Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX launches five BlueBird satellites on Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral
Update: The Falcon 9 lifted off on time and successfully deployed the five BlueBird satellites. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the first five of AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellites from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch five of AST SpaceMobile’s…
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Polaris Dawn crew conduct first commercial spacewalk
Two days into their mission, the Polaris Dawn crew conducted the highlight of their mission on Thursday, with Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis stepping outside Dragon Resilience for the first EVA by commercial astronauts. The spacewalk marks another milestone in the development of the commercial space industry. Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned…
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SpaceX says regulators will keep Starship grounded until at least November
The Federal Aviation Administration has signaled to SpaceX that it won’t approve a launch license for the next test flight of the Starship rocket until at least late November, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. This is more than two months later than the mid-September timeframe the FAA previously targeted for determining whether…
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Polaris Dawn takes to the skies, setting the stage for a daring private spacewalk
A Falcon 9 rocket streaked into the black predawn sky above Florida on Tuesday, carrying four people on the most ambitious private human spaceflight to date. The crew of the Polaris Dawn mission, led by a billionaire pilot named Jared Isaacman, were injected into an orbit intended to reach an apogee of 1,200 km and…
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Launch Roundup: Polaris Dawn, ISS crewed launch headline busy week
This week’s manifest features four Falcon 9 launches, including the highly anticipated Polaris Dawn crewed mission, a mission carrying AST SpaceMobile’s first five cellphone-compatible broadband satellites, and the delayed launch of two more satellites for Europe’s mid-Earth orbit Galileo constellation. Additionally, Roscosmos has launched the Soyuz MS-26 crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS).…
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SpaceX surmounts challenging weather, launches Polaris Dawn astronaut mission
The SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience separates from the Falcon 9 upper stage, beginning the Polaris Dawn mission on Sept. 10, 2024. Image: SpaceX Update 6:06 a.m. EDT: Crew Dragon Resilience separated from the Falcon 9 upper stage. Despite some challenging weather at the opening of the launch window, SpaceX managed to send the Polaris Dawn…
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SpaceX launches historic Polaris Dawn mission
SpaceX has launched a mission that will not only see humans travel the farthest away from Earth since Apollo 17 in 1972 but also conduct the first-ever commercial spacewalk. This is in addition to nearly 40 different science experiments and an attempt to transmit data from space through the Starlink network. The Polaris Dawn mission,…
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SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket on national security mission for the NRO
A Falcon 9 lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Station in California on the NROL-113 mission. Image: SpaceX. SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with an undisclosed number of satellites on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The spacecraft, which are believed to be Starshield satellites, make up the third batch of what the…
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SpaceX launches 7,000th Starlink satellite to date on Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Starlink 8-11 mission on Sept. 5, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update 1:12 p.m. EDT: SpaceX confirmed deployment of the 21 Starlink satellites. SpaceX managed to find good enough weather to launch its 85th Falcon 9 rocket…
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Launch Roundup: Vega retired after final launch; Polaris Dawn lift off
This week, rockets will launch from all over the globe. China’s CASC sent a Chang Zheng 4B on its 50th successful mission to start the week. The final launch of Arianespace’s Vega rocket went off without a hitch. Polaris Dawn launched four private astronauts to low-Earth orbit, during which the world’s first private EVA out…