2015 – Page 64 – Spaceflight Now

Fourth X-37B flight a month away from launching

April 24, 2015 Justin Ray

The U.S. Air Force on Friday made its first public confirmation that the X-37B unmanned space shuttle will be launched next month on the fourth flight of an Orbital Test Vehicle.

Live coverage: Two satellites lift off aboard Ariane 5

April 24, 2015 Stephen Clark

A Norwegian communications satellite designed to connect far-flung clients and a Franco-Italian military spacecraft blasted off Sunday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. Liftoff from the tropical spaceport occurred at 2000 GMT (4 p.m. EDT).

Ariane 5 in position for dual-satellite launch

April 23, 2015 Stephen Clark

Rolling out for its first liftoff of the year, an Ariane 5 rocket journeyed out of a launcher assembly building Thursday and rode railroad tracks to its launch pad in French Guiana with two European communications satellites.

Fixing Hubble’s blurry vision

April 23, 2015 William Harwood

The second report in our series marking the 25th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope’s launch looks at the observatory’s flawed mirror and the Herculean effort to fix it.

OTD…April 24 and the birth of Hubble

April 23, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD…Launch of Discovery in 1990 with the Hubble Space Telescope, our window on the universe!

Environmental satellite with ‘color vision’ lands in French Guiana

April 23, 2015 Stephen Clark

Wrapped inside a protective shipping container, Europe’s Sentinel 2A land imaging satellite flew from Germany to French Guiana this week aboard an Antonov transport plane to prepare for launch aboard a Vega rocket in June.

Decision on new space station cargo contracts deferred

April 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA expects to select commercial contractors to resupply the International Space Station in September, three months later than the agency’s previous timetable under a competition for cargo deliveries beginning in 2018.

ULA needs commercial customers to close Vulcan rocket business case

April 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance will need to lure commercial customers to ensure the economic viability of its new Vulcan rocket, which is set to debut in 2019 just as the rate of U.S. military satellite launches is due to take a dip.

Multiple satellites planned in long-term Landsat program

April 21, 2015 Stephen Clark

The launch of the next Landsat Earth-viewing satellite in 2023 will be preceded by a smaller spacecraft to map the planet with an infrared camera under a new land imaging roadmap outlined by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Dragon pad abort test set for early May

April 21, 2015 Stephen Clark

A major test of the system that would shoot SpaceX astronaut crews away from a failing rocket is scheduled for no earlier than May 5 from a specially-built mount at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad, NASA announced Tuesday.