October 2019 – Page 4 – Spaceflight Now

All-female spacewalk on tap this week

October 15, 2019 William Harwood

Two NASA astronauts will take part in the first all-female spacewalk this week, a critical outing to restore lost power in the wake of an equipment failure that cropped up after new batteries were installed in the International Space Station’s solar power system during two earlier spacewalks.

Rocket Lab preps for commercial satellite launch this week

October 15, 2019 Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab’s fifth flight of the year is set for liftoff as soon as Wednesday (U.S. time) carrying a small experimental satellite to orbit for Astro Digital, a Silicon Valley company aiming to demonstrate technologies in space after an earlier focus on Earth observation.

Photos: Proton fires off the launch pad with two U.S.-built satellites

October 13, 2019 Stephen Clark

Six RD-276 engines powered a Russian Proton rocket off the launch pad Wednesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, boosting a television broadcast payload for Eutelsat and the first commercial robotic satellite servicing spacecraft into orbit.

SpaceX’s next launch to mark another incremental step in rocket reusability

October 11, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX next launch, slated to carry the company’s second set of Starlink broadband satellites into orbit, will be the first to fly with a reused Falcon 9 booster making its fourth flight when it takes off in the coming weeks.

Stratolaunch under new ownership

October 11, 2019 Stephen Clark

Stratolaunch said Friday that the company has “transitioned ownership” a year after the death of Paul Allen, the company’s billionaire founder who funded the construction of the world’s largest airplane for an airborne satellite launcher.

Alexei Leonov, world’s first spacewalker, dies

October 11, 2019 William Harwood

Legendary cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first human to walk in space — an experience that almost killed him — and later the commander of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that docked with a NASA Apollo capsule, symbolizing a historic thaw in the Cold War, has died after a long illness, the Russian space agency confirmed Friday. He was 85.

Morgan, Koch continue battery replacement work on spacewalk

October 11, 2019 William Harwood

Astronauts Drew Morgan and Christina Koch floated back outside the International Space Station Friday and completed work to replace six aging batteries with three more powerful units in one of the lab’s eight solar power circuits. Three more spacewalks are planned over the next two weeks to replace another six batteries in an adjacent circuit.

NASA satellite to study ionosphere launches after two-year delay

October 11, 2019 Stephen Clark

A refrigerator-sized satellite soared into orbit aboard an air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket Thursday night over the Atlantic Ocean, finally setting off on a $252 million mission to probe the dynamic boundary region where space and Earth’s atmosphere meet.

NASA chief says SpaceX properly focused on Crew Dragon

October 10, 2019 William Harwood

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine visited SpaceX’s California rocket factory Thursday, toured the sprawling facility with founder Elon Musk and told reporters he is optimistic the company will be ready to launch the first piloted test flight of its Crew Dragon spaceship in the first quarter of next year.

Rockets purchased by Stratolaunch back under Northrop Grumman control

October 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

Hardware for two air-dropped Pegasus XL launchers previously purchased by Stratolaunch, a space launch company founded by the late billionaire Paul Allen, are now back under Northrop Grumman control and for sale to NASA, the Air Force, or commercial satellite operators, industry officials said.