April 2015 – Page 8 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX on track for cargo launch Monday

April 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

Weather forecasters will be on the lookout for rain showers and thunderstorms during Monday’s scheduled launch of a SpaceX cargo craft to the International Space Station, but there is a 60 percent chance conditions at Cape Canaveral will permit liftoff.

Atlas 5 slips at payload’s request

April 10, 2015 Justin Ray

The next Atlas 5 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral will be delayed two weeks to resolve an undisclosed issue with the payload, United Launch Alliance officials announced Friday.

Rain research satellite ends science mission, heads for re-entry

April 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA has switched off research instruments aboard the long-lived Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, preparing the satellite for a destructive re-entry as soon as June and ending its 17-year run observing tropical cyclones from orbit.

OTD…April 9 and STS-59

April 9, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD…Launch of a 1994 Space Radar Lab mission on Endeavour

ULA working to reduce five launch pads to two

April 9, 2015 Justin Ray

The nation’s existing Atlas and Delta launch sites are vying for a future when United Launch Alliance completes its modernization with a new rocket system and downsizing to one pad on each coast.

NASA adding to list of CubeSats flying on first SLS mission

April 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

With room for 11 small shoebox-sized CubeSats on the first test flight of NASA’s behemoth Space Launch System, agency officials have turned to scientists, industry and students to fill the slots in time for launch in 2018.

Blue Origin’s sub-orbital ‘New Shepard’ poised for test flights

April 8, 2015 William Harwood

Blue Origin, the historically secretive rocket company owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos, has completed development of a new hydrogen-fueled engine and plans to begin unmanned test flights of its reusable New Shepard sub-orbital spacecraft later this year, company officials said Tuesday.

OTD…April 8 launches of STS-56 and 110

April 8, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD…Launch of a 1993 environmental mission on Discovery and Atlantis’ ISS flight in 2002

What to do with the final Delta 2 rocket?

April 8, 2015 Justin Ray

With the payload matching game showing no prospects, the final Delta 2 rocket could be headed to the Smithsonian or another museum instead of space.

Diverse destinations considered for new interplanetary probe

April 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

Science teams from across the United States have submitted 28 proposals for missions to explore the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, touch the asteroid-like satellites orbiting Mars, visit unseen worlds and hunt for objects that could strike Earth one day.