2015 – Page 69 – Spaceflight Now

NASA adding to list of CubeSats flying on first SLS mission

April 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

With room for 11 small shoebox-sized CubeSats on the first test flight of NASA’s behemoth Space Launch System, agency officials have turned to scientists, industry and students to fill the slots in time for launch in 2018.

Blue Origin’s sub-orbital ‘New Shepard’ poised for test flights

April 8, 2015 William Harwood

Blue Origin, the historically secretive rocket company owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos, has completed development of a new hydrogen-fueled engine and plans to begin unmanned test flights of its reusable New Shepard sub-orbital spacecraft later this year, company officials said Tuesday.

OTD…April 8 launches of STS-56 and 110

April 8, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD…Launch of a 1993 environmental mission on Discovery and Atlantis’ ISS flight in 2002

What to do with the final Delta 2 rocket?

April 8, 2015 Justin Ray

With the payload matching game showing no prospects, the final Delta 2 rocket could be headed to the Smithsonian or another museum instead of space.

Diverse destinations considered for new interplanetary probe

April 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

Science teams from across the United States have submitted 28 proposals for missions to explore the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, touch the asteroid-like satellites orbiting Mars, visit unseen worlds and hunt for objects that could strike Earth one day.

OTD…April 6 and STS-41C

April 6, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD…Launch of the first shuttle mission to service a satellite in space in 1984

Rosetta probe disoriented by comet dust

April 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

Ground controllers are analyzing a fault aboard Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft after an encounter with comet dust confused the probe’s navigation system, leaving the robot explorer in a temporary safe mode and halting regular science operations.

Launch of BepiColombo mission to Mercury slips to 2017

April 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

The launch of a nearly $2 billion joint mission robotic mission to Mercury by Europe and Japan will be delayed from next year to early 2017 to account for late deliveries of critical components and scientific instrumentation, according to the European Space Agency.

OTD…April 5 launches of STS-37 and 131

April 5, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD…Gamma Ray Observatory launched in 1991 on Atlantis and Discovery’s 2010 ISS flight

OTD…April 4 launches of STS-6 and 83

April 4, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD…The first launch of Challenger in 1983 and Columbia’s shortened Spacelab mission in 1997