July 2016 – Spaceflight Now

Q&A with Alain Charmeau, CEO of Airbus Safran Launchers

July 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

Alain Charmeau took charge of Airbus Safran Launchers when it formed in 2015 from the merger of Airbus and Safran’s rocket divisions, and his first major task is to spearhead development of Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket set for a debut launch in 2020.

Intelsat confident in Ariane 5 to launch two critical satellites

July 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

Two Intelsat communications craft are in French Guiana getting configured for a dual-launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket Aug. 24, the first time the global satellite operator has put two of its payloads on the same booster.

Delta 4 rocket undergoes launch day rehearsal for its next Air Force mission

July 30, 2016 Justin Ray

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket went through a practice countdown and fueling exercise this week to prepare for its Aug. 19 liftoff to deliver a pair of orbital surveillance satellites into space.

NROL-61 satellite launched Thursday spotted in space by sky-watchers

July 30, 2016 Spaceflight Now

Sky-watchers with a passion for looking up and tracking satellites with remarkable precision have made quick work of locating the spacecraft launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket on Thursday.

NASA orders second SpaceX crew ferry ship

July 29, 2016 William Harwood

NASA has ordered a second commercial crew ferry ship from SpaceX, NASA announced Friday, as the agency continues its on-going push to develop U.S.-built spacecraft to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, ending sole reliance on Russian Soyuz vehicles.

NASA spells out support for SpaceX’s Red Dragon Mars mission

July 29, 2016 Stephen Clark

If SpaceX is able to dispatch a robotic Dragon capsule to land on the red planet in 2018 on time and successfully, engineers stand to get a lesson on what it will take to eventually send humans there, capturing key data on an untested Mars landing scheme a decade sooner than NASA could do it, space agency officials said this week.

After three-year wait, commercial imaging observatory shipped for launch

July 29, 2016 Justin Ray

More than three years after its launch was delayed by a corporate merger, a commercial Earth-imaging satellite has finally shipped to its California rocket base for liftoff aboard an Atlas 5 in September.

SpaceX fires previously-flown rocket in major stride toward reusability

July 29, 2016 Stephen Clark

Throttling up to more than a million pounds of thrust at SpaceX’s Central Texas test facility, a Falcon 9 rocket booster recovered after a commercial satellite launch in May passed a key milestone Thursday as the company sets its sights on re-flying a used first stage on a mission this fall.

ExoMars orbiter fine-tunes path toward red planet

July 28, 2016 Stephen Clark

A European spacecraft cruising toward Mars fired its main engine Thursday, tweaking its trajectory and helping set up for carefully-choreographed simultaneous maneuvers Oct. 19 to place part of the tandem mission into orbit around the red planet and deposit a stationary battery-powered lander on the Martian surface.

Photos: More shots of Thursday’s Atlas 5 rocket launch

July 28, 2016 Justin Ray

Departing Cape Canaveral at 8:37 a.m. EDT Thursday, the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted a classified national security satellite into orbit for deployment.