August 2016 – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

Live coverage: SpaceX supply ship returns to Earth

August 26, 2016 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX-owned Dragon cargo craft departed the International Space Station at 1011 GMT (6:11 a.m. EDT) Friday, and made a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 1547 GMT (11:47 a.m. EDT) with more than 3,000 pounds of cargo, research specimens and other hardware.

Photos: Atlas 5 rocket assembled for launch of asteroid sample return probe

August 25, 2016 Justin Ray

At Cape Canaveral’s Vertical Integration Facility, adjacent to the Complex 41 launch pad, workers with United Launch Alliance stacked the Atlas 5 rocket that will propel NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its voyage to Asteroid Bennu.

Atlas 5 rocket rehearses countdown for upcoming launch to Asteroid Bennu

August 25, 2016 Justin Ray

Running through a practice countdown to check systems before launching a NASA sample-return probe to Asteroid Bennu in exactly two weeks, an Atlas 5 successfully completed its Wet Dress Rehearsal today.

Intelsat celebrates double success with Ariane 5 launch

August 24, 2016 Stephen Clark

Two U.S.-built Intelsat communications satellites destined for different missions fired into space from French Guiana just after sunset Wednesday, vaulting due east over the Atlantic Ocean before separating from their Ariane 5 launcher right on target in geostationary transfer orbit.

NASA astronaut Jeff Williams sets new U.S. space endurance record

August 24, 2016 William Harwood

International Space Station commander Jeff Williams set a new U.S. space endurance record Wednesday, his 521st day in orbit over four missions, eclipsing the 520-day record set earlier this year by astronaut Scott Kelly at the end of his nearly one-year stay aboard the lab complex.

Potentially-habitable planet discovered around nearest star Proxima Centauri

August 24, 2016 Keith Cooper

A planet with at least 1.3 times the mass of Earth has been discovered orbiting within the habitable zone of the nearest star to our Sun, Proxima Centauri, which is just 4.2 light years away.

Launch timeline for the Ariane 5 rocket’s 87th flight

August 24, 2016 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 rocket will fire into the sky from French Guiana just after sunset Wednesday and deliver nearly 12 tons of payload to an orbit reaching 22,000 miles up less than a half-hour later.

Live coverage: Ariane 5 blasts off with two Intelsat satellites

August 24, 2016 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 rocket sent two Intelsat communications satellites into orbit Wednesday after liftoff from Europe’s space base in French Guiana at 2216 GMT (6:16 p.m. EDT; 7:16 p.m. local time).

Photos: A drive around the Ariane 5 launch pad

August 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

Take a trip around the perimeter of the Ariane 5 rocket’s launch zone in Kourou, French Guiana, where two Intelsat communications satellites are poised for liftoff Wednesday.

Photos: European rocket treks to launch pad with U.S. satellites

August 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

Two U.S.-built commercial communications satellites moved to their last stop on Earth on Tuesday, when an Ariane 5 rocket rolled out to a launch pad at the edge of the Amazon jungle on the eve of liftoff.