October 2021 – Page 7 – Spaceflight Now

On the verge of another Soyuz launch, OneWeb looks to flights on Indian rockets

October 11, 2021

OneWeb announced Monday it is working on an agreement to launch future broadband internet satellites on Indian rockets, the same day the next batch of 36 OneWeb spacecraft moved into position at a Russian spaceport for liftoff Thursday on a Soyuz launcher.

Secondary payloads launched with Landsat begin commissioning

October 10, 2021

Ground teams are stepping through testing of three small CubeSats launched with the Landsat 9 remote sensing satellite last month, preparing the small spacecraft for exoplanet observations and communications experiments. NASA says engineers have not established contact with another CubeSat designed for space weather research.

Japanese satellite launch facing weeks-long delay

October 8, 2021

The launch of a solid-fueled Japanese Epsilon rocket with nine small satellites, originally scheduled to blastoff last week, has been grounded until after the flight of a larger H-2A launcher later this month, Japan’s space agency said Friday.

Astronauts choose ‘Endurance’ as name for new SpaceX crew capsule

October 8, 2021

The astronauts who will ride SpaceX’s newest Dragon spaceship into orbit later this month said Thursday they named their spacecraft “Endurance” as a tribute to the human spirit and a historic sailing vessel used by Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton.

Asteroid probe mounted on Atlas booster originally assigned to astronaut flight

October 7, 2021

Teams at Cape Canaveral transferred NASA’s Lucy asteroid explorer to a United Launch Alliance integration building Thursday and mounted the robotic science probe atop an Atlas 5 rocket for liftoff later this month, using a booster originally built to send astronauts into space.

NASA swaps two astronauts from Boeing missions to SpaceX crew flight

October 7, 2021

NASA has reassigned two rookie astronauts from missions on Boeing’s troubled Starliner crew capsule to a SpaceX crew mission to the International Space Station late next year, a move agency officials said will allow the astronauts to gain spaceflight experience for future lunar expeditions.

SpaceX is adding two more Crew Dragons to its fleet

October 6, 2021

SpaceX is about to double the size of its fleet of Crew Dragon spaceships. The company is debuting a new spacecraft for a NASA launch later this month, and is building a fourth human-rated capsule that should be ready for flight early next year, a SpaceX official said Wednesday.

Live coverage: Japanese Epsilon rocket launch scrubbed again

October 6, 2021

Six days after a ground station malfunction scrubbed the mission’s first launch attempt, a Japanese Epsilon rocket was poised for blastoff at 8:51 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0051 GMT Thursday) with nine small technology demonstration satellites. But officials called off the mission again, this time citing unfavorable upper level winds.

Watch a video tour of NASA’s Lucy asteroid explorer

October 6, 2021

Set for launch Oct. 16 on a flight to explore asteroids in the outer solar system, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has been fueled and encapsulated inside the payload fairing of its Atlas 5 rocket. Watch as Chris McCaa, a manager from spacecraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin, points out some of the features of the probe.

NASA’s Lucy asteroid mission 10 days from launch

October 6, 2021

Fueled up for a 12-year mission of exploration, NASA’s Lucy science probe is nearly ready for launch Oct. 16 from Florida’s Space Coast to begin a journey through the solar system to visit eight asteroids, a record number for a single mission.