May 2016 – Page 6 – Spaceflight Now

Q&A with Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin’s Orion program manager

May 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

The man in charge of the Orion crew capsule program at Lockheed Martin is a lifelong veteran of the space program, beginning his tenure at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in the late 1970s before taking posts in Washington and joining Lockheed Martin to lead the company’s work on the nation’s new spacecraft for journeys beyond Earth orbit.

Cargo-carrying Dragon spaceship returns to Earth

May 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship departed the International Space Station on Wednesday, fired rocket thrusters to brake out of orbit, and parachuted to a picture-perfect splashdown in the Pacific Ocean with approximately 3,461 pounds of experiment samples and equipment.

Live coverage: Dragon supply ship back on Earth

May 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft departed the International Space Station on Wednesday at 9:19 a.m. EDT (1319 GMT), concluding the commercial spaceship’s eighth visit to the complex. Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean occurred at 2:55 p.m. EDT (1855 GMT).

Companies offer fresh perspectives on recent rocket landings

May 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

In case the the sight of a large rocket plummeting back to Earth, only to be slowed in the last seconds by a puff of thrust, hasn’t lost its novelty yet, SpaceX and Blue Origin have released dramatic videos showing their recent powered rocket landings from new angles.

Kepler adds 1,284 exoplanets to its total

May 10, 2016 William Harwood

A statistical analysis of data collected by NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope during its initial mission shows a better than 99 percent chance that 1,284 worlds previously classified as “candidates” are, in fact, actual planets, researchers said Tuesday.

Key return to flight milestone looms for Antares rocket

May 9, 2016 Stephen Clark

Targeting a resumption of Antares cargo launches to the International Space Station as soon as July, Orbital ATK plans to roll out an upgraded Antares rocket to a launch pad in Virginia this week for a 30-second firing of the booster’s new engines.

Destructive Canadian wildfire sighted from space

May 9, 2016 Stephen Clark

Satellites sailing hundreds of miles over a destructive wildfire ravaging the northern Alberta town of Fort McMurray have returning stunning images illustrating the extent of the blaze that has displaced tens of thousands of people.

Photos: Falcon 9 streaks into space, lands on drone ship

May 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX achieved a double success Friday with the launch of a Japanese communications satellite from Cape Canaveral, followed minutes later by the touchdown of the Falcon 9 rocket’s 15-story first stage booster on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Falcon 9 succeeds in middle-of-the-night launch and landing

May 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Japanese communications satellite rode a Falcon 9 rocket into space from Cape Canaveral early Friday, reaching an on-target orbit as the launcher’s first stage booster nailed a high-speed landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean, logging another achievement for SpaceX’s cost-cutting reuse initiative.

Photos: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 on the pad at Cape Canaveral

May 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

Crowned with a Japanese telecommunications satellite, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket sits atop its Cape Canaveral launch pad hours before its scheduled blastoff Friday.