Stephen Clark – Page 484 – Spaceflight Now

Video: Dragon test articles flies pad abort profile

May 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

A test article of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon flew on an arcing minute-and-a-half demonstration flight over Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, launching atop eight 3D-printed rocket thrusters and descending to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX crew capsule completes dramatic abort test

May 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

A rocket-powered prototype of SpaceX’s human-rated crew capsule vaulted off a launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday for a brief mile-high test flight of the spaceship’s emergency crew safety system.

Don’t blink: SpaceX crew escape demo will go by in a flash

May 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX plans to launch an unmanned test model of the company’s Dragon crew capsule Wednesday on a whirlwind 107-second flight through the skies over Cape Canaveral.

Photos: Dragon prototype poised for abort test

May 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s new Dragon crew ferry craft is in position for a key test Wednesday of the capsule’s safety system designed to whisk astronauts away from a dangerous rocket mishap during launch.

SpaceX preps for test of Dragon capsule’s life-saving abort system

May 4, 2015 Stephen Clark

A spaceship designed to ferry astronauts into orbit by 2017 is set for a major test Wednesday, when SpaceX plans to blast the capsule away from Cape Canaveral on a mile-high demo flight to simulate the craft’s ability to protect occupants in the event of a catastrophic rocket mishap on the pad.

A taste of Italian culture makes it to the final frontier

May 4, 2015 Stephen Clark

Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti got a taste of home Sunday when she tried out a new espresso maker that is part creature comfort and part science experiment.

New name for Space Launch System gets backing of lawmakers

May 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

A push to give NASA’s Space Launch System a new name is garnering support from lawmakers, who have written into legislation provisions that would order NASA to rename the heavy-lift rocket through a competition among schoolchildren.

House bill backs exploration at the expense of Earth science

May 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

A draft policy outline passed on a party-line vote by a House committee last week calls for redirecting funding from NASA’s Earth science programs into the space agency’s heavy-lift rocket and Orion crew capsule programs, an outcome NASA’s administrator said will set back climate change research.

Messenger mission ends with plunge into Mercury

April 30, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Messenger spacecraft closed out a successful four-year tour in Mercury’s orbit Thursday with a cataclysmic crash into the scorching planet after consuming its last gasps of fuel.

Progress failure probe narrows in on separation from rocket

April 29, 2015 Stephen Clark

Something went wrong with a Russian Progress cargo spacecraft moments before it deployed into orbit Tuesday on the way to the International Space Station, and investigators are analyzing whether the stricken supply ship may have lost control after a botched separation from its Soyuz rocket booster.