December 2014 – Page 5 – Spaceflight Now

Live coverage: All-new Indian rocket takes off on maiden flight

December 18, 2014 Stephen Clark

India’s all-new GSLV Mk. 3 launcher blasted off for the first time at 0400 GMT Thursday (11 p.m. EST Wednesday) on a suborbital test flight to demonstrate a new twin-engine core stage, two powerful solid rocket boosters and a prototype capsule designed for India’s planned human space program.

SpaceX expected to set new Falcon 9 launch date

December 17, 2014 Stephen Clark

Officials will likely set a new launch date Thursday for a SpaceX-owned commercial cargo craft that was expected to take off Friday heading for the International Space Station, according to sources familiar with launch preparations.

Rocket landing experiment on tap after SpaceX cargo launch

December 17, 2014 Stephen Clark

SpaceX hopes to take a giant leap forward in rocket technology a few minutes after Friday’s scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 booster taking up 2.5 tons of critical supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.

Powerful new Indian rocket poised for suborbital test launch

December 17, 2014 Stephen Clark

Indian engineers are counting down to a test flight Thursday of a next-generation launcher to verify the performance of two powerful solid rocket motors, a twin-engine core booster and a prototype capsule designed for India’s nascent human spaceflight program.

Photos: O3b satellites prepared for Soyuz launch

December 17, 2014 Stephen Clark

Four satellites designed to broadcast high-speed Internet signals to the developing world are mounted on top of a Russian-made Soyuz rocket for liftoff Thursday from the Guiana Space Center in South America. See photos of the quartet of satellites undergoing launch preparations.

Mars rover detects methane spike, organic molecules

December 16, 2014 William Harwood

Carefully analyzing data collected by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover, scientists discovered a sudden, unexpected spike in methane levels in the martian atmosphere over a two-month period one year ago.

Photos: SpaceX’s autonomous spaceport drone ship

December 16, 2014 Stephen Clark

An ocean-going cargo barge modified to serve as a landing pad for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster is set to depart the Port of Jacksonville for a journey into the Atlantic Ocean ahead of Friday’s launch of a space station cargo mission from Cape Canaveral.

Despite budget boost, Space Launch System will not fly before 2018

December 16, 2014 Stephen Clark

NASA’s heavy-lifting mega-rocket and its ground support systems at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will not be ready for launches until at least mid-2018, even with extra funding approved by Congress, the space agency’s senior human spaceflight official told lawmakers.

Photos: Soyuz booster rolls out to French Guiana launch pad

December 16, 2014 Stephen Clark

Russian rocket technicians working in the French Guiana jungle transported a three-stage Soyuz booster to its launch pad Monday and erected it upright for liftoff Thursday with four communications satellites for O3b Networks.

ULA year in review

December 16, 2014 Justin Ray

A record number of Atlas 5 launches, the return of Delta 2 and a Delta 4-Heavy at the dawn of a new space exploration era highlighted 2014 for United Launch Alliance.