2017 – Page 28 – Spaceflight Now

NASA’s most experienced astronaut set for return to Earth

September 2, 2017 William Harwood

Peggy Whitson, America’s most experienced astronaut with nearly two years in orbit over three missions, returns to Earth Saturday after an extended 288-day stay aboard the International Space Station, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan with Soyuz MS-04 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA flight engineer Jack Fischer.

Video: Alternate view of Falcon 9 static fire

August 31, 2017 Stephen Clark

Check out an alternate view of Thursday’s static fire test of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in Florida.

Falcon 9 rocket fired up for launch of military mini-shuttle

August 31, 2017 Stephen Clark

Running through a practice countdown and hold-down engine firing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket passed a key checkpoint Thursday ahead of liftoff next week with the U.S. Air Force’s fifth X-37B spaceplane flight, a mission that will come with several firsts.

Video: SpaceX rocket runs through hotfire test at pad 39A

August 31, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket ignited its Merlin main engines for several seconds Thursday at Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A ahead of a planned launch next week.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket fired up for hold-down test

August 31, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket arrived at Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A on Thursday for a hold-down engine firing ahead of launch next week with the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane. The brief engine ignition occurred at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT).

Indian navigation satellite stranded on rocket after launch

August 31, 2017 Stephen Clark

An Indian navigation satellite remained stuck to its launcher after climbing into orbit Thursday when the rocket’s aerodynamic payload shroud failed to jettison as planned several minutes after liftoff, dealing the country’s workhorse booster its first total failure since 1993.

Photos: Minotaur 4 blasts off from Cape Canaveral

August 30, 2017 Stephen Clark

A solid-fueled Minotaur 4 rocket lifted off early Saturday from Cape Canaveral with a U.S. military payload designed to monitor satellite traffic in geosynchronous orbit.

Dream Chaser completes aerial captive carry test flight

August 30, 2017 Stephen Clark

Sierra Nevada Corp. conducted a captive carry test flight of the Dream Chaser spaceplane Wednesday at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research in California.

NASA data relay craft successfully blossoms in space

August 29, 2017 Justin Ray

NASA’s new communications satellite, launched to a preliminary orbit August 18, has ascended to geosynchronous altitude more than 22,000 miles up, deployed its giant antennas and extended twin solar arrays to begin in-space commissioning.

NASA studies mission to return samples from Mars by end of 2020s

August 28, 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA is examining options to launch a robotic mission as soon as 2026 to pick up rock specimens from the surface of Mars and bring them back to Earth, moving forward the timeline for a sample return mission as the agency postpones plans for a new Mars reconnaissance and data relay orbiter.