Stephen Clark – Page 443 – Spaceflight Now

Launch of Japanese X-ray observatory postponed

February 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

The Japanese space agency said Thursday the launch of an X-ray astrophysics observatory is postponed from Friday due to a poor weather forecast at the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.

SES says SpaceX will launch its satellite in late February

February 9, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next launch from Cape Canaveral is set for Feb. 24, when a Falcon 9 rocket will carry a commercial television broadcasting satellite aloft for Luxembourg-based SES, the payload’s owner announced Monday.

Glonass navigation system reinforced by Soyuz launch

February 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Soyuz rocket blasted off from Russia’s northern cosmodrome Sunday, adding another satellite to the nation’s Glonass navigation fleet to replace an aging spacecraft.

Successful launch expands China’s Beidou navigation system

February 2, 2016 Stephen Clark

A new addition to China’s Beidou navigation network launched Monday on top of a Long March 3C rocket, which injected the satellite into an orbit more than 13,000 miles above Earth several hours later.

Soyuz prepared for first flight from Siberian cosmodrome

January 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

The first Soyuz rocket to launch from a new cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East is being assembled for liftoff in April with a package of small research satellites.

European communications relay satellite launched by Proton rocket

January 30, 2016 Stephen Clark

A commercial satellite designed to broadcast hundreds of television channels across Europe and better link European surveillance satellites and the International Space Station to scientists on the ground took off Friday from Kazakhstan aboard a Proton rocket.

Water ice abounds in Pluto’s frigid bedrock

January 29, 2016 Stephen Clark

New maps produced from data gathered during the New Horizons spacecraft’s flyby of Pluto last year show surprisingly widespread water ice shaping mountains capped by methane snow and forming an underlying bedrock blanketing the distant world.

Live coverage: Proton fires into space with Eutelsat 9B

January 29, 2016 Stephen Clark

A television broadcasting satellite for Eutelsat launched Friday atop a Russian Proton rocket to begin a 15-year mission beaming TV programming into homes across Europe. The Proton rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2220 GMT (5:20 p.m. EST) Friday.

Photos: Ariane 5 climbs away from jungle launch pad

January 28, 2016 Stephen Clark

A European Ariane 5 rocket took off on its first flight of the year Wednesday with a new-generation communications satellite for Intelsat, lighting up the sky over its French Guiana launch base as it arced over the Atlantic Ocean.

Laser-equipped satellite to inaugurate European data relay system

January 28, 2016 Stephen Clark

The first node of a space-based European laser communications network will soar into orbit Friday aboard a commercial Eutelsat broadcasting spacecraft, setting the keystone for a satellite system to relay vast volumes of imagery at lightning fast speeds.