2016 – Page 59 – Spaceflight Now

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.

Falcon 9 flight timeline with the JCSAT 14 satellite

May 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral early Friday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the JCSAT 14 communications satellite into orbit 32 minutes later.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 roars into orbit with Japanese satellite

May 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Falcon 9 rocket took off for its fourth flight of the year Friday with a middle-of-the-night mission for SKY Perfect JSAT, a Tokyo-based satellite operator. The JCSAT 14 communications satellite launched from Cape Canaveral at 1:21 a.m. EDT (0521 GMT), and the rocket’s first stage booster made a successful landing at sea a few minutes later.

55 years ago today: America entered human spaceflight arena

May 5, 2016 Justin Ray

The U.S. launched its first man into space on this date, May 5, 1961, as Alan Shepard rode the Freedom 7 capsule on a 15-minute suborbital flight to 116.5 miles in altitude and 303 miles downrange to splashdown.

Stormy weather in Florida delays Falcon 9 launch

May 4, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX has delayed a planned Falcon 9 launch with a Japanese communications satellite to Friday due to inclement weather on Florida’s Space Coast.

SpaceX undecided on payload for first Falcon Heavy flight

May 3, 2016 Stephen Clark

As SpaceX engineers put together the first model of the company’s new Falcon Heavy rocket, officials have not ruled out flying a paying customer’s satellite aboard the maiden flight of the humongous launcher scheduled later this year, the company’s president told Spaceflight Now.

Russian authorities retrieve Soyuz booster wreckage in Siberia

May 3, 2016 Stephen Clark

Four liquid-fueled rocket boosters dropped in Siberia by a Soyuz launcher speeding into orbit last week from a new Russian cosmodrome have been located and recovered, Russia’s space agency said.

New lineup spelled out for upcoming Atlas 5 rocket launches from the Cape

May 3, 2016 Justin Ray

The revised Atlas 5 rocket firing order includes two national security missions this summer before launching NASA’s daring asteroid sampler mission in September as originally planned.