2015 – Page 83 – Spaceflight Now

SES signs up for launch with more powerful Falcon 9 engines

February 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

A communications payload owned by the Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES will ride the first launch of an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket in mid-2015, SES officials said Friday.

Orbital ATK targets resumption of Antares launches in March 2016

February 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

Space station resupply missions launched from Virginia are set to resume in March 2016, after Orbital ATK integrates newly-built rocket engines into the Ukrainian-made booster stage of the company’s commercial Antares rocket and puts it through an on-pad test firing in January.

Launch America getting new access gantry for astronauts

February 20, 2015 Justin Ray

A groundbreaking Friday ceremonially commenced construction of an astronaut access tower at United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 launch pad in Florida, a 200-foot-tall gantry that will add to the future of U.S. human spaceflight.

Engineers finding lessons in nearly flawless Orion test flight

February 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

December’s first orbital test flight of NASA’s Orion crew capsule was almost perfect, but engineers are carefully analyzing 600 gigabytes of data recorded on the spacecraft’s trip 3,600 miles into space to see how future missions to an asteroid and Mars could be improved.

Astronauts, spacesuits ready for spacewalk Saturday

February 19, 2015 William Harwood

NASA space station managers decided Thursday to delay the first two of three planned spacewalks by one day to give flight controllers and engineers a chance to catch their collective breath after exhaustive troubleshooting to verify the health of critical internal spacesuit components.

Arianespace on pace for one launch per month in 2015

February 18, 2015 Stephen Clark

Last week’s successful launch of a Vega rocket with a European re-entry technology demonstrator marked the first of at least 11 flights planned this year by Arianespace to put communications satellites, Earth observatories and research probes into space.

Magnetic field laboratory being readied for launch

February 18, 2015 Justin Ray

A stack of four satellites, each one carrying 25 science sensors and together will perfect the art of formation flying, are being packaged inside an Atlas 5 rocket nose cone in preparation for mounting atop the booster next week.

Photos: Russian supply ship blasts off from Kazakhstan

February 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

Russia’s Progress M-26M cargo carrier lifted off Tuesday aboard a Soyuz rocket, climbed through clouds and into orbit, then executed an on-time radar-guided docking with the International Space Station six hours later. See photos of the supply ship’s launch.

Dawn’s imagery of Ceres keeps getting better

February 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

Images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on approach to the dwarf planet Ceres show a world pockmarked by craters and mysterious bright spots, and scientists are eager for a better look in the weeks ahead.

Photos: Atlas 5 rocket assembled for NASA satellite launch

February 17, 2015 Justin Ray

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket that will hurl the four MMS satellites into a highly elliptical Earth orbit on March 12 has completed its basic build up at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 Vertical Integration Facility.