William Harwood – Page 21 – Spaceflight Now

Bezos’s Blue Origin auctions seat on first New Shepard spaceflight with passengers

May 7, 2021 William Harwood

Blue Origin plans to begin crew flights of its suborbital New Shepard spacecraft on July 20, launching the highest bidder in an online auction out of the atmosphere and into space for a few minutes of weightlessness and an out-of-this world view before returning to Earth.

Crew Dragon brings four astronauts back to nighttime splashdown

May 2, 2021 William Harwood

Four astronauts strapped into their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged to a fiery pre-dawn splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday, closing out the first operational flight of SpaceX’s futuristic touch-screen ferry ship.

Astronauts describe thrilling ride to orbit on Falcon 9 rocket

April 30, 2021 William Harwood

When the countdown hit zero last Friday and the engines powering a previously flown Falcon 9 first stage roared to life for takeoff, the four astronauts strapped into a SpaceX Crew Dragon some 21 stories up started laughing.

Apollo 11 astronaut Mike Collins dies at 90

April 28, 2021 William Harwood

Michael Collins, the man who stayed behind aboard the Apollo 11 command module while crewmates Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the moon and walked into history, has passed away after a battle with cancer, his family announced Wednesday. He was 90.

SpaceX Crew Dragon launch to space station delayed to Friday by offshore weather

April 21, 2021 William Harwood

Launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station has been delayed 24 hours to Friday because of bad weather in the Atlantic Ocean where the crew could be forced to ditch in an emergency, NASA announced Wednesday.

Russian capsule brings home three space fliers

April 17, 2021 William Harwood

Two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth early Saturday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan amid preparations in Florida for launch of another station-bound crew Thursday aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Space station crew set for landing in Kazakhstan

April 16, 2021 William Harwood

Two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut wrapping up a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station readied their Soyuz ferry ship for a fiery plunge back to Earth early Saturday amid preparations in Florida for launch of another station-bound crew Thursday aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Soyuz crew welcomed aboard International Space Station

April 9, 2021 William Harwood

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two cosmonauts blasted off from Kazakhstan Friday and docked with the International Space Station after a two-orbit chase, the first step in a record crew rotation requiring two launches and two landings with four different spacecraft in just three weeks.

NASA astronaut, two cosmonauts set for launch to space station

April 8, 2021 William Harwood

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two Russian cosmonauts will ride a Soyuz ferry ship to the International Space Station early Friday, the first step in a record crew rotation requiring two launches and two landings with four different spacecraft in just three weeks.

Final two passengers named for first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth

March 30, 2021 William Harwood

The billionaire financing the SpaceX flight that will carry the first non-professional “everyday people” into orbit in September, announced the final two members of his four-person crew Tuesday, adding an artist-educator and an aerospace worker selected in a charity-themed competition.