2017 – Page 45 – Spaceflight Now

Video: SpaceX’s second reused Falcon 9 rocket test-fired in Florida

June 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket ignited its nine Merlin main engines for several seconds Thursday at launch pad 39A in Florida, moving the previously-flown booster closer to a scheduled blastoff Monday with a Bulgarian communications satellite.

Chinese astronomy satellite placed into orbit by Long March rocket

June 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

China’s first X-ray astronomy satellite launched Thursday on a mission to survey the Milky Way galaxy for black holes and pulsars, the remnants left behind after a star burns up its nuclear fuel.

Live coverage: Previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket fires engines on Florida launch pad

June 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket launch, using a previously-flown first stage booster, took a step closer to liftoff Thursday with a countdown rehearsal culminating in ignition of the launcher’s nine Merlin main engines in a hold-down firing at pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Video: Russia’s Progress MS-06 supply ship blasts off from Baikonur

June 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

Russia’s Progress MS-06 supply ship launched Wednesday aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on the way to deliver food, fuel, spare parts, oxygen and water to the International Space Station’s crew.

Robotic Russian resupply freighter on the way to space station

June 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Russian Progress supply ship packed with several tons of crew provisions and fuel lifted off Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a two-day trip to the International Space Station.

Boeing, DARPA to base XS-1 spaceplane at Cape Canaveral

June 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

A reusable suborbital spaceplane the size of a business jet being developed by Boeing and the Defense Department’s research and development arm could be launching and landing at Cape Canaveral in 2020, officials said after the defense contractor won a competition last month to design and test the vehicle.

Photos: Russian Proton rocket blasts off with EchoStar 21

June 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

Look back on last week’s launch of a Russian Proton rocket from Kazakhstan with the EchoStar 21 communications satellite, a commercial craft designed to beam broadband connectivity to customers across Europe.

Soyuz booster rolls out for launch with space station cargo freighter

June 11, 2017 Stephen Clark

Russian launch crews stood up a Soyuz rocket Sunday on its launch mount in Kazakhstan for a scheduled liftoff Wednesday with approximately 5,500 pounds of supplies, experiments, fuel and several small satellites to be released by spacewalking cosmonauts at the International Space Station later this year.

SpaceX aims to restore damaged launch pad to service by end of summer

June 10, 2017 Stephen Clark

Construction crews at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad are busily repairing and upgrading the facility after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded there last year, with the pad’s return to service scheduled before the end of the summer, clearing the way for final preparations for the triple-core Falcon Heavy’s maiden flight late this year.

Photos: India’s GSLV Mk.3 debuts with on-target test flight

June 8, 2017 Stephen Clark

India’s new GSLV Mk.3 launcher delivered to orbit the GSAT 19 communications satellite Monday, and these photos show the rocket lifting off from a launch pad on the eastern Indian coastline powered by two side-mounted solid rocket boosters.