Tag: SpaceX
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Falcon 9 grounded again after last-second abort
The Falcon 9 rocket’s nine first stage engines start up moments before the countdown aborted Sunday. Credit: SpaceX A commercial communications satellite stayed on Earth after a last-second launch abort Sunday, the third time in five days that SpaceX has scrubbed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. Sunday’s countdown got closer…
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Wayward boat gets blamed after SpaceX aborts Falcon 9 rocket liftoff at last second
A launch pad camera shows the Falcon 9 rocket’s engines flaring during a last-second shutdown. (Credit: SpaceX via YouTube) A wayward boat and a load of liquid oxygen that got too warm forced SpaceX to abort what might have been a successful launch of the SES-9 telecommunication satellite today, just as the engines were firing up. The…
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Telesat launch agreements awarded to SpaceX
Updated Feb. 29 with confirmation Telstar 18V and 19V will launch on Falcon 9s. File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch. Credit: SpaceX The Canadian telecom satellite operator Telesat plans to launch two multipurpose communications spacecraft aboard SpaceX Falcon rockets in 2018, the company disclosed this week in a quarterly earnings announcement. A…
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SpaceX launch aborted in final minutes
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launch Thursday aborted less than two minutes before liftoff. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX kept an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket on the ground Thursday after running into a problem loading super-cold liquid propellants into the launcher’s fuel tanks, postponing blastoff of a commercial communications satellite for the second day in a row. The California-based…
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SpaceX holds up on SES-9 satellite launch (and rocket landing) just before liftoff
A SpaceX Falcon 9 sits on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (Credit: SpaceX) For the second day in a row, SpaceX scrubbed the launch of the SES-9 telecommunications satellite as well as the Falcon 9 rocket landing attempt that was due to follow. The abort came with just 1 minute and…
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Commercial Falcon 9 launch delayed to Thursday
Credit: SpaceX SpaceX called off the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday to make sure the booster’s supply of super-chilled cryogenic liquid oxygen is cold enough to support the delivery of the 5.8-ton SES 9 commercial communications satellite to an orbit nearly 25,000 miles above Earth. The launch company said…
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Live coverage: SpaceX finally launches Falcon 9 rocket
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with the SES 9 communications satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. SpaceX’s live video coverage begins at 6:25 p.m. EST (2325 GMT).
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SES eager to fly satellite aboard used Falcon 9 rocket
The first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket stands on its landing pad at Cape Canaveral after a successful touchdown following a Dec. 21 launch with 11 Orbcomm communications satellites. Credit: SpaceX In one of the strongest public endorsements of SpaceX’s initiative to put a reusable launcher on the commercial market, a top official from…
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Flight timeline for Falcon 9’s launch of SES 9
Updated after scrubs. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Friday evening, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the SES 9 television broadcast satellite into orbit 31 minutes later. The 229-foot-tall rocket is poised for launch from Complex 40 at 6:35 p.m. EST (2335 GMT) Friday at…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 conducts Static Fire ahead of SES-9 launch
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has conducted her Static Fire test on Monday, a dress rehearsal milestone ahead of Wednesday’s launch of the SES-9 satellite. The test took place at SLC-40, at the same time as work begins at LC-39A to remove the Shuttle-era Rotating Service Structure (RSS) from the site of future SpaceX launches. SES-9: The…