Stephen Clark – Page 469 – Spaceflight Now

Ariane 5 rolled out for fourth launch of the year

August 19, 2015 Stephen Clark

Ground crews towed a towering Ariane 5 rocket to its launch pad in French Guiana on Wednesday for final flight preparations before Thursday’s launch with spacecraft for two of the world’s top commercial satellite operators.

H-2B rocket launch sends supply shipment to space station

August 19, 2015 Stephen Clark

A cache of critical cargo stowed inside a solar-powered Japanese resupply freighter is speeding toward a rendezvous with the International Space Station after a successful launch Wednesday.

Live coverage: Japanese cargo craft arrives at space station

August 19, 2015 Stephen Clark

An automated logistics vehicle packed with nearly five tons of supplies reached the International Space Station on Monday after a laser-guided rendezvous culminating with grapple of the HTV cargo craft by the station’s robotic arm at 1028 GMT (6:28 a.m. EDT).

Launcher contracts signify shift in Europe’s rocket industry

August 18, 2015 Stephen Clark

Europe’s next-generation launcher family has moved a step closer to reality with the signature of nearly $3.8 billion in contracts for development of the Ariane 6 rocket and an upgraded version of the lightweight Vega booster.

Japanese rocket ready to launch supplies to space station

August 18, 2015 Stephen Clark

A Japanese HTV cargo craft is being prepped for liftoff Wednesday with a much-needed shipment of provisions for the International Space Station’s six-person crew after a spate of failures strained the orbiting lab’s supply chain with Earth.

Orbital ATK receives orders for two more ISS cargo flights

August 18, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA has put off selecting the winners in a new competition for deals to resupply the International Space Station, prompting the agency to order two more commercial resupply missions from Orbital ATK to satisfy the orbiting lab’s cargo needs into early 2018, bringing the company’s total contract to 10 logistics flights.

NASA to rely on Mars program’s silent workhorse for years to come

August 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, aging and arthritic a decade after its launch, remains productive and is expected to be the primary pipeline for high-resolution maps of Mars for scientists and mission planners over the next decade.

Stormy forecast prompts delay for Japanese resupply mission

August 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

The launch of a Japanese cargo ship with more than 4.5 tons of supplies bound for the International Space Station has been rescheduled for Wednesday due to a poor weather forecast at the mission’s island launch base.

Rocket engine fires up in latest test for behemoth booster

August 13, 2015 Stephen Clark

A hydrogen-fueled rocket engine ignited with a bone-rattling sonic wave Thursday at NASA’s test facility in Southern Mississippi, throttling up to more than a half-million pounds of thrust to verify upgrades to the space shuttle’s main engines can power a humongous new launcher off the planet.

Shuttle-era rocket engine primed for test firing

August 13, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA plans to fire up a space shuttle-era rocket engine in Mississippi on Thursday for nearly nine minutes to validate upgrades to the powerplant for the Space Launch System, a new mega-rocket under development to boost astronauts on missions to deep space.