Tag: Spaceflight
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SpaceX Launches 29 Starlink Satellites From Florida Despite Marginal Weather
SpaceX successfully launched 29 Starlink satellites from Florida on Sunday, overcoming weather concerns linked to a cold front moving across the peninsula. Forecasters with the 45th Weather Squadron, based at Cape Canaveral, had estimated a 60% chance of acceptable launch conditions at the opening of the window. The main risks included potential violations of launch…
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Sex in space? Find out how science weighs the pluses and minuses on Valentine’s Day
The effects of the space environment’s reduced gravity on sexual intimacy and reproduction have been debated for decades. (Credit: Catrin1309 / Bigstock) You might think sex in space would be an out-of-this-world experience — but based on the scientific evidence so far, low-gravity intimacy isn’t likely to be as much of a high as it…
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Orbite begins the launch countdown for its commercial astronaut training programs
Participants in an astronaut orientation session float during a zero-G flight in France in 2021. (Orbite Photo) After getting its start in Seattle and testing its business model in France and Florida, a space travel venture called Orbite is ready to start signing up customers for private-sector astronaut training programs. And although it’ll be a…
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A flawless Cygnus launch brings eras to a close
WALLOPS ISLAND, Va.—I had been told that rocket launches are a physical experience, that the carefully controlled explosions that send payloads to space create waves of sound intense enough to be felt from over a mile away. But my first close-up experience with a launch involved the relatively small Electron rocket, and that left me…
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SpaceX is stretching the lifetime of its reusable Falcon 9 boosters
The late-night liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket with another batch of Starlink Internet satellites on Sunday set a new record for the most flights by a SpaceX launch vehicle, with a first-stage booster flying for a 16th time. SpaceX now aims to fly its reusable Falcon 9 boosters as many as 20 times, double…
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SpaceX is stretching the lifetime of its reusable Falcon 9 boosters
The late-night liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket with another batch of Starlink Internet satellites on Sunday set a new record for the most flights by a SpaceX launch vehicle, with a first-stage booster flying for a 16th time. SpaceX now aims to fly its reusable Falcon 9 boosters as many as 20 times, double…
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Former Spaceflight CEO Curt Blake joins law firm to focus on new space ventures
Curt Blake, former CEO of Spaceflight Inc., is joining Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as the law firm launches a NewSpace industry group. (GeekWire File Photo / Alan Boyle) Spaceflight Inc.’s former CEO, Curt Blake, is joining the Seattle office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati at a time when the California-based law firm is…
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Firefly Aerospace acquires Spaceflight Inc. to boost capabilities for on-orbit services
Spaceflight Inc.’s engineers work on a Sherpa-LTE orbital transfer vehicle. (Spaceflight Inc. Photo) Texas-based Firefly Aerospace says it has acquired Bellevue, Wash.-based Spaceflight Inc. and will shift the operation’s focus from satellite rideshare logistics to its line of orbital transfer vehicles. Firefly says the strategic acquisition will add to its portfolio of low-cost space transportation…
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Tiphaine Louradour launches a new stage of her career as CEO of Spaceflight Inc.
Spaceflight CEO Tiphaine Louradour has more than 15 years of space industry experience. (Spaceflight Photo) Space industry veteran Tiphaine Louradour is taking the helm as CEO of Spaceflight Inc., a launch and in-space transportation services provider based in Bellevue, Wash. She succeeds Curt Blake, who has served as Spaceflight CEO and president since 2013. Blake…
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Space Shorts: German rocket company will launch orbital tugs for Spaceflight Inc.
An artist’s concept shows Rocket Factory Augsburg’s launch vehicle in flight. (RFA Illustration) Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc. and Rocket Factory Augsburg, a German launch startup, say they’ve signed a memorandum of understanding that calls for Spaceflight’s Sherpa orbital transfer vehicles to ride on the RFA One rocket. In an announcement made today at the International Astronautical…