2015 – Page 63 – Spaceflight Now

New details emerge about electric propulsion experiment aboard X-37B

April 27, 2015 Justin Ray

All systems are now “go” for launch of the Air Force’s X-37B mystery spaceplane on May 20 from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas 5 rocket.

Turkmenistan’s first satellite braced for liftoff

April 27, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX ground crews transferred a Falcon 9 rocket to its seaside launch mount at Cape Canaveral on Sunday evening in preparation for liftoff Monday with Turkmenistan’s first satellite.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches its fifth Falcon 9 flight of the year

April 27, 2015 Stephen Clark

Turkmenistan’s first satellite has blasted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida after a weather delay. Liftoff occurred at 7:03 p.m. EDT (2303 GMT).

Ariane 5 sends Thor 7 and Sicral 2 satellites into orbit

April 26, 2015 Stephen Clark

Blasting into space atop an Ariane 5 launcher, two communications satellites started missions Sunday to beam broadband services to ships, airplanes and offshore oil rigs for a commercial Norwegian operator and relay signals for the Italian and French armed forces.

OTD…April 26 and STS-55

April 26, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD…Launch of Columbia in 1993 on the second flight of the German Spacelab

Clouds in the forecast for Monday’s Falcon 9 launch

April 25, 2015 Stephen Clark

Forecasters will be watching clouds and rain showers during the countdown before Monday’s launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Turkmenistan’s first communications satellite.

Commercial Ariane 5 flight rescheduled for Sunday

April 25, 2015 Stephen Clark

Arianespace plans to launch an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana on Sunday after fixing a disconnected helium vent line that required the launcher be returned to a hangar for repairs.

OTD…April 25 and the Hubble deploy

April 25, 2015 Justin Ray

25 years ago this afternoon, Hubble was deployed from shuttle Discovery

Astronomers hopeful Hubble will make it to 30th anniversary

April 24, 2015 William Harwood

More than five years after a final shuttle servicing mission — and a quarter of a century since its launch in April 1990 — the Hubble Space Telescope is operating in near flawless fashion, and engineers are optimistic the observatory will remain on the forefront of astronomy at least through 2020.

High-flying tune-ups gave us the Hubble generation

April 24, 2015 Stephen Clark

You can thank thousands of thinkers — unafraid to get their hands dirty — for the steady diet of discoveries and jaw-dropping vistas produced by the Hubble Space Telescope over the last quarter-century.