June 2021 – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

Declining power supply could end NASA’s InSight Mars mission next year

June 27, 2021 Stephen Clark

Without a fortuitous whirlwind to clear dust off its solar panels, NASA’s InSight lander could end its mission on Mars within a year due to dropping power levels, the project’s chief scientist said last week.

Spacewalking astronauts install second upgraded solar array

June 25, 2021 William Harwood

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA crewmate Shane Kimbrough floated back outside the International Space Station Friday and deployed a 60-foot-long roll-out solar array, the second of six new blankets being installed to upgrade the lab’s power system and offset age-related degradation.

Watch live as space station astronauts make spacewalk

June 25, 2021 William Harwood

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough will head outside the International Space Station for a planned six-and-a-half hour spacewalk beginning around 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT). The spacewalkers will install and unfurl a second roll-out solar array outside the space station.

SpaceX postpones second Transporter rideshare launch

June 24, 2021 Stephen Clark

SpaceX said Thursday it has postponed the next launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, previously scheduled for Friday at Cape Canaveral, due to unspecified technical concerns. The Falcon 9 will launch on a commercial rideshare mission with more than 80 small satellites.

Interstage adapter installed on Space Launch System

June 23, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA has stacked the next piece of the agency’s first Space Launch System moon rocket, adding an adapter structure to connect the launch vehicle’s core stage and upper stage, which is scheduled to be installed next week.

Starliner capsule fueled for unpiloted test flight to International Space Station

June 22, 2021 Stephen Clark

Boeing finished loading hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide maneuvering propellants over the weekend into the company’s second space-rated Starliner capsule at the Kennedy Space Center, days after stacking of its Atlas 5 launcher began a few miles away at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Photos: SpaceX rocket launches, then lands, on Space Force mission

June 21, 2021 Stephen Clark

These photos show the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket June 17 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying a GPS navigation satellite into orbit for the U.S. Space Force. Once its job was complete, the rocket’s first stage booster returned to a landing on a SpaceX drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Chinese military payloads deployed on Long March 2C rocket launch

June 21, 2021 Stephen Clark

China launched three more Yaogan 30 military reconnaissance satellites June 18 aboard a Long March 2C rocket.

Photos: Surplus missile motor from 1960s launches classified NRO satellites

June 20, 2021 Stephen Clark

A Cold War-era missile motor cast with solid propellant in 1966 fired up for the first time Wednesday to catapult a Northrop Grumman Minotaur 1 rocket off a launch pad in Virginia with three small spacecraft for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.

Spacewalkers unfurl first of six new space station solar arrays

June 20, 2021 Stephen Clark

Astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Shane Kimbrough floated outside the International Space Station Sunday to deploy and unroll a new solar array blanket after encountering spacesuit glitches and an interference issue during a previous excursion Wednesday.