December 3, 2021
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Falcon 9

SpaceX aces 27th Falcon 9 rocket flight of the year, a new record

December 3, 2021

SpaceX set a new record Thursday for the most missions by the company’s Falcon rocket family in a year, successfully sending a cargo of 48 Starlink internet satellites and two BlackSky optical Earth-imaging spacecraft into orbit from Cape Canaveral.

  • Soyuz launch to add two more satellites to Europe’s Galileo navigation network

    December 1, 2021

    Two more Galileo navigation satellites are set for liftoff Friday night from French Guiana on a Soyuz rocket, the first mission in more than three years to add to Europe’s space-based positioning and timing network. The mission was delayed from Wednesday by bad weather, then from Thursday due to the unavailability of a downrange tracking station.

  • NASA calls off spacewalk due to possible risk of space debris

    November 30, 2021

    A planned spacewalk outside the International Space Station by astronauts Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron was called off early Tuesday after NASA received an overnight warning about possibly threatening space debris.

  • China launches surge of space missions

    November 30, 2021

    China has launched four space missions from three different spaceports in the span of a week, hauling cargo into orbit for military communications, radar surveillance, and optical imaging.

  • Weather forecast favorable for SpaceX launch this week

    November 29, 2021

    Forecasters predict a 90% chance of good weather Wednesday night at Cape Canaveral for launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a fresh group of Starlink internet satellites.

  • Russian military launches new missile warning satellite

    November 29, 2021

    Russia’s military successfully deployed a spacecraft in orbit Nov. 25 to join a constellation of satellites circling the globe to monitor for missile launches.

  • NASA gives green light to fuel James Webb Space Telescope

    November 28, 2021

    NASA engineers have cleared teams at the Guiana Space Center in South America to begin loading 63 gallons of fuel and oxidizer into the James Webb Space Telescope, after extra testing showed the observatory suffered no damage during a processing incident in the clean room earlier this month.

  • Astronaut Alan Shepard’s daughter and Michael Strahan named to spaceflight

    November 28, 2021

    The third piloted flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spacecraft will launch December 9 with a crew of six, including a network morning anchor and the eldest daughter of Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the company announced Nov. 23.

  • Russian node module docks with International Space Station

    November 26, 2021

    Russia’s Prichal docking module linked up with the International Space Station Friday, adding the final planned piece of the Russian segment of the outpost to provide a new connection for future crew and cargo ships.

  • NASA spacecraft blasts off on experimental mission to divert asteroid

    November 24, 2021

    A small NASA space probe blasted off from California early Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a first-of-its-kind mission to change the orbit of an asteroid, pioneering a technique that may one day be used to divert an asteroid off of a collision course with Earth.

  • Live coverage: Russia launches new space station module from Kazakhstan

    November 24, 2021

    Russia plans to add another module to the International Space Station this week, and the journey began with a launch from Kazakhstan at 8:06 a.m. EST (1306 GMT) Wednesday on a Soyuz rocket. Russia’s Prichal node module departed the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a two-day chase of the space station.

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