July 2018 – Page 4 – Spaceflight Now

Blue Origin performs high-altitude test of crew escape motor

July 18, 2018 Stephen Clark

Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard booster launched Wednesday on an uncrewed test flight, sending a capsule on a brief jaunt into space over West Texas to demonstrate a key safety feature for space tourists and scientists riding on the company’s future rockets.

Watch live: SpaceX counts down to Falcon 9 hotfire test (members only)

July 18, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is preparing this week for the second flight of the upgraded “Block 5” version of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket, with a hold-down firing of the booster planned Wednesday at Cape Canaveral ahead of a middle-of-the-night launch this weekend with a Canadian-owned commercial communications satellite.

Live coverage: SpaceX’s second upgraded “Block 5” booster test-fired in Florida

July 18, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is preparing this week for the second flight of the upgraded “Block 5” version of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket, and a hold-down firing of the booster was accomplished Wednesday at Cape Canaveral ahead of a middle-of-the-night launch this weekend with a Canadian-owned commercial communications satellite. The static fire test occurred at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) Wednesday.

Powerful new European solid-fueled rocket motor aces first test-firing

July 16, 2018 Stephen Clark

European engineers test-fired the world’s most powerful present-day single-segment solid rocket booster Monday in French Guiana, clearing a major development hurdle for the Vega-C and Ariane 6 launchers set for debuts in 2019 and 2020.

Scotland site selected as launch base for Lockheed Martin, Orbex

July 16, 2018 Stephen Clark

Two companies — U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin and British start-up Orbex — seeking to carve out a share of the burgeoning small satellite launch market plan to fly their rockets from a remote site on the northern shore of Scotland, British government and industry officials announced Monday.

Cygnus cargo ship released from space station, heads for extended mission

July 15, 2018 Stephen Clark

Closing out 52 days at the International Space Station, an automated Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo craft left the research outpost Sunday to climb into a higher orbit for deployment of six CubeSats and further engineering experiments, before de-orbiting over Pacific Ocean later this month.

Live coverage: Cygnus supply ship departs space station

July 15, 2018 Stephen Clark

A commercial Cygnus resupply craft that received a new corporate owner while berthed at the International Space Station — thanks to Northrop Grumman’s acquisition of Orbital ATK in June — departed the research complex Sunday. The supply ship was released by Canadarm 2 on the space station at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 GMT).

SpaceX’s first space-worthy Crew Dragon capsule arrives at Cape Canaveral

July 14, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s first Crew Dragon spacecraft, a capsule designed to eventually carry astronauts on treks to the International Space Station, has arrived at Cape Canaveral to begin preparations for launch on an unpiloted test flight later this year.

Towers at historic Florida launch pad toppled

July 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force on Thursday demolished towers once used to assemble Delta 2 rockets at Cape Canaveral for missions to Mars, four dozen flights to deploy the GPS navigation network, and numerous launches with scientific, commercial and military payloads.

Relive the Progress MS-09 freighter’s expedited journey to space station

July 11, 2018 Stephen Clark

Russia’s Progress MS-09 cargo craft made a 3-hour, 40-minute trip from a launch pad in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station on Monday, setting a record for the quickest journey to the orbiting research laboratory. Look back on the mission’s predawn launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and radar-guided docking at the space station with these images and videos.