Tag: Launch
-
Blue Origin ‘one step closer’ to human flights after successful suborbital launch
This image from Blue Origin’s webcast of Thursday’s mission shows the New Shepard’s capsule just before touchdown in West Texas. Credit: Blue Origin Taking another step toward flying space tourists to the edge of space, Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin again flew its New Shepard suborbital booster Thursday with a package of microgravity research…
-
Blue Origin readies reusable suborbital launcher for another flight
File photo of a New Shepard booster landing after a previous mission. Credit: Blue Origin Blue Origin teams in West Texas are preparing for another launch of the company’s reusable New Shepard suborbital rocket Thursday to loft dozens of microgravity research payloads to the edge of space. The single-stage rocket is set for liftoff from…
-
China launches mapping satellites
A Long March 4B rocket lifts off Tuesday from the Taiyuan space center in northeastern China. Credit: Xinhua A Chinese Long March 4B rocket successfully launched two Tianhui satellites Monday to conduct land surveys, mapping and scientific experiments in space, according to reports from state-run media. The satellites lifted off aboard the Long March 4B…
-
FCC approves SpaceX’s plan to operate Starlink satellites at lower altitude
SpaceX launched two test satellites for the Starlink in February 2018. The Starlink demonstration craft launched as secondary payloads with the Spanish radar observation satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: SpaceX The Federal Communications Commission has granted a request by SpaceX to begin launching spacecraft for the company’s…
-
Live coverage: NASA replaces failed power distribution unit on space station
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 a Dragon supply ship with several tons of cargo and experiments for the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Check here for…
-
Falcon 9 rocket completes static fire test, aims for launch early Wednesday
A plume of exhaust appears at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) Saturday as the Falcon 9 rocket’s nine Merlin main engines ignite for a hold-down test-firing. Credit: Steven Young/Spaceflight Now A week after a test-firing of SpaceX’s new crew capsule went awry, SpaceX successfully completed a hold-down firing…
-
Beidou navigation satellite successfully launched by China
A Long March 3B rocket lifts off Saturday from the Xichang space base in China. Credit: Xinhua Another satellite to join the China’s independent global navigation network successfully launched Saturday from the mountainous Xichang spaceport in the southwest of the country. The Beidou navigation satellite lifted off at 1441 GMT (10:41 a.m. EDT) Saturday from…
-
World’s largest airplane completes first flight
Stratolaunch’s rocket carrier jet, the largest in the world, took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port shortly after 7 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. EDT; 1400 GMT) Saturday. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News Built for hauling rockets aloft to launch satellites, the world’s biggest airplane landed Saturday after a widely-anticipated test flight over California’s…
-
Photos: Stratolaunch’s giant airplane flies over Mojave
Stratolaunch’s rocket carrier jet, the largest aircraft in the world by wing span, took off Saturday morning from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California for its first test flight. The twin-fuselage airplane took off at 6:58 a.m. PDT (9:58 a.m. EDT; 1358 GMT) Saturday and flew for nearly two-and-a-half hours, reaching a top…
-
SpaceX retrieves Falcon Heavy fairings from sea for reuse on future launch
One half of the Falcon Heavy’s payload fairing after retrieval from the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday night. Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk said Thursday that the company’s recovery fleet in the Atlantic Ocean recovered the two halves of the Falcon Heavy’s payload shroud after the heavy-lifter’s second launch from the…