October 2014 – Page 5 – Spaceflight Now

Last-ditch search finds fresh targets for New Horizons

October 19, 2014 Stephen Clark

Scientists using the powerful Hubble Space Telescopes have identified three tiny objects at the frontier of the solar system that NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft could visit after making an historic flyby of Pluto next summer.

Comet’s flyby of Mars a boon for scientists

October 19, 2014 William Harwood

The red planet’s brush with Comet Siding Spring was a close encounter of the best kind for science, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to study a pristine remnant of the solar system’s birth 4.6 billion years ago as it makes its first and possibly last visit to the warmth of the inner solar system.

U.S. military’s X-37B space plane lands in California

October 17, 2014 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force’s X-37B space plane concluded its third mission, streaking through the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean and gliding to an automated landing on a runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., after spending a record 675 days in orbit.

Ariane 5’s sky-lighting blastoff

October 17, 2014 Stephen Clark

Two satellites for Latin America launched by Ariane 5

October 16, 2014 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 launcher fired into space from French Guiana, hauling two commercial satellites destined to broadcast television to Latin America for Intelsat, DirecTV and Argentina’s national telecom company.

Two telecommunications satellite for Latin America are counting down to liftoff aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.

Indian navigation satellite launched by PSLV

October 15, 2014 Stephen Clark

The third spacecraft to join India’s growing regional navigation system blasted off and flew into orbit aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

Spacewalk achieves all major objectives

October 15, 2014 William Harwood

Astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry “Butch” Wilmore floated outside the International Space Station and, after a bit of trouble with a balky bolt, replaced a broken voltage regulator in one of eight solar power channels to restore the lab’s electrical grid to normal operation.