May 2019 – Spaceflight Now

Northrop Grumman looking into dramatic nozzle anomaly on Omega rocket motor

May 30, 2019 William Harwood

Near the end of a ground-shaking test firing of Northrop Grumman’s solid-propellant Castor 600 rocket motor — the first stage of a new booster being designed to launch spy satellites and other national security payloads — a major part of the rocket’s big nozzle appeared to break apart, littering the test site with shards of debris.

NASA to shut down Spitzer Space Telescope early next year

May 30, 2019 Stephen Clark

After a search for an outside funding source turned up empty, NASA plans to end observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope in January to conclude a 16-year mission that discovered exoplanets, studied galaxies in the ancient universe, and peered at planets and asteroids in our own solar system.

Proton rocket lifts off with Yamal 601 communications satellite

May 30, 2019 Stephen Clark

On its first launch of the year, a Russian-made Proton rocket lifted off Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with a French-built, Russian-owned communications satellite.

Cosmonauts complete tasks outside space station, honor spacewalk pioneer

May 29, 2019 William Harwood

Two Russian cosmonauts stepped outside the International Space Station Wednesday, sent birthday greetings to former cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, the first man to walk in space, and then carried out a full slate of maintenance work.

NASA says SpaceX readying Crew Dragon capsule for possible piloted test flight by end of year

May 28, 2019 William Harwood

In parallel with an on-going failure investigation, SpaceX is readying downstream Crew Dragon spacecraft for flight in hopes that corrective actions can be implemented in time to launch two astronauts to the International Space Station before the end of the year, a senior NASA manager said Tuesday.

Soyuz perseveres through lightning strike with Glonass satellite

May 28, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a Glonass navigation satellite withstood a lightning strike seconds after liftoff Monday, and still delivered its payload to orbit.

Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule completes major propulsion test

May 25, 2019 Stephen Clark

Boeing engineers have completed hotfire testing on a flight-like model of the Starliner crew capsule, clearing a major hurdle before a pad abort test and a demonstration flight to the International Space Station later this summer, Boeing announced Friday.

NASA chooses Maxar to build keystone module for lunar Gateway station

May 24, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA has selected Maxar Technologies for a $375 million contract to design, build and launch the core element of a mini-space station in orbit around the moon that will double as a deep space research outpost and a staging point for future human expeditions to the lunar surface.

SpaceX’s first 60 Starlink broadband satellites deployed in orbit

May 24, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX successfully delivered the first 60 members of the company’s Starlink broadband satellite fleet to orbit Thursday night after a launch from Cape Canaveral.

India plans July launch of Chandrayaan 2 moon mission

May 23, 2019 Stephen Clark

Indian engineers hope to launch the country’s first robotic lunar lander between July 9 and July 16 on India’s most powerful rocket, the head of the Indian space agency said this week.