February 2020 – Page 4 – Spaceflight Now

Discoveries at solar system’s distant frontier shed light on how planets form

February 13, 2020 Stephen Clark

Data from the encounter of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft with a frozen reddish snowman-shaped object a billion miles beyond Pluto last year suggest the building blocks of planets may have formed less violently than many scientists expected, officials said Thursday.

Japanese companies agree to buy Spaceflight rideshare launch broker

February 13, 2020 Stephen Clark

Spaceflight Industries said this week it is selling its rideshare launch business — known as Spaceflight — to a joint venture formed by two Japanese companies.

Live coverage: SpaceX readies Falcon 9 for fifth Starlink mission

February 13, 2020 Spaceflight Now

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Friday at Cape Canaveral in preparation for liftoff as soon as Sunday with the company’s fifth batch of Starlink broadband satellites.

Christina Koch having no problems re-adapting to Earth after record space flight

February 12, 2020 William Harwood

Astronaut Christina Koch, six days after returning from a record 11-month stay aboard the International Space Station, said Wednesday she’s re-adapting to gravity with no major problems, enjoying family life, an initial trip to the beach, playing with her dog “LBD” and a kitchen packed with chips and salsa, a favorite food in short supply aboard the station.

ULA to debut unflown variant of Atlas 5 rocket later this year

February 11, 2020 Stephen Clark

The last unflown variant of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 launcher — fitted with a five-meter fairing and a single strap-on solid rocket booster — will carry a pair of U.S. military space surveillance satellites toward geosynchronous orbit from Cape Canaveral late this year, according to a Space Force spokesperson.

Former NASA spaceflight chief now consulting with SpaceX

February 11, 2020 William Harwood

Bill Gerstenmaier, former director of spaceflight at NASA Headquarters and a widely respected aerospace engineer and manager, has taken a consulting position at SpaceX, the California rocket company NASA helped save in 2008 with the award of a $1.6 billion contract to build and launch space station cargo ships.

Trump administration requests funding boost for NASA’s Artemis moon program

February 10, 2020 William Harwood

The Trump administration is requesting $25.2 billion for NASA in fiscal 2021, a 12 percent increase that includes $3.3 billion to kickstart development of a human-rated lander for the Artemis moon program. Nearly half of the budget request, $12.3 billion, is devoted to new and ongoing projects focused on the return to the moon and eventual flights to Mars.

Iran fails in satellite launch attempt

February 10, 2020 Stephen Clark

Iranian government officials admitted Sunday that an attempt to place a small Earth-imaging satellite into orbit was unsuccessful, the fourth consecutive launch failure for the country’s space program.

Atlas 5 blasts off with Solar Orbiter

February 10, 2020 William Harwood

Under a brilliant moon, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flashed to life and vaulted away from Cape Canaveral late Sunday, boosting the European Space Agency’s $1.5 billion Solar Orbiter probe out of Earth’s gravitational grip toward a multi-year voyage around the sun that will give scientists their first glimpse of the star’s poles.

Antares launch scrubbed due to faulty ground support equipment

February 10, 2020 Stephen Clark

The launch of a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket with an automated commercial space station cargo vessel from Virginia was aborted less than three minutes before takeoff Sunday after engineers detected unusual readings from a ground support sensor. Northrop Grumman and NASA officials said the next launch attempt is scheduled for no earlier than Thursday.