2016 – Page 48 – Spaceflight Now

Ariane 5 rocket hoists record commercial payload into orbit

June 19, 2016 Stephen Clark

Two U.S.-built communications satellites for Dish Network television subscribers and Indonesian banking customers fired into orbit from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket Saturday, setting the record for the European launcher’s heaviest commercial payload.

Blue Origin flies reusable suborbital rocket for fourth time

June 19, 2016 Stephen Clark

Blue Origin’s suborbital space transport system made another test flight Sunday, launching and landing at the company’s West Texas test facility to prove out the crew capsule’s resiliency to a parachute failure.

Soyuz spacecraft brings home three-man station crew

June 18, 2016 William Harwood

A Russian cosmonaut, a NASA astronaut and a British flier strapped into a Soyuz spacecraft, undocked from International Space Station and plunged back to Earth Saturday, safely landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 186-day mission.

Photos: Ariane 5 on the launch pad for heavy-lift mission

June 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 rocket is counting down to a second launch attempt Saturday to carry two communications satellites into space for DISH Network and Indonesian banking customers, taking the heaviest payload ever launched into geostationary transfer orbit.

Video: Juno’s countdown to Jupiter

June 17, 2016 Justin Ray

Scientists and officials preview NASA’s Juno spacecraft mission to explore the planet Jupiter in this news briefing detailing the orbit insertion maneuver on July 4.

Live coverage: Space station crew concludes 186 days in orbit

June 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

Veteran Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko, outgoing space station skipper Tim Kopra and British astronaut Tim Peake departed the International Space Station early Saturday aboard the Soyuz TMA-19M capsule and landed in Kazakhstan at 0915 GMT (5:15 a.m. EDT).

Three station fliers set for Saturday return to Earth

June 17, 2016 William Harwood

Three space station crew members made final preparations Friday for undocking and landing in Kazakhstan early Saturday to close out a 186-day stay in orbit.

Mission events timeline for Ariane 5’s third flight of the year

June 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

A European Ariane 5 rocket will propel two communications satellites from a standstill to a speed of nearly 21,000 mph in 25 minutes during a launch Friday from French Guiana.

Live coverage: Ariane 5 lifts off with two U.S.-built satellites

June 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

Two communications satellites built in California launched Saturday aboard the third Ariane 5 flight of the year after unacceptable upper level winds kept the rocket grounded Friday. The European rocket lifted off from French Guiana at 2138 GMT (5:38 p.m. EDT) with payloads for DISH Network and BRI, a major Indonesian bank.

Ariane 5 rocket rolls to launch pad for liftoff Friday

June 16, 2016 Stephen Clark

The third Ariane 5 flight of the year is on track for a late afternoon liftoff Thursday from French Guiana with two U.S.-built communications satellites to broadcast television channels to millions of DISH Network subscribers and improve banking services across the islands of Indonesia.