November 2016 – Page 7 – Spaceflight Now

China launches Long March 5, one of the world’s most powerful rockets

November 3, 2016 Stephen Clark

China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket fired into space on a successful inaugural flight Thursday, debuting a brand new launcher that can carry twice the payload of any other Chinese booster and setting a keystone for the country’s ambitions for a space station and interplanetary exploration.

Fly through the International Space Station in Ultra HD

November 2, 2016 Stephen Clark

Take a maze-like journey through the International Space Station in this fisheye 4K Ultra HD video recently recorded aboard the orbiting research outpost.

Japanese weather observatory successfully boosted into orbit

November 2, 2016 Stephen Clark

A nearly four-ton satellite fitted with a modernized camera to collect more timely images of typhoons and severe weather bolted away from a seaside launch pad in southern Japan on Wednesday, riding an H-2A rocket on the way to an orbital perch more than 22,000 miles above Earth.

Long March 5 heavy-lifter ready to join China’s rocket inventory

November 2, 2016 Stephen Clark

China is ready to debut a heavy-lifting rocket rivaling the biggest boosters in the world Thursday, paving the way for a backlog of missions to loft massive space station modules, send deep space probes to the moon and Mars, and perhaps deploy commercial satellites.

Key events during the H-2A rocket launch with Himawari 9

November 1, 2016 Stephen Clark

Japan’s Himawari 9 weather satellite will ride into space atop an H-2A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center and reach a preliminary geostationary transfer orbit within 28 minutes of liftoff.

Live coverage: H-2A rocket blasts off with latest Japanese weather satellite

November 1, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Japanese H-2A rocket launched from Tanegashima Island on Wednesday with the Himawari 9 weather observatory bound for a perch more than 22,000 miles above Earth to improve forecasting in the Asia-Pacific. Liftoff of the 17-story rocket from southern Japan occurred at 0620 GMT (2:20 a.m. EDT) Wednesday.

H-2A rocket rolls to launch pad with Japanese weather satellite

November 1, 2016 Stephen Clark

A sophisticated new Japanese weather satellite will ride an H-2A rocket into orbit Wednesday to start a 15-year mission tracking cyclones and helping meteorologists predict storm movements across the Asia-Pacific and Australia.