Stephen Clark – Page 259 – Spaceflight Now

Boeing delays first Starliner test flight to August, NASA extends duration of first crew mission

April 2, 2019 Stephen Clark

Boeing said Tuesday the first orbital test flight of its commercial crew capsule, named the Starliner, will be delayed until August “in order to avoid unnecessary schedule pressure” and give priority on the Atlas 5 rocket’s manifest to a U.S. Air Force communications satellite. NASA confirmed Wednesday that officials have approved an extension of the Starliner’s first crewed mission to last up to several months.

Two Soyuz rockets rolled out for launches on different continents

April 2, 2019 Stephen Clark

Russian ground crews working in starkly different environments on the barren steppes of Kazakhstan and in the lush jungles of South America are readying a pair of Soyuz rockets for two launches Thursday, one to resupply the International Space Station, and another to broaden the capacity of SES’s O3b Internet network.

Live coverage: Falcon Heavy launch slips until Wednesday at earliest

April 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

The launch for the second Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida has slipped until Wednesday at the earliest. The powerful rocket is due to carry the Arabsat 6A communications satellite into orbit.

Indian military satellite, 20 more Planet imaging CubeSats launched by PSLV

April 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle blasted off and successfully deployed a military electronic surveillance satellite and 28 nanosatellites for companies in the United States, Lithuania, Spain and Switzerland at two different altitudes Monday, before the rocket’s upper stage began an extended mission as a solar-powered experiment platform in low Earth orbit.

Live coverage: New configuration of India’s PSLV launches for first time

April 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

India debuted a new configuration of its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, featuring four strap-on boosters and an upper stage with solar arrays to generate electrical power, with a liftoff at 0357 GMT Monday (11:57 p.m. EDT Sunday). The mission lofted an Indian military satellite and 28 nanosatellites for companies in the United States, Lithuania, Spain and Switzerland.

China launches tracking and data relay satellite

March 31, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Chinese Long March 3B rocket delivered a new-generation tracking and data relay satellite to orbit Sunday to provide communications support for the country’s future human spaceflight missions and space station.

India’s PSLV poised for launch with 29 satellites

March 31, 2019 Stephen Clark

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is scheduled for liftoff Sunday night with an intelligence-gathering electronic surveillance satellite and 28 secondary payloads, including 20 Earth-imaging Dove nanosatellites for Planet, the U.S. company which criticized India’s anti-satellite test for generating space debris last week.

Rocket Lab launches DARPA research satellite

March 29, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket climbed into orbit from New Zealand Thursday (U.S. time) with an experimental payload for a U.S. military research and development agency to demonstrate the performance of a compact, deployable antenna that could expand the communications capabilities of future small satellites.

Chinese startup OneSpace fails in first orbital launch attempt

March 27, 2019 Stephen Clark

A solid-fueled rocket launched Wednesday by the Chinese startup OneSpace flew off course shortly after liftoff, the second time in five months one of China’s new space companies failed in a bid to become the country’s first private firm to place a spacecraft into orbit.

U.S. military sensors track debris from Indian anti-satellite test

March 27, 2019 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force was tracking at least 270 debris fragments created by an Indian anti-satellite missile test, but the debris field posed no immediate threat to the International Space Station or most other satellites in low Earth orbit, a senior U.S. military official said Wednesday in a congressional hearing.