2015 – Page 18 – Spaceflight Now

OTD…Oct. 23 and STS-120

October 23, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD in 2007…Discovery launched Harmony as the gateway to future international science laboratories

Oxia Planum tops list of landing sites for ExoMars rover

October 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

Scientists have selected Oxia Planum, a shallow basin connected to dried up channels carved by ancient water flows, as the prime landing site for Europe’s first Mars rover set for launch in 2018.

Atlas 5 receives payload for third launch this month

October 22, 2015 Justin Ray

Heading to space next week to replace a 12-year-old satellite in the Global Positioning System navigation network, a modernized spacecraft was placed atop its Atlas 5 launcher Wednesday.

OTD…Oct. 22 and STS-52

October 22, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD in 1992…Columbia launched the LAGEOS-2 laser-reflection satellite

Putin blasts mismanagement at new Russian spaceport

October 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

The first launch from Russia’s new cosmodrome in the country’s Far East will not occur until at least early 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week, in a widely-anticipated delay after reports of botched construction and corruption beleaguering the spaceport project.

OTD…Oct. 20 and STS-73

October 20, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD in 1995…Columbia launched on a microgravity science Spacelab flight

NASA to post new ‘blue marble’ pictures every day

October 19, 2015 Stephen Clark

Your daily dose of planet Earth is now just a click away, thanks to a new NASA website hosting photos looking back at the world from a small satellite stationed almost a million miles away, realizing a dream of former Vice President Al Gore nearly two decades ago.

Imagery from Friday’s fiery Proton rocket launch

October 19, 2015 Stephen Clark

Turkey’s newest communications satellite soared into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Friday, and these spectacular images show the middle-of-the-night liftoff of the spacecraft’s Russian Proton rocket booster before it disappeared into low clouds.

Cassini transmits home first views of Enceladus’ north pole

October 19, 2015 Stephen Clark

Rushing past Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus at dizzying speed, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft took its first pictures of the captivating object’s sunlit north pole last week, revealing cracks in the moon’s frozen crust and crater fields extending dozens of miles across.

Orbcomm first in Falcon 9’s return-to-flight launch queue

October 18, 2015 Stephen Clark

Going with a philosophy that favors incremental testing of an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 booster, SpaceX officials said Friday that eleven mini-satellites for Orbcomm’s data relay business will fly on the company’s first mission since a launch failure in June.