2003. Billed…
-
China launches mysterious geostationary satellite
A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the Xichang space center at 1521 GMT (11:21 a.m. EDT) Thursday. Credit: CCTV China successfully launched a satellite toward geostationary orbit Thursday aboard a Long March 3B rocket, but the spacecraft’s purpose remained a mystery. The TJS 4 satellite lifted off from the Xichang space center in…