Stephen Clark – Page 464 – Spaceflight Now

China aims for landing on moon’s far side by 2020

September 21, 2015 Stephen Clark

A rover and landing platform developed as a backup for China’s Chang’e 3 moon mission will be repurposed to attempt the first touchdown on the lunar far side by the end of the decade, Chinese officials said.

Debut launch of Long March 6 deploys 20 satellites

September 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

China’s Long March 6 rocket, fueled by a mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen, successfully shot into orbit on its first mission Saturday with 20 small satellites, signaling a revolution in Chinese rocketry as the country prepares to test bigger boosters in the coming months.

Planet Labs takes rash of launch failures in stride

September 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

No one had ever lost 26 satellites at once until a launch failure bit Planet Labs last year, temporarily setting back the San Francisco startup’s ambition to map the globe every day.

Launch of European Mars mission delayed two months

September 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

Officials expect to delay next year’s launch of a European Mars orbiter and lander about two months — from January to March — to remove faulty pressure transducers from the landing craft’s braking system, the European Space Agency announced Friday.

The surface of Rosetta’s comet is changing

September 19, 2015 Stephen Clark

Views from Europe’s Rosetta comet orbiter show mysterious markings appearing on the nucleus of Comet 67P in recent months, with new surface features forming within a matter of weeks, and scientists are digging into the complex causes of the cometary erosion.

Boeing rejects bid to buy ULA as engine race heats up

September 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

Boeing said Wednesday it has turned down an offer from Aerojet Rocketdyne to buy United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture that operates the Atlas and Delta rocket fleets.

Haunting sunset vista shows foggy hazes on Pluto

September 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

A crescent Pluto stars in pictures captured just after NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft’s July flyby of the distant dwarf planet, exposing eerie backlit fog banks that scientists say hint at an Earth-like weather cycle.

Orion spacecraft may not fly with astronauts until 2023

September 16, 2015 Stephen Clark

The first piloted flight of NASA’s Orion space capsule, a vehicle designed to carry astronauts away from Earth for the first time in two generations, may slip from 2021 to 2023, agency officials said Wednesday.

Build-up of crew access tower begins at Atlas 5 pad

September 15, 2015 Stephen Clark

A new fixture on the Cape Canaveral skyline began rising Tuesday with the placement of the first of seven segments for a 200-foot-tall crew access tower at the Atlas 5 rocket’s seaside launch pad for astronauts boarding Boeing’s new commercial CST-100 Starliner spaceship.

Bezos to locate commercial rocket base in Florida

September 15, 2015 Stephen Clark

Blue Origin, the burgeoning, often secretive space company led by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, revealed plans Tuesday to build and launch reusable rockets on Florida’s Space Coast, adding another commercial tenant for historic real estate at Cape Canaveral.