2015 – Page 66 – Spaceflight Now

OTD…April 17 and STS-90

April 17, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD…Launch of Columbia in 1998 on the Neurolab Spacelab mission

Pluto and Charon seen in color by New Horizons

April 16, 2015 Stephen Clark

Barreling toward a July 14 flyby of Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has returned its first color image of the distant world and its moon Charon, whetting the appetites of scientists as the probe prepares to begin taking the best-ever photos of the Pluto system beginning next month.

Certification process begins for Vulcan to carry military payloads

April 16, 2015 Justin Ray

The heavy-lift version of the United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket will sell for half the price of today’s Delta 4-Heavy and a third of the price tag for the previous Titan 4, while offering a substantial increase in performance for nation’s largest defense spacecraft.

No time wasted in SpaceX’s rapid-fire launch campaign

April 16, 2015 Stephen Clark

Hours after launching a batch of cargo and provisions to the International Space Station on Tuesday, SpaceX ground teams wheeled another Falcon 9 rocket into the hangar at Cape Canaveral for a commercial satellite launch set for April 27.

ULA gets futuristic

April 16, 2015 Justin Ray

United Launch Alliance revealed its visionary approach to space exploration in the next decade courtesy of the Vulcan rocket’s new, long-duration upper stage that can be fitted with as many as four engines to perform cargo resupply and astronaut transportation to far-flung destinations.

New, longer video hits Internet and shows Falcon’s landing demise

April 15, 2015 Justin Ray

New video released from SpaceX on Wednesday shows a longer sequence of events during the failed landing reusability attempt on Tuesday.

Photos: Tuesday’s SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral

April 15, 2015 Stephen Clark

A sun-splashed Florida afternoon was the setting for Tuesday’s liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket, which fired its nine-engine booster stage and climbed into space with a commercial cargo spacecraft en route to the International Space Station.

Video: SpaceX rocket booster crash lands on barge

April 15, 2015 Stephen Clark

A Falcon 9 rocket booster — under the power of a single Merlin 1D engine — descends toward a specially-outfitted ocean landing platform off Florida’s East Coast on Tuesday in a brief video clip released by SpaceX.

Falcon 9 successfully launches, descends to off-balance landing

April 14, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched from Cape Canaveral with a 2.2-ton package of supplies and experiments for the International Space Station on Tuesday, but the booster toppled over after descending to a barge parked in the Atlantic Ocean.

Images from Falcon 9’s launch and landing

April 14, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, powering a commercial Dragon cargo ship into orbit while trying a dicey descent maneuver to return to landing on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX says the booster touched down hard and tipped over after landing.