Stephen Clark – Page 162 – Spaceflight Now

Long-delayed Vega rocket launch could happen Wednesday night

September 1, 2020 Stephen Clark

Arianespace delayed the launch of a Vega rocket from French Guiana Tuesday night due to a typhoon threatening a ground station in South Korea needed to track the vehicle as it deploys a cluster of more than 50 small satellites.

Rocket Lab returns to service with successful launch for Capella

August 31, 2020 Stephen Clark

Flying for the first time since a failure in early July, Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher delivered Capella Space’s first commercial radar remote sensing satellite to orbit after lifting off from New Zealand Sunday.

SpaceX launches first polar orbit mission from Florida in decades

August 31, 2020 Stephen Clark

Vaulting away from Cape Canaveral on an unusual southerly trajectory, a Falcon 9 rocket dodged stormy weather and successfully placed an Argentine radar observation satellite into an orbit over Earth’s poles Sunday on SpaceX’s 100th launch.

Live coverage: Rocket Lab launches Capella’s first commercial radar satellite

August 30, 2020 Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab’s first mission since a failed launch in early July took off at 11:05 p.m. EDT Sunday (0305 GMT Monday) from New Zealand. The small satellite launcher carried into orbit a commercial radar remote sensing spacecraft for Capella Space.

Amid shuffling schedules, Capella to fly its first commercial satellite with Rocket Lab

August 30, 2020 Stephen Clark

After switching rockets two times due to launch delays, Capella Space is set to launch the first spacecraft in a constellation of commercial radar reconnaissance satellites from New Zealand Sunday on a Rocket Lab Electron booster.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches radar satellite for Argentina

August 30, 2020 Stephen Clark

SpaceX launched Argentina’s SAOCOM 1B radar observation satellite from Cape Canaveral at 7:18 p.m. EDT (2318 GMT) Sunday. A Falcon 9 rocket headed toward the south on a trajectory hugging the Florida East Coast on the first flight into polar orbit from Cape Canaveral since 1969, and the first stage booster returned to the spaceport for an onshore landing minutes after liftoff.

SpaceX poised for back-to-back launches Sunday at Cape Canaveral

August 29, 2020 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is readying two Falcon 9 rockets for a pair of flights nine hours apart Sunday from separate pads along Florida’s Space Coast. Weather permitting, the back-to-back departures Sunday would mark shortest span between two orbital-class launches from Cape Canaveral since 1966.

Launch of NRO spy satellite delayed at least a week

August 29, 2020 Stephen Clark

The launch from Cape Canaveral of a top secret spy satellite for the U.S. government was aborted at the last moment early Saturday as its United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket ignited three main engines, a dramatic cutoff of the countdown that will delay the mission by at least one week.

Up to three launches planned this weekend from Cape Canaveral

August 28, 2020 Stephen Clark

Delays have set up the possibility of up to three rocket launches this weekend from different pads along Florida’s Space Coast, including two SpaceX missions on Sunday that could set a company record for the shortest span between two Falcon 9 rocket launches. But in the world of ever-changing launch schedules, numerous factors such as weather and technical issues could thwart launch plans this weekend.

ULA calls off launch of triple-core Delta 4-Heavy rocket, will try again Saturday

August 27, 2020 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance early Thursday delayed the launch of a triple-core Delta 4-Heavy rocket — the largest launcher in the company’s fleet — until Saturday to allow engineers more time to resolve an issue with a ground pneumatics control system.