January 2015 – Page 8 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX cargo rocket ready for another launch attempt

January 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is counting down to liftoff Saturday of a Falcon 9 rocket with a commercial cargo craft heading for the International Space Station after engineers replaced a component in an upper stage steering system that grounded the launcher Tuesday.

Lockheed Martin begins taking apart first flown Orion capsule

January 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Orion spacecraft achieved all but two of 87 demo objectives on its first orbital flight last month, but details on the capsule’s performance will require dismantling the spaceship’s outer skin in a careful procedure designed to keep most of the Orion prototype intact for future testing.

Kepler’s data catalog exceeds 1,000 confirmed planets

January 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

Astronomers culling imagery from NASA’s Kepler space telescope have found eight new worlds around other stars, raising the number of verified discoveries made by Kepler to more than 1,000 planets.

Next Falcon 9 launch attempt pushed back to Saturday

January 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is targeting Saturday for launch of its next space station resupply mission from Cape Canaveral after a problem with an upper stage steering system actuator flared up during a countdown Tuesday.

Photos: Falcon 9 after Tuesday’s aborted countdown

January 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

The Falcon 9 rocket’s launch attempt Tuesday was called off after SpaceX engineers detected a problem with the launcher’s second stage thrust vector control system. See photos of the 208-foot-tall rocket on its Cape Canaveral launch pad after the scrub.

Navy satellite to be hoisted atop rocket for Jan. 20 launch

January 7, 2015 Justin Ray

The payload will be mounted aboard the 200th Atlas-Centaur rocket Thursday, completing assembly of the most-powerful version of the vehicle available in the modern era.

GAO reaffirms NASA’s commercial crew decision

January 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a protest filed by Sierra Nevada Corp. challenging NASA’s selection of competitors Boeing and SpaceX to build commercial human-rated space capsules to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.

SpaceX launch scrubbed by steering system problem

January 6, 2015 William Harwood

Launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo ship loaded with more than 5,100 pounds of equipment and supplies bound for the International Space Station was called off Tuesday less than two minutes before liftoff because of apparent problems with the second stage engine steering system.

NASA ‘leaning on’ SpaceX to keep ISS supply lines open

January 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

The Dragon spaceship poised for launch Tuesday will carry more than 2.5 tons of equipment for the International Space Station’s six-person crew, making the first U.S. supply delivery to the orbiting research complex since the crash of an Antares cargo rocket in October.

Photos: Falcon 9 vertical on the launch pad

January 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was lifted upright on Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Monday after workers loaded time-sensitive supplies and research specimens into the Dragon cargo craft’s pressurized cabin.