Stephen Clark – Page 110 – Spaceflight Now

NASA spacecraft spots Chinese rover on Martian surface

June 11, 2021 Stephen Clark

The sharp-eyed camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted China’s Zhurong rover on the Red Planet, showing the craft next so its landing platform, with pieces of its heat shield and parachute nearby.

ULA delays Atlas 5 launch to study unexpected engine vibrations

June 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance’s next Atlas 5 launch will carry Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule into orbit July 30 on its second unpiloted test fight, officials confirmed Thursday. An Atlas 5 rocket for the U.S. military previously scheduled for June 23 has been postponed as engineers analyze unexpected vibrations of a new upper stage engine nozzle on a mission last month.

Ground teams begin process to hoist SLS core stage onto its launch platform

June 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

Technicians inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center began a delicate, multi-day task Thursday to lift the 94-ton core stage of the first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket for mounting between two solid-fueled boosters already stacked for a test flight to the moon.

Axiom signs deal with SpaceX for three more private crew missions

June 9, 2021 Stephen Clark

SpaceX has signed a deal with Axiom Space, a Houston company that arranges private astronaut expeditions, for three more fully commercial Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Station beyond Axiom’s first Dragon flight in early 2022.

Long March 2F rocket rolls out to launch pad for China’s next human spaceflight

June 9, 2021 Stephen Clark

The Long March 2F rocket and Shenzhou 12 spaceship set to ferry three Chinese astronauts to the country’s new space station later this month rolled out to a launch pad Wednesday at a remote military-operated spaceport in northwestern China.

Relativity announces plans for fully reusable Terran R rocket

June 8, 2021 Stephen Clark

Relativity Space announced plans Tuesday for a fully reusable two-stage rocket named the Terran R, a 3D-printed vehicle designed to haul more than 20 metric tons of cargo to low Earth orbit from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede seen up close for first time in 21 years

June 8, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew by Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon, Monday on the first close-up visit to the icy world since 2000.

NASA selects two robotic missions to Venus for launch in late 2020s

June 7, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA has selected two robotic missions for launch to Venus around 2029, the U.S. space agency’s first spacecraft in more than 30 years dedicated to exploring the hellishly hot second planet from the sun.

China launches Fengyun 4B meteorological satellite

June 6, 2021 Stephen Clark

China launched the Fengyun 4B weather observatory June 2 aboard a Long March 3B rocket, deploying the second in a new generation of geostationary spacecraft tracking typhoons, monitoring Earth’s climate, and measuring the space environment.

SpaceX delivers for SiriusXM with successful midnight hour launch

June 6, 2021 Stephen Clark

A Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral early Sunday with a high-power digital radio satellite for SiriusXM, marking SpaceX’s 18th Falcon 9 flight since Jan. 1, but just the third dedicated to external commercial customers in a year dominated by missions building out the company’s own Starlink internet network.