Tag: SpaceX
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Hold-down firing completed ahead of Sunday’s Falcon 9 launch
Nine Merlin engines on the Falcon 9’s first stage fired up Monday for a static fire test at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s launch team ran through a traditional preflight test Monday, putting a Falcon 9 rocket through a mock countdown, loading it with a supply of liquid propellant and briefly…
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Hold-down firing completed ahead of Sunday’s Falcon 9 launch
Nine Merlin engines on the Falcon 9’s first stage fired up Monday for a static fire test at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s launch team ran through a traditional preflight test Monday, putting a Falcon 9 rocket through a mock countdown, loading it with a supply of liquid propellant and briefly…
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SpaceX rehearses Falcon 9 rocket launch – and relives last month’s rocket landing
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket fires its engines during a launch-pad test at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Monday evening. (Credit: SpaceX) SpaceX fired the engines of its Falcon 9 rocket on its California launch pad on Monday evening, marking a seemingly successful rehearsal for this weekend’s launch of the Jason 3 ocean-monitoring satellite.…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 conducts static fire test ahead of Jason-3 mission
SpaceX rolled out its Falcon 9 rocket for a static fire that was conducted on Monday at the company’s west coast launch facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The Jason-3 mission, scheduled to launch on 17 January 2016, will monitor Earth’s ocean’s surface topography and currents for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as…
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SpaceX plans Falcon 9 rocket landing on Pacific drone ship after Jan. 17 launch
The first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket descends toward a drone ship during SpaceX’s April landing try in the Atlantic. The attempt was unsuccessful, but SpaceX plans to try again in the Pacific on Jan. 17. (Credit: SpaceX) SpaceX is planning something completely different for its next rocket-landing trick: After launching the U.S.-European Jason 3 satellite…
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What’s next for SpaceX’s recovered Falcon 9 booster?
The returned Falcon 9 booster flown Dec. 21 is pictured inside the hangar at Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX ground crews at Kennedy Space Center’s Apollo-era launch complex 39A are putting the 156-foot-tall Falcon 9 first stage booster that flew to space and back Dec. 21 through a thorough inspection, setting…
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What’s next for SpaceX’s recovered Falcon 9 booster?
The returned Falcon 9 booster flown Dec. 21 is pictured inside the hangar at Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX ground crews at Kennedy Space Center’s Apollo-era launch complex 39A are putting the 156-foot-tall Falcon 9 first stage booster that flew to space and back Dec. 21 through a thorough inspection, setting…
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Billionaire Space Club pits Elon Musk vs. Jeff Bezos vs. Richard Branson vs. Paul Allen and more
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (in hat and sunglasses) pops open a bottle of champagne after Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket landing in November. (Credit: Blue Origin) When Jeff Bezos welcomed SpaceX to the rocket landing “club” last week, it set off a round of twittering over whether Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture and fellow billionaire…
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Speculation mounts over Elon Musk’s plan for SpaceX’s Mars Colonial Transporter
An animation shows a lander separating from the rest of the Mars Colonial Transporter. Later concepts suggest that the entire MCT would land as a unit. (Credit: Michel Lamontagne / ESA via YouTube) In the wake of SpaceX’s successful rocket landing, some of the company’s most ardent fans are guessing at the shape of the biggest…
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GeekWire Radio: Alan Boyle’s guide to the year in space, and what’s next for the universe in 2016
A time-lapse photo showing SpaceX’s historic Falcon 9 rocket launch and landing. (Credit: SpaceX) It was a big year in space: Historic rocket launches; revelations from distant planets; an unprecedented glimpse of the surface of Pluto; evidence of water trails on Mars; SpaceX vs. Blue Origin; the rise of commercial space; and also some big setbacks. Alan Boyle, GeekWire’s aerospace…