Stephen Clark – Page 428 – Spaceflight Now

Japanese orbiter officially begins science mission at Venus

May 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

Five months since a belated arrival at Venus, Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft has officially started a modified scientific survey of the sweltering, shrouded planet’s atmosphere and climate.

Rocketcam video released from Soyuz launch last month

May 16, 2016 Stephen Clark

The Russian space agency has posted an astounding video recorded by cameras fastened aboard a Soyuz rocket that took off from the country’s new Siberian spaceport last month.

Orion capsule put under pressure in Florida

May 15, 2016 Stephen Clark

The skeleton of NASA’s next Orion capsule, set for launch in late 2018 on a test flight to lunar orbit without astronauts, has passed a pressurization test at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Chinese rocket lofts government surveillance satellite

May 15, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Long March 2D booster fired into space Sunday from a remote Chinese spaceport in the Gobi Desert, delivering a military spy satellite to a 400-mile-high perch in polar orbit.

First astronaut flight on Boeing capsule slips to 2018

May 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

The first piloted test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew capsule has been delayed to early 2018 as designers wrestle with the mass of the spacecraft, aerodynamic loads the vehicle will see during launch, and new software requirements levied by NASA, company officials said.

Upgraded Antares rolls out to launch pad for tests

May 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

An Antares booster emerged from its hangar on Virginia’s Eastern Shore and rolled out to its launch pad Thursday for the first time since a rocket failure grounded Orbital ATK’s cargo launcher in 2014.

Q&A with John Elbon, VP and general manager of Boeing’s space exploration division

May 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

Boeing’s work on the International Space Station, the CST-100 Starliner commercial crew capsule and NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System are under the umbrella of John Elbon, who leads the company’s space exploration division in Houston.

Q&A with Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin’s Orion program manager

May 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

The man in charge of the Orion crew capsule program at Lockheed Martin is a lifelong veteran of the space program, beginning his tenure at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in the late 1970s before taking posts in Washington and joining Lockheed Martin to lead the company’s work on the nation’s new spacecraft for journeys beyond Earth orbit.

Cargo-carrying Dragon spaceship returns to Earth

May 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship departed the International Space Station on Wednesday, fired rocket thrusters to brake out of orbit, and parachuted to a picture-perfect splashdown in the Pacific Ocean with approximately 3,461 pounds of experiment samples and equipment.

Live coverage: Dragon supply ship back on Earth

May 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft departed the International Space Station on Wednesday at 9:19 a.m. EDT (1319 GMT), concluding the commercial spaceship’s eighth visit to the complex. Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean occurred at 2:55 p.m. EDT (1855 GMT).