Tag: SpaceX
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Launch Roundup: Starship, Falcon 9, and Chang Zheng-2C this week
While the spaceflight world waited for the Starship Integrated Flight Test-2 (IFT-2) launch that happened from Texas this week, three other launches were scheduled, from China as well as both main coasts of the United States. One was a Chang Zheng-2C (CZ-2C) from China, and another is Starlink 6-28 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 3rd pair of O3b mPOWER satellites from Cape Canaveral
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with a pair of SES’ O3b mPOWER satellites heading up to medium Earth orbit. Image: Michael Cain Update 4:43 p.m. EST (2143 UTC): SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket to begin the mission. The satellites will start being deployed around 6:08 p.m. EST (2308 UTC). Original story: On its…
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SpaceX Transporter 9 rideshare features new OTV from Tom Mueller’s Impulse Space
On Saturday, Nov. 11 SpaceX launched the Transporter-9 rideshare mission from launch complex SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB). The rocket lifted off at 10:49 AM PST (18:49 UTC). Deployment of payloads from the second stage to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of approximately 520 kilometers began almost an hour after launch,…
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SpaceX launches more than a hundred payloads on Falcon 9 mission from Vandenberg
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Transporter 9 mission. Image: SpaceX. For the fourth time in 2023, SpaceX launched a smallsat rideshare mission to low Earth orbit with a multitude of payloads. The Transporter-9 mission lifted of at the opening of a 55-minute window at 10:49 a.m. PST…
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Rocket Report: Tough times for Astra and Virgin; SpaceX upgrading launch pad
Welcome to Edition 6.19 of the Rocket Report! While we wait for SpaceX to launch the second full-scale test flight of Starship, a lot of the news this week involved companies with much smaller rockets. Astra is struggling to find enough funding to remain in business, and Virgin Galactic says it will fly its suborbital…
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U.S. military’s X-37B mini-shuttle to launch on SpaceX Falcon Heavy for the first time
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle sits on the runway at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility after returning from its sixth mission on Nov. 12, 2022. Image: U.S. Space Force The U.S. military’s experimental spaceplane will soon soar to orbit using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time, a Pentagon news release announced.…
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In a surprise move, the military’s spaceplane will launch on Falcon Heavy
The US military’s reusable X-37B spaceplane will launch on the next flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, scheduled for December 7, officials announced on Wednesday. This was unexpected because the spaceplane’s six previous missions launched on medium-lift Atlas V or Falcon 9 rockets. This next mission, the seventh by an X-37B spaceplane, will fly on…
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SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket on 29th resupply mission to the Space Station
A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch the CRS-29 mission, sending more than 6,500 pounds of cargo and science experiments up to the International Space Station. Image: SpaceX/NASA Update 9:10 p.m. EST (0210 UTC): Successful liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket and Cargo Dragon separation. Rodents, water filters and a laser relay are…
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If the next Starship makes it through staging, you can call that a win
SpaceX will have answers to some burning questions in the first three minutes of the next Starship test flight. Did the upgrades to the Starship launch pad in Texas hold up to the rocket’s powerful thrust? Are the rocket’s Raptor engines more reliable than they were on the first Starship test flight in April? And…
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Capitol Hill budget battle may limit initial funding of some National Security Space Launch missions
A ULA Vulcan rocket during a testing campaign (left) and a Falcon Heavy rocket at liftoff (right). Both launch vehicles were tapped to launch National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions during the fifth and final ordering year procurement by the U.S. Space Systems Command. Images: ULA, SpaceX The U.S. Space Systems Command revealed the details…