Stephen Clark – Page 173 – Spaceflight Now

Chinese launches loft satellites to study space environment and observe Earth

July 6, 2020 Stephen Clark

China launched a Long March 2D rocket Saturday with a satellite Chinese officials claimed will study the space environment and conduct technology demonstrations, less than two days after a Long March 4B rocket took off from a different launch site with an Earth-imaging payload.

Israel successfully places surveillance satellite into orbit

July 6, 2020 Stephen Clark

For the first time in nearly four years, a rocket successfully shot into orbit from Israel on Monday with a military reconnaissance satellite to shore up the country’s space-based capability to surveil Iran and other adversaries.

Rocket Lab satellite launch fails before reaching orbit

July 4, 2020 Stephen Clark

A failure during the second stage burn of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket caused seven small commercial satellites to crash back to Earth Saturday following liftoff from New Zealand.

Top secret NRO payload installed on Minotaur rocket for launch from Virginia

July 4, 2020 Stephen Clark

Crews working on Virginia’s Eastern Shore this week raised a top secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office — the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency — atop a solid-fueled Minotaur 4 rocket for liftoff July 15 on the first Minotaur launch in nearly three years.

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket launches from Florida with GPS navigation satellite

July 4, 2020 Stephen Clark

The first launch by SpaceX for the U.S. Space Force on June 30 carried the third in a new line of modernized GPS navigation satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral.

Live coverage: Rocket Lab confirms launch failure after liftoff with seven satellites

July 4, 2020 Stephen Clark

Seven small satellites from Canon Electronics, Planet and In-Space Missions launched from New Zealand on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket Saturday at 5:19:36 p.m. EDT (2119:36 GMT), but the payloads and launch vehicle were lost after a problem during the second stage burn.

UK government commits $500 million in bid to rescue bankrupt OneWeb

July 3, 2020 Stephen Clark

The UK government and India’s Bharti Global mobile telecom operator announced Friday they placed the winning bid to purchase OneWeb, which filed for bankruptcy in March while in the early stages of deploying a megaconstellation of broadband satellites.

Rocket Lab plans next launch Saturday, closes in on first mission from Virginia

July 3, 2020 Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab is readying for a launch from its New Zealand spaceport Saturday (U.S. time) with seven commercial satellites from Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, while teams at Wallops Island, Virginia, move closer to Rocket Lab’s first launch there as soon as August.

Coronavirus work stoppage likely to delay launch of NASA X-ray astronomy mission

July 2, 2020 Stephen Clark

A nearly three-month stoppage of on-site work due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus at NASA’s Marshall Space Fight Center in Alabama is expected to push back the launch of the IXPE X-ray astronomy satellite from May 2021 until some time later next year, a senior space agency official said.

After weather delays, Arianespace delays Vega launch to recharge batteries

July 1, 2020 Stephen Clark

After an unusual stretch of excessive high-altitude winds prevented launch from French Guiana of 53 small satellites on a Vega rocket in June — and no sign of a letup in winds in the coming days — Arianespace said Wednesday that the mission will be delayed to Aug. 17 to allow time for teams to recharge launcher and payload batteries.