2016 – Page 66 – Spaceflight Now

Photos: SpaceX cargo mission prepared for launch

April 8, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s eighth operational cargo mission to the International Space Station is set for liftoff with nearly 3.5 tons of research investigations, crew provisions and an experimental expandable habitat for the International Space Station.

Live coverage: Space station robot arm captures Dragon supply ship

April 8, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule arrived at the International Space Station early Sunday with 3.5 tons of supplies and experiments, including an inflatable room to test out technologies for future use on deep space missions. British astronaut Tim Peake captured Dragon with the robotic arm at 7:23 a.m. EDT (1123 GMT).

SpaceX adds abort function for Dragon cargo flights

April 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

Taking a lesson from a launch mishap last June, SpaceX wrote coded commands for future Dragon cargo capsules to deploy their parachutes for an emergency landing in the event of rocket failures, starting with Friday’s resupply flight to the International Space Station.

Timeline for the Falcon 9 rocket’s 23rd flight

April 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will go from Cape Canaveral to low Earth orbit in 10 minutes Friday with a Dragon capsule heading for the International Space Station carrying nearly 7,000 pounds of supplies and experiments.

SpaceX ready to return to the space station

April 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

Ground crews loaded time-critical experiments, including 20 mice to help scientists study muscle atrophy, into SpaceX’s commercial Dragon cargo capsule Thursday, a day before a launch planned from Cape Canaveral toward the International Space Station.

Mostly clear skies predicted for Friday’s SpaceX launch

April 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

Mostly clear skies and brisk westerly winds are forecast at launch time Friday afternoon for SpaceX’s first resupply mission to the International Space Station in nearly a year.

Videos: Previewing SpaceX’s eighth International Space Station resupply launch

April 7, 2016 Justin Ray

Watch the pre-launch news conference on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flight of the Dragon cargo craft to the International Space Station.

Dawn mission expected to go into overtime at Ceres

April 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s robotic Dawn spacecraft is now getting its closest look at the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest resident of the asteroid belt, and mission managers say the probe has enough leftover propellant to keep flying into early 2017, several months beyond the prescribed end of its survey.

Static fire complete in run-up to launch of SpaceX supply ship

April 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX ran a Falcon 9 rocket through a customary preflight checkout Tuesday, filling it with super-cold propellants and firing its nine Merlin first stage engines in preparation for liftoff Friday on a resupply run to the International Space Station.

‘Hubble Hugger’ and chief of NASA science division to leave agency

April 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

Veteran astronaut John Grunsfeld, who flew five space shuttle missions before becoming the head of NASA’s science mission directorate in 2012, announced Tuesday he will leave the space agency at the end of April.