Tag: Launch
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Sierra Nevada selects ULA’s Vulcan rocket to launch Dream Chaser missions
The Vulcan Centaur rocket configured to launch Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser spaceplane will fly with a dual-engine Centaur upper stage and four strap-on solid rocket boosters. Credit: United Launch Alliance Sierra Nevada Corp. has booked at least six launches on United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket to carry Dream Chaser supply ships into orbit…
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Rocket Lab to begin booster recovery experiments later this year
Rocket Lab’s next launch from New Zealand, set for Friday, will carry a data recorder to measure the aerothermal environments encountered by the Electron launcher’s first stage during descent back into the atmosphere, information engineers say is crucial to successfully achieving the company’s newly-announced plan to recover and reuse the booster. The U.S.-New Zealand…
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Proton rocket lifts off with Russian military satellite
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated on Aug. 6 after confirmation of a successful mission. File photo of a previous Proton launch. Credit: Roscosmos A Blagovest communications spacecraft lifted off Monday aboard a Proton rocket to complete a network of four relay satellites in geostationary orbit for the Russian military. The Proton rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome…
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Progress cargo freighter lifts off, reaches space station hours later
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated after launch and docking. The Progress MS-12 supply ship approaches the International Space Station on Wednesday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now A Russian Progress cargo freighter lifted off Wednesday from Kazakhstan on top of a Soyuz-2.1a booster and completed a record-breaking 3-hour, 19-minute pursuit of the International Space Station with an automated docking to…
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Russia launches military communications satellite
A Soyuz-2.1a booster lifts off Tuesday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome with a Russian military Meridian communications satellite. Credit: Roscosmos A Russian military satellite rocketed into orbit Tuesday on top of a Soyuz launcher from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome to provide communications coverage over Russia’s polar regions. The Meridian relay satellite lifted off at 0556 GMT (1:56…
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Soyuz booster rolls out to launch pad with space station refueling freighter
Packed with nearly 3 tons of rocket fuel, water, oxygen and crew provisions, the Russian Progress MS-12 supply ship and its Soyuz booster arrived at a launch pad Sunday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, moving a step closer to liftoff Wednesday on a fast-track three-hour flight to the International Space Station. The automated supply…
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China launches three military satellites, tests new rocket steering fins
A Long March 2C rocket lifted off at 0357 GMT Friday (11:57 p.m. EDT Thursday) with three Yaogan 30 satellites for the Chinese military. The grid fins are visible on the gray section of the rocket at the top of the first stage. Credit: Xinhua China launched a Long March 2C rocket Friday with three…
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SpaceX’s Starship prototype aces first untethered hop test
SpaceX’s Starship Hopper is seen through a cloud of smoke in this view from an airborne drone during Thursday night’s test. Credit: SpaceX An early test model of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle, which billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk says will carry people and cargo to the moon and Mars, briefly left the ground in South Texas on…
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Live coverage: India’s Chandrayaan 2 moon mission blasts off
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.3 with the Chandrayaan 2 moon mission. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
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India launches robotic mission to land on the moon
The GSLV Mk.3 rocket lifted off at 0913 GMT (5:13 a.m. EDT) Monday with the Chandrayaan 2 mission. Credit: ISRO Seeking to become the fourth nation to successfully land on the moon, India launched an ambitious robotic lunar mission named Chandrayaan 2 on Monday, targeting a touchdown near the lunar south pole Sept. 6. Consisting…