May 2015 – Page 6 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX crew capsule completes dramatic abort test

May 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

A rocket-powered prototype of SpaceX’s human-rated crew capsule vaulted off a launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday for a brief mile-high test flight of the spaceship’s emergency crew safety system.

Don’t blink: SpaceX crew escape demo will go by in a flash

May 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX plans to launch an unmanned test model of the company’s Dragon crew capsule Wednesday on a whirlwind 107-second flight through the skies over Cape Canaveral.

Photos: Dragon prototype poised for abort test

May 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s new Dragon crew ferry craft is in position for a key test Wednesday of the capsule’s safety system designed to whisk astronauts away from a dangerous rocket mishap during launch.

SpaceX preps for test of Dragon capsule’s life-saving abort system

May 4, 2015 Stephen Clark

A spaceship designed to ferry astronauts into orbit by 2017 is set for a major test Wednesday, when SpaceX plans to blast the capsule away from Cape Canaveral on a mile-high demo flight to simulate the craft’s ability to protect occupants in the event of a catastrophic rocket mishap on the pad.

A taste of Italian culture makes it to the final frontier

May 4, 2015 Stephen Clark

Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti got a taste of home Sunday when she tried out a new espresso maker that is part creature comfort and part science experiment.

OTD…May 4 and STS-30

May 4, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD…Launch of Atlantis in 1989 to send the Magellan space probe to Venus

New name for Space Launch System gets backing of lawmakers

May 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

A push to give NASA’s Space Launch System a new name is garnering support from lawmakers, who have written into legislation provisions that would order NASA to rename the heavy-lift rocket through a competition among schoolchildren.

House bill backs exploration at the expense of Earth science

May 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

A draft policy outline passed on a party-line vote by a House committee last week calls for redirecting funding from NASA’s Earth science programs into the space agency’s heavy-lift rocket and Orion crew capsule programs, an outcome NASA’s administrator said will set back climate change research.

Next round of U.S. optical spy satellites to start launching in 2018

May 1, 2015 Justin Ray

The covert follow-on satellite program that will serve as a replacement to the nation’s surveillance “eyes” from space begins launching in 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.