November 2017 – Page 3 – Spaceflight Now

Falcon 9 flight timeline for the Zuma mission

November 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 booster is being readied for liftoff from Cape Canaveral, but most of the launcher’s ascent into orbit will be under a news blackout at the request of the U.S. government customer that owns the top secret Zuma payload fastened to the top of the rocket.

Delta 2 launch from California halted for second day in a row

November 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

Brisk upper level winds blowing from the west thwarted a second try to launch a new NOAA weather satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket Wednesday, likely postponing the liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California until at least Saturday.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket launch put on hold

November 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX has postponed the launch of its next Falcon 9 rocket indefinitely. The rocket was originally scheduled take off Wednesday from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a top secret U.S. government payload named Zuma. A few minutes after launch, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return for a landing at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Chinese weather satellite launched into polar orbit

November 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Chinese Long March 4C rocket launched Tuesday with a new polar-orbiting weather observatory named Fengyun 3D, replacing an aging satellite for the China Meteorological Administration.

Boats in safety zone, technical problem combine to scrub Delta 2 launch

November 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance called off the launch of a Delta 2 rocket from California’s Central Coast early Tuesday after boats ventured into a restricted safety exclusion zone and engineers ran out of time to resolve a technical problem on the launcher.

Cygnus arrives at space station with food, experiments and cache of CubeSats

November 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

A commercial cargo craft owned and operated by Orbital ATK wrapped up a two-day journey to the International Space Station on Tuesday, delivering ice cream and pizza for the lab’s six-person crew and hardware for a slew of research experiments, including CubeSats slated for orbital deployments in the coming weeks.

Photos: JPSS 1 weather satellite prepped for encapsulation

November 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

NOAA’s JPSS 1 weather satellite is enshrouded inside the nose fairing of a Delta 2 rocket, awaiting liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on a seven-year mission to collect data to improve global weather forecasts.

Delta 2 launch timeline with JPSS 1

November 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Delta 2 rocket boosted by nine strap-on motors and two liquid-fueled stages will launch NOAA’s JPSS 1 weather satellite into a 511-mile-high (822-kilometer) orbit following liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Photos: Delta 2 rocket revealed after mobile gantry rollback

November 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

Ground crews at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California retracted a mobile gantry away from the Delta 2 rocket Monday afternoon, revealing the 128-foot-tall (39-meter) booster on its launch pad awaiting liftoff with a new polar-orbiting weather observatory.

Live coverage: Delta 2 launches from California on third try

November 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Delta 2 rocket lifted off from California’s Central Coast Saturday after back-to-back scrubbed launch attempts earlier this week. The Delta 2 delivered the JPSS 1 weather satellite to orbit for NOAA.