Stephen Clark – Page 480 – Spaceflight Now

Mars entry testbed to fly Monday after weather delays

June 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA is gearing up to fly a balloon-launched, rocket-powered test vehicle from Hawaii on Monday to wring out the design of a new supersonic parachute and entry probe scientists hope to use on Mars one day.

Satellite comes back to life, deploys solar sail on second try

June 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

Mission managers say the shoebox-sized LightSail satellite powered up its tiny deployment motor Sunday, and data from the diminutive spacecraft indicate its experimental solar sail unfurled in orbit hundreds of miles above Earth.

Video: Falcon 9 nose shroud falls back to Earth

June 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX has released another jaw-dropping video from a camera fastened to a piece of a Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing, showing the nose cone spinning through space after its separation on a recent launch.

Dawn enters new orbit closer to Ceres

June 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Dawn asteroid explorer has arrived at its new perch 2,700 miles from the dwarf planet Ceres, a vantage point scientists say will yield better views as the probe continues to step closer to the surface.

Ground team battling on-and-off communications with LightSail

June 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

After an up-and-down week of intermittent contact with the LightSail satellite, the tiny spacecraft radioed home Saturday, giving engineers hope to deploy the experiment’s solar sail as soon as Sunday.

Soyuz rocket returns to flight with military launch

June 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

Russia successfully launched a Kobalt-type optical reconnaissance satellite Friday aboard a Soyuz rocket, marking the workhorse booster’s first flight since the failure of a resupply launch to the International Space Station in April.

ESA reveals candidates for new space science missions

June 4, 2015 Stephen Clark

The European Space Agency revealed plans Thursday to build and launch a joint space weather research satellite with China and announced three finalists for Europe’s next standalone science mission.

Canada backs ISS extension to 2024, gains two crew slots

June 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

The Canadian government announced Tuesday its intention to support the International Space Station through 2024, joining the United States and Russia as the major partners officially backing an extension of the global research project.

Cassini beams back last views of Saturn’s moon Hyperion

June 2, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft spiraling around Saturn zipped past the giant planet’s oddball moon Hyperion for the last time Sunday, catching a final glimpse of the bizarre body’s porous sponge-like surface.

Launch of U.S.-French oceanography satellite postponed

June 2, 2015 Stephen Clark

The launch of a U.S.-French oceanography satellite from California has been postponed from July 22 after engineers discovered contamination in one of the spacecraft’s thrusters at its factory in France.