January 2016 – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

OTD…Jan. 28 and STS-51L

January 28, 2016 Justin Ray

Today in 1986…Space shuttle Challenger and her seven astronaut crew were lost during launch.

Reporters remember Challenger coverage

January 27, 2016 William Harwood

Veteran CBS News correspondent Bruce Hall was not on the air when the shuttle Challenger blasted off 30 years ago Thursday. It was, after all, the 25th shuttle flight, the first of 16 planned for 1986, and news agencies were backing off expensive, remote coverage of what increasingly appeared to be a routine event.

Live coverage: Intelsat’s first “Epic” satellite in orbit after Ariane 5 launch

January 27, 2016 Stephen Clark

The first satellite in a new class of ultra-powerful communications satellites for Intelsat lifted off Wednesday aboard the first Ariane 5 flight of the year. Launch from French Guiana occurred at 2320 GMT (6:20 p.m. EST).

OTD…Jan. 27 and Apollo 1

January 27, 2016 Justin Ray

Today in 1967…The astronauts of Apollo 1 lost their lives in a launch pad fire.

Proton rocket rolled out for launch of Eutelsat satellite

January 26, 2016 Stephen Clark

Riding on its side aboard a rail car, a Proton rocket trekked to its launch pad Tuesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with a Eutelsat television broadcast satellite ready for liftoff Friday.

First Ariane 5 launch of the year set for Wednesday

January 26, 2016 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 rocket journeyed from its assembly hangar to a nearby launch pad in French Guiana on Tuesday, a day before the heavy-duty launcher is scheduled for liftoff with the first in a new generation of high-capacity communications satellites for Intelsat.

Challenger remembered

January 26, 2016 William Harwood

Thirty years after the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated in the clear, cold sky high above Cape Canaveral, the commander’s widow no longer feels anger at NASA and the management missteps and schedule pressure that kept the orbiters flying despite a fatal flaw in their solid-fuel boosters.

Falcon 9 upgrade receives blessing from U.S. Air Force

January 25, 2016 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force on Monday certified the latest version of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, featuring higher-thrust engines, enlarged fuel tanks and a super-chilled propellant mixture, for launches of the military’s most valuable satellites.

LISA Pathfinder on station a million miles from Earth

January 25, 2016 Stephen Clark

Europe’s LISA Pathfinder mission crafted to demonstrate the ability to detect gravitational waves — theorized ubiquitous cosmic signals that have so far eluded discovery — has arrived at its operating post around the L1 Lagrange point nearly a million miles from Earth.

OTD…Jan. 24 and STS-51C

January 24, 2016 Justin Ray

#OTD in 1985…Discovery launched on the first classified space shuttle mission for the Department of Defense. Watch the liftoff: