2015 – Page 26 – Spaceflight Now

Second new Chinese launcher flies in a week

September 28, 2015 Stephen Clark

For the second time in less than a week, China has debuted a new type of rocket designed to broaden the scope of the country’s Long March launcher family. This time a solid-fueled booster named the Long March 11 blasted out of a mobile launch canister with four Chinese tech demo satellites.

Live coverage: Japanese cargo craft departs International Space Station

September 27, 2015 Spaceflight Now

Live coverage of the departure of a Japanese cargo craft from the International Space Station. The fifth HTV cargo freighter delivered a 9,500-pound package of food, spare parts and experiments.

Live coverage: India’s first space observatory in orbit

September 27, 2015 Stephen Clark

India’s first dedicated astronomical observatory lifted off at 0430 GMT (12:30 a.m. EDT) Monday aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, riding into a 400-mile-high orbit to begin a five-year mission studying the births and deaths of stars.

OTD…Sept. 27 and Dawn

September 27, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD in 2007…NASA’s Dawn probe launched to explore the uncharted worlds of Vesta and Ceres in the heart of the asteroid belt.

Photos: Morelos 3 satellite wrapped up in Atlas nose cone

September 26, 2015 Justin Ray

This photo gallery shows the Mexican Morelos 3 communications satellite being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing for the planned Oct. 2 liftoff.

Q&A with Rolf de Groot, head of ESA’s robotic exploration office

September 25, 2015 Stephen Clark

Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark spoke with Rolf de Groot, head of ESA’s robotic exploration coordination office, on Sept. 25, discussing the two-month launch delay of Europe’s ExoMars orbiter and landing demonstrator set to depart for Mars in 2016 and the status of an ambitious rover mission in 2018.

Mexican communications satellite put aboard Atlas 5 rocket for launch

September 25, 2015 Justin Ray

A 12,000-pound Mexican mobile communications satellite was hoisted atop its Atlas 5 rocket today as crews finished assembling the vehicle for United Launch Alliance’s 100th liftoff next week.

First static fire completed on upgraded Falcon 9

September 25, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s upgraded Falcon 9 booster powered up to full throttle in a brief ignition at the company’s Central Texas test site this week as engineers prepare for the rocket’s return to flight as soon as mid-November with a European communications satellite.

OTD…Sept. 25 and STS-86

September 25, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD in 1997…Atlantis launched on the seventh joint docking mission with Russia’s space station Mir

Secrets behind Pluto’s pastels far from being answered

September 24, 2015 Stephen Clark

Geologists said Thursday they are bewildered by images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft baring unseen landscapes on Pluto with unexpected “snakeskin” textures, colorful chasms routing through ancient landforms, and vivid new views of apparent glacial flows.