April 2016 – Page 5 – Spaceflight Now

Final space shuttle fuel tank in existence heads to California museum

April 12, 2016 Justin Ray

On the 35th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch, the last remaining external fuel tank set sail today from its factory in New Orleans to Los Angeles and a remarkable museum attraction in the making.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket returns to port

April 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

Riding into port aboard a floating platform before dawn, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket booster arrived back at Cape Canaveral early Tuesday after sticking a historic landing at sea last week, kicking off a series of inspections and tests before engineers ready it for launch again.

April 12, 1981: 35 years since the maiden space shuttle launch

April 12, 2016 Justin Ray

America’s first space shuttle launched on this day 35 years ago as the reusable flying machine, Columbia, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center with John Young and Bob Crippen aboard.

New target date for next Atlas 5 launch

April 12, 2016 Justin Ray

As the internal investigation continues into the first stage performance trouble on the last Atlas 5 rocket launch, the next mission on the manifest has slipped to May 27.

Atlas 5 to launch commercial space habitat for Bigelow Aerospace

April 11, 2016 Justin Ray

The maker of inflatable technology for a commercial space station will use a top-of-the-line Atlas 5 rocket with a stretched nose cone to hoist the first habitat into Earth orbit in 2020.

Kepler telescope recovered from spacecraft emergency

April 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is stable and out of emergency mode, officials said Monday, and the observatory is downlinking data to help engineers determine what caused it to suspend science operations last week.

Dragon arrives at space station with inflatable habitat in tow

April 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship executed a laser-guided rendezvous with the International Space Station early Sunday, delivering an experimental expandable enclosure for attachment to the complex later this month for tests to verify the inflatable design’s suitability for future space habitats.

Month: April 2016

Final space shuttle fuel tank in existence heads to California museum

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket returns to port

April 12, 1981: 35 years since the maiden space shuttle launch

New target date for next Atlas 5 launch

Atlas 5 to launch commercial space habitat for Bigelow Aerospace

Kepler telescope recovered from spacecraft emergency

Dragon arrives at space station with inflatable habitat in tow

Photos: Dragon completes rendezvous with the station

Photos: Final space shuttle fuel tank relic heads for California

Video: Space station’s robot arm captures Dragon cargo ship