April 2019 – Page 5 – Spaceflight Now

Launch timeline for Falcon Heavy’s second flight

April 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s second Falcon Heavy rocket is set for liftoff Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the heavy-lift launcher will head on an easterly course over the Atlantic Ocean atop more than 5 million pounds of thrust.

Photos: Falcon Heavy raised vertical at pad 39A

April 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s second Falcon Heavy, outfitted to produce more thrust than the heavy-lifter’s debut flight last year, was raised vertical at launch pad 39A in Florida on Wednesday ahead of a launch attempt with the Arabsat 6A communications satellite.

Live coverage: Falcon Heavy launches, three boosters land safely

April 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s second Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off Thursday with the Arabsat 6A communications satellite. The world’s most powerful operational launcher lifted off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT), and its three first stage boosters landed less than 10 minutes later — two back at Cape Canaveral and one on a drone ship at sea.

Live coverage: SpaceX scrubs Falcon Heavy launch, set to try again Thursday

April 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX called off a launch attempt Wednesday for the company’s second Falcon Heavy rocket after high winds aloft posed a problem during the countdown. Another launch opportunity is available Thursday with a window opening at 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT) from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After the Falcon Heavy takes off with the Arabsat 6A communications satellite, the launcher’s two side boosters will return to a landing at Cape Canaveral, while the center core will aim for touchdown on a drone ship at sea.

Astronauts venture outside for more battery work, cable installations

April 8, 2019 William Harwood

Two astronauts floated outside the International Space Station Monday for NASA’s third spacewalk in less than three weeks for more battery replacement work and installation of cables.

Watch the Falcon Heavy fire up its engines

April 5, 2019 Spaceflight Now

The second Falcon Heavy fires its first stage engines as part of a routine pre-flight test for the upcoming launch of the Arabsat 6A communications satellite.

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe releases ‘bomb’ at asteroid

April 5, 2019 Stephen Clark

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft dropped an explosive charge on asteroid Ryugu on Thursday night in an audacious attempt to carve a crater on the object, exposing pristine underground rocks to be retrieved by the probe for return to Earth.

Israel’s Beresheet lander brakes into lunar orbit

April 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

Six weeks after launching from Cape Canaveral, an Israeli-built probe funded through private donations arrived in orbit around the moon Thursday, setting the the stage for the mission’s final descent to the lunar surface April 11.

Soyuz launch deploys last of O3b’s first-generation broadband satellites

April 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

The launch of a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana with four more satellites Thursday to join SES’s O3b broadband network will help satisfy growing bandwidth demands in Latin America, Africa and the Pacific islands until the deployment of a new generation of upgraded spacecraft in 2021, SES officials said.

Live coverage: Four more O3b broadband launch aboard Soyuz rocket

April 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

Four more satellites for SES Networks’ O3b broadband fleet launched Thursday aboard a Soyuz rocket. Liftoff of the Soyuz launcher from the Guiana Space Center in South America occurred at 1703 GMT (1:03 p.m. EDT).