Stephen Clark – Page 419 – Spaceflight Now

Live coverage: Commercial cargo craft completes space station rendezvous

July 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship reached the International Space Station on Wednesday, with astronaut Jeff Williams grappling the unpiloted spacecraft with the research lab’s robotic arm at 6:56 a.m. EDT (1056 GMT) after an automated rendezvous.

Progress supply ship heads for International Space Station

July 16, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Russian Progress cargo spacecraft laden with 5,300 pounds of fuel and supplies blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Saturday, riding a Soyuz rocket smoothly into orbit on the first of two resupply launches heading for the International Space Station in the next two days.

Weather looks favorable for Falcon 9 launch and landing

July 15, 2016 Stephen Clark

Forecasters predict mostly clear skies and light winds at the surface and aloft for Monday’s launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, favorable conditions for the booster’s liftoff and landing at Cape Canaveral.

Progress cargo craft to launch space station supplies Saturday

July 15, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Russian automated cargo craft loaded with nearly three tons of fuel, supplies, water and air is set for launch from Kazakhstan at 2141 GMT Saturday on a mission to replenish stockpiles aboard the International Space Station.

Researchers eager for Juno’s first chance for Jupiter science

July 15, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Juno spacecraft fine-tuned its orbit around Jupiter this week, helping steer the spinning space probe on a course to dip beneath the giant planet’s radiation belts in late August for the first time with all its science instruments activated.

Iridium satellites rolling off assembly line in Arizona

July 13, 2016 Stephen Clark

Construction is complete on the first batch of 81 new satellites to overhaul Iridium’s mobile communications network, and the data relay stations will soon head from their factory near Phoenix to California’s hilly Central Coast for launch Sept. 11 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Last shuttle commander ‘back in the fight’ with Boeing

July 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

When Chris Ferguson climbed into the commander’s seat of the shuttle Atlantis five years ago for the spaceship’s final flight, he didn’t know what turn his career would take when he returned to Earth. Now the former F-14 fighter pilot helps lead Boeing’s development of the CST-100 Starliner space taxi, one of two U.S.-built commercial spacecraft selected by NASA to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Japan’s Hitomi observatory made cosmic discovery before failing

July 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

Japan’s doomed Hitomi observatory peeled back a veil on the inner workings of the Perseus cluster of galaxies before the satellite spun out of control earlier this year, revealing in unprecedented detail how gas heated to millions of degrees behaves around an unseen supermassive black hole, scientists said Wednesday.

Photos: Crew of three rides Soyuz into orbit

July 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

A veteran Russian cosmonaut and two spaceflight rookies rocketed into orbit from a Kazakh launch base Wednesday on the first flight of a new-generation Soyuz capsule, kicking off a two-day pursuit of the International Space Station.

Live coverage: New crew arrives at International Space Station

July 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

Two days after blasting off from Kazakhstan, three new crew members docked with the International Space Station early Saturday to begin nearly four months of scientific experiments and maintenance on the orbiting research outpost. The Soyuz spacecraft linked up with the space station’s Rassvet module at 12:06 a.m. EDT (0406 GMT).