Tag: SpaceX
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Falcon Heavy enabler for Dragon solar system explorer
SpaceX head Elon Musk has revealed plans to utilize the Falcon Heavy and Dragon 2 vehicles for science missions throughout the solar system. Citing Dragon 2’s capability as a “science delivery platform”, Mr. Musk claimed the crew-capable spacecraft could also be tasked with landing scientific payloads at destinations ranging from the Moon and Mars –…
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Photos: SpaceX’s passenger spaceship flies on first test run
It didn’t go into space, but SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsule fired off a launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday for a 99-second test flight of a crucial safety mechanism that would save astronauts from a catastrophic rocket failure. The 8-ton spaceship blasted off at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40…
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SpaceX crew capsule completes dramatic abort test
Updated at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) with details from Elon Musk The Crew Dragon capsule blasted off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT). Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now A rocket-powered prototype of SpaceX’s human-rated crew capsule vaulted off a launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday for a…
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Video: Dragon test articles flies pad abort profile
A test article of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon flew on an arcing minute-and-a-half demonstration flight over Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, launching atop eight 3D-printed rocket thrusters and descending to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The 20-foot-tall spaceship took off at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) to test the Dragon’s abort system, which would help…
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Dragon 2 conducts Pad Abort leap in key SpaceX test
SpaceX’s Dragon 2 test vehicle has conducted her maiden flight on Wednesday, leaping off a Cape Canaveral truss structure under the power of eight SuperDraco engines at 9am local time. Known as the Pad Abort test, the objectives of the flight involved the gathering of key test data to help graduate the vehicle to be…
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Don’t blink: SpaceX crew escape demo will go by in a flash
SpaceX plans to launch an unmanned test model of the company’s Dragon crew capsule Wednesday on a whirlwind 107-second flight through the skies over Cape Canaveral. The 8-ton prototype spaceship will only reach a mile an altitude, but the trial aims to verify the Dragon capsule can safely escape from a launch failure and save…
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How to watch SpaceX test its Dragon capsule launch abort system
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule was on display in Seattle earlier this year. SpaceX is running another space travel test on Wednesday, this time to make sure its abort procedures are working properly. For the first time, the Elon Musk-led company will test an eject button for astronauts who will travel in SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsule. In order to get astronauts away…
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Photos: Dragon prototype poised for abort test
SpaceX’s new Dragon crew ferry craft is in position for a key test Wednesday of the capsule’s safety system designed to whisk astronauts away from a dangerous rocket mishap during launch. Standing roughly 20 feet tall with a takeoff weight of approximately 10.5 tons, the Dragon capsule is a prototype of the spaceship SpaceX is…
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SpaceX preps for test of Dragon capsule’s life-saving abort system
SpaceX ground crews transfer the Dragon pad abort vehicle to the launch pad. Credit: SpaceX A commercial spaceship designed to ferry U.S. astronauts into orbit by 2017 is set for a major test Wednesday, when SpaceX plans to blast the capsule away from a launch mount at Cape Canaveral on a mile-high demo flight to…
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Blue Origin spaceship makes first test flight, with founder Jeff Bezos in the control room
Jeff Bezos in the control room, as seen in a Blue Origin video. Blue Origin, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ space venture, launched the first developmental test flight of its New Shepard spacecraft in West Texas on Thursday. Bezos himself was on hand for the occasion, making a cameo appearance in this video, first in the…