Tag: SpaceX
-
Rocket Report: European rockets finally fly; Artemis II core stage issues
Welcome to Edition 6.15 of the Rocket Report! We’re now more than three-quarters of the way through the year, and as of Thursday, there have been 156 orbital launches since January 1. Last year, which set a record for global launch activity, we didn’t reach 156 orbital launches until mid-November. At the cadence set so…
-
Falcon Heavy launches NASA’s Psyche asteroid probe
Falcon Heavy climbs away from Kennedy Space Center, carrying NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now. Getting off to a ground-shaking start, NASA’s $1.2 billion Psyche asteroid probe roared into space atop a Falcon Heavy rocket Friday, setting off on a 2.2-billion-mile voyage to a rare, metal-rich asteroid that may hold clues about how the…
-
NASA, SpaceX launch Psyche mission to metallic asteroid
NASA and SpaceX teams launched the agency’s Psyche mission to metallic asteroid 16 Psyche from Florida on Friday, Oct. 13. Psyche launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Launch occurred at 10:19 AM EDT (14:19 UTC). Psyche is the first mission…
-
Strong winds stymie back-to-back SpaceX launch plans; Vandenberg launch successful
Update 4 a.m. EDT: A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 12:43 a.m. PDT (0743 UTC). Its first stage booster, making its 14th flight, landed successfully on a drone ship in the Pacific. Upper level winds forced SpaceX to scrub the Starlink 6-22 mission from Cape Canaveral. SpaceX was hoping…
-
World’s largest space conference succeeds in making a Starship update boring
Anyone who keeps track of Elon Musk knows the world’s richest man has a penchant for setting aspirational schedules for his companies. SpaceX misses those ambitious timelines so often that Musk has joked the company specializes in making the impossible late. So, if you have an opportunity to interview him, why spend time asking Musk…
-
Rocket Report: Iran launches satellite; Artemis II boosters get train ride
Welcome to Edition 6.13 of the Rocket Report! While SpaceX waits for regulatory approval to launch the second full-scale test flight of its Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket, NASA’s contractors took two steps forward this week to prepare for the second launch of the government-owned Space Launch System on the Artemis II mission, which…
-
Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending
Like the US Navy has long protected sea lanes during conflict, the military could be called upon to defend commercial satellites from attack, particularly as the Pentagon relies more on commercial networks for communication and surveillance, the Space Force’s top general said last week. In comments at a conference in Hawaii on September 20, Gen.…
-
Pending FAA approval, Starship ready to sport upgrades for upcoming test flight
Following Starship’s debut during Integrated Flight Test One (IFT 1), SpaceX is ready to improve on the vehicle’s objectives by employing a vast series of upgrades. Most of the enhancements have been made to the launch site and Booster 9, which, in turn, are waiting for final regulatory approval. Changes to Booster Booster 7 and…
-
SpaceX breaks another booster reuse record, but did anyone see it?
SpaceX launched its 67th rocket of the year on Tuesday night, a staggering total for the company and its workhorse booster, the Falcon 9. At this pace, a clip of one launch every four days, the company is likely to launch 90 or more rockets during this calendar year. This Starlink satellite launch was notable…
-
SpaceX waiting for FAA to approve launch licence for Starship’s second flight
With the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) having closed the mishap investigation into the anomaly during the first Integrated Flight Test of Starship, SpaceX is waiting for its launch license for the second test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket. However, that FAA process is clearly going to take the test launch into next month…