August 2017 – Page 4 – Spaceflight Now

Videos: Replays from successful Atlas 5 launch of TDRS-M

August 18, 2017 Justin Ray

Isolated camera views from various locations around Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center show the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifting off with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M.

SpaceX informed NASA of slowdown in its commercial Mars program

August 18, 2017 Stephen Clark

Confirming rumors and suspicions that SpaceX is adjusting its plans to begin dispatching robotic landers to Mars, NASA officials said the commercial space company has informed the agency that it has put its Red Dragon program on the back burner.

Atlas 5 rocket delivers NASA data router into space for astronauts and satellites

August 18, 2017 Justin Ray

Bulking up NASA’s constellation of tracking stations in the sky that provides critical links between orbiting spacecraft and ground control, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket successfully deployed a new communications hub in space today.

Video: TDRS-M takes flight atop Atlas 5

August 18, 2017 Justin Ray

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 191 feet tall and and weighing 745,000 pounds, generates 860,000 pounds of thrust from its main engine to launch NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M.

IAI sees demand in Earth observation, but few opportunities in telecom

August 17, 2017 Stephen Clark

Fresh off the successful launch and initial checkout of two of its spacecraft earlier this month, Israel’s top satellite manufacturer sees a robust global market for new low-altitude reconnaissance payloads, but little international demand for its communications satellites.

Video: Proton rocket lifts off with Russian military satellite

August 17, 2017 Stephen Clark

Watch a series of multi-angle replays of Russia’s Proton rocket lifting off Wednesday from Kazakhstan with a military communications satellite.

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket soars into space, lands back at Cape Canaveral

August 17, 2017 Stephen Clark

Look back on Monday’s blastoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in this gallery of photos captured by remote cameras at the launch pad, plus views of the first stage returning to Cape Canaveral for a propulsive landing.

Russian cosmonauts complete long spacewalk

August 17, 2017 William Harwood

Two Russian cosmonauts floated outside the International Space Station Thursday for a planned six-hour spacewalk to manually launch five small satellites, to test a variety of spacesuit upgrades, to retrieve an external experiment and to carry out routine inspections and maintenance.

Video: Atlas/TDRS-M pre-launch news briefing

August 17, 2017 Justin Ray

Watch the pre-launch news conference held Thursday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to preview liftoff of the agency’s TDRS-M data relay satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral.

Proton launcher takes off with dual-use Russian communications satellite

August 17, 2017 Stephen Clark

A high-power Russian satellite designed to deliver broadband Internet connections and relay television and videoconferencing signals fired into orbit Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.